The Trump administration plans to deport Afghans back from the United States through Pakistan, according to court documents obtained by AP. Advocacy groups warn that people sent onward to Afghanistan could face retaliation from the Taliban.
Officials intend to begin the removals as early as Monday, using flights from Louisiana to Pakistan, the documents say. The planned route has drawn attention because the filings describe onward transport to Afghanistan.
What the plan to deport Afghans back would involve
A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official acknowledged in a federal court filing in Virginia that an Afghan immigrant had been scheduled for an upcoming charter flight. The flight was to travel from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Pakistan, with further transport onward to Afghanistan.
The filing was submitted Friday in a case brought by an immigrant who is not in custody and is challenging efforts to deport him. A separate filing in an Oklahoma federal court disclosed that another Afghan immigrant was scheduled to be deported to Afghanistan sometime next week.
The documents provide two individual examples of the planned removals. The source report says officials confirmed the deportations in sealed court documents obtained by AP.
Advocates warn of danger after arrival
Immigrant rights organizations say Afghans returned to their home country could face Taliban retaliation. Many people who fled Afghanistan had helped the U.S. military or aid groups and feared for their lives, the source report says.
Human Rights First, which tracks U.S. deportation flights, said Saturday it had confirmed a scheduled flight from Louisiana to Pakistan on Tuesday carrying Afghan immigrants. Savitri Arvey, the group’s director of policy, refugee and immigrant rights, said the plan would send people through Pakistan and potentially into Taliban control.
Shawn VanDiver, a U.S. Navy veteran and president of #AfghanEvac, condemned the plan. He said the administration’s willingness to proceed showed disregard for law and human rights.
The Department of Homeland Security said ICE does not comment on future removal operations, citing operational security and personnel safety. Pakistani Embassy officials in Washington had not immediately returned email messages.
Questions about protections and prior removals
The report says the administration has sent thousands of immigrants to countries other than their own. In some cases, officials could not send people to their home countries because the United States lacked formal relations with their governments, including the Taliban government in Afghanistan. In other cases, the report says, third-country removals have been used as a deterrent.
U.S. immigration judges have determined in many cases that people’s lives would be in jeopardy if they were sent to their home countries. It was not immediately clear whether any Afghans designated for return had protective orders barring their removal there.
The debate follows a reprieve for Afghans at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar. In September, the administration finalized a last-minute extension that kept the camp open for nine months. It housed more than 1,000 Afghans who had assisted America’s war effort or were relatives of U.S. service members, and had been due to close Sept. 30 at the end of the U.S. budget year.
After entering his second term, President Donald Trump paused his predecessor’s Afghan resettlement program as part of a series of immigration orders. The changes included a sharp alteration to refugee admissions that focused on white South Africans. The source report says thousands who fled war and persecution, and had completed yearslong vetting for new lives in America, remained stranded around the world, including at the Qatar base.
Law News Day has also covered government accountability in Supreme Court cases, pressure on an international court in the IBA’s sanctions response, and a lawyer’s resignation over government actions.
For now, the disclosed timetable points to the flight Human Rights First said was scheduled for Tuesday. DHS has not commented on future operations, and the court filings describe further transport from Pakistan to Afghanistan.
