US Plans to Deport Afghans Back to Homeland Via Pakistan, Documents Show

The Trump administration is preparing to deport Afghan immigrants detained in the United States back to their home country via Pakistan, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press. Advocacy groups have expressed concern that this plan could put the deportees at risk of retaliation from the Taliban.

Thousands of Afghans had fled persecution and feared for their lives after assisting U.S. military and aid organizations. Shawn VanDiver, president of the advocacy group #AfghanEvac, called the plan "absolutely unconscionable" and stated it appeared to be a violation of human rights.

According to the court documents, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency intends to begin deportations as early as Monday with flights from Louisiana, where it operates detention and processing facilities. These flights would initially go to Pakistan, with subsequent transport to Afghanistan. The plan was first reported by Bloomberg and later detailed by The New York Times.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security stated that ICE does not comment on future removal operations due to security concerns. Officials at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. officials confirmed the deportations in sealed court documents. A senior ICE official acknowledged in a federal court document filed in Virginia that an Afghan immigrant was scheduled for a charter flight from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Pakistan, with onward transport to Afghanistan. This was disclosed in the case of an immigrant challenging deportation efforts. In a separate federal case in Oklahoma, prosecutors revealed that another Afghan immigrant was scheduled for deportation to Afghanistan in the following week.

The Trump administration has previously deported thousands of immigrants to countries other than their own, particularly when formal relations with the home country are lacking, such as with the Taliban government in Afghanistan. This practice has also been used as a deterrent.

Human Rights First, an advocacy group, confirmed a scheduled flight from Louisiana to Pakistan on Tuesday carrying Afghan immigrants. Savitri Arvey, the group's director of policy for refugee and immigrant rights, criticized the plan as "beyond egregious" and an "unprecedented mass deportation flight." She noted similar deportations of other groups, including Iranian Christian converts and Russian political dissidents, to countries other than their destinations.

Members of Congress have also spoken out against the deportations. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) called the plan "reprehensible," urging Congress to oppose it. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) stated that the administration was betraying a promise to Afghan allies by deporting them to potential danger.