The Trump administration is planning to deport Afghans detained in the United States back to Afghanistan via Pakistan, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The first deportations could come as early as Monday, on flights from Louisiana, where US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detention and processing facilities, to Pakistan. In a document filed in a federal court in Virginia on Friday, a senior ICE official acknowledged that an Afghan immigrant had been scheduled to be on an upcoming charter flight from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Pakistan, “with further transport onward to Afghanistan.”
Advocacy group Human Rights First said on Saturday that it had confirmed a scheduled flight from Louisiana to Pakistan on Tuesday carrying Afghan immigrants. The New York Times reported on Friday that more than 150 Afghan immigrants are expected to be deported, with the first flight expected as soon as Monday, according to Reuters.
Washington cannot arrange deportations to Afghanistan directly because it lacks diplomatic ties with the Taliban government, which is why the route runs via Pakistan.
On Monday, the Taliban foreign ministry asked the United States to act responsibly when deporting Afghan immigrants, saying Kabul was prepared to engage constructively with Washington on the issue. It also said third countries should not treat the citizens of another country as a matter of bargaining in exchange for limited temporary concessions.
Immigrant rights groups warn that those deported could face retaliation from the Taliban. Shawn VanDiver, a US Navy veteran and president of the advocacy group #AfghanEvac, called the plan “absolutely unconscionable.”
A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security told the AP on Saturday that ICE does not comment on future immigrant-removal operations, citing operational security and personnel safety.
Sources: Associated Press and Reuters.
