US prepares to deport Afghan asylum seekers to Pakistan

Images

×

ICE Detention Center Louisiana nbcnews.com

The Trump administration is preparing to deport dozens of Afghan immigrants and asylum seekers to Pakistan on a charter flight that has not been publicly announced, a senior administration official told NBC News. Rights advocates and families of detainees say the flight could leave as early as Monday. Among those facing removal are relatives of Afghans who worked with the US military during the twenty-year war against the Taliban, which is now back in power in Afghanistan.

The flight extends a technique the administration has already applied to thousands of people deported to countries not their own, including many in Africa. Immigration lawyers describe the third-country agreements as an effort to skirt international law prohibiting the return of asylum seekers to the countries they fled; the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear their legality in December. The charter would require the Pakistani government's knowledge and approval to land. Pakistan's 2023 crackdown pressured hundreds of thousands of Afghans to leave and forcibly deported others, and deportees returned to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan could face severe repercussions.

Inside the United States, the pipeline is already moving. Shawn VanDiver, president of the San Diego-based advocacy group AfghanEvac, said at least 80 Afghans have been transferred in recent days to the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center from 34 other ICE facilities, 19 of them without legal representation — and that there may be hundreds more at the site, which has long served as a hub for detainees awaiting deportation from the United States. President Trump halted admissions for Afghans and other refugees when he returned to office last year, and tens of thousands who fled after the chaotic 2021 withdrawal of US-led forces remain in limbo. Afghanistan itself faces widespread malnutrition, an ongoing military conflict with Pakistan, and a dramatic rollback of women's rights under Taliban rule.

The plan was first reported by Bloomberg and the New York Times. The administration's position, the senior official said, is that the individuals do not have status in the United States — and that the administration does not care what happens to them.