US plans to deport detained Afghans via Pakistan to Afghanistan, court documents show

The Trump administration plans to deport Afghans held in U.S. immigration detention back to Afghanistan via Pakistan, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press. Immigrant rights organizations say those deported could face retaliation from the Taliban after helping the U.S. military and aid groups in Afghanistan.

The United States intends to begin deportations as early as Monday on charter flights from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Pakistan, with further transport onward to Afghanistan. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates immigrant detention and processing facilities in Louisiana.

“This is absolutely unconscionable. It seems like there’s no end to their willingness to break the law and violate people’s human rights.”

A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official acknowledged in a federal court filing in Virginia on Friday that an Afghan immigrant had been scheduled for an upcoming charter flight. The immigrant is not in custody and is challenging efforts to deport him.

In a separate federal court case in Oklahoma, prosecutors filed a document on Monday disclosing that another Afghan immigrant was scheduled to be deported to Afghanistan sometime next week.

Bloomberg first reported the plan to deport Afghans to Pakistan on Monday. The New York Times reported on Friday that the immigrants were going to be sent to Afghanistan after arriving in Pakistan.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email on Saturday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not comment on future immigrant-removal operations, citing operational security and personnel safety. Officials at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington did not immediately return email messages.

Shawn VanDiver, a U.S. Navy veteran and president of the advocacy group #AfghanEvac, called the plan absolutely unconscionable. He said it seems there is no end to the administration's willingness to break the law and violate people's human rights.