US Plans Monday Deportation Flight for 150+ Afghans via Pakistan, Reports Say

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration plans to deport more than 150 Afghan immigrants to Afghanistan, routing them through Pakistan, according to a US official and a coalition of veterans and advocacy groups cited by Reuters on Friday. The New York Times reported that dozens of Afghans have been detained in Louisiana and that the first charter flight could leave as early as Monday, November 2, in what would be one of the largest single expulsions of Afghans from the United States.

Many of those facing removal fled Afghanistan after the 2021 Taliban takeover and the US withdrawal, said Shawn VanDiver, head of the AfghanEvac coalition. A US official said the deportations would go via Pakistan because Washington has no diplomatic ties with the Taliban government and cannot arrange direct removals to Afghanistan. Pakistan has expelled more than 2 million Afghan nationals to Afghanistan since 2023, according to Reuters.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm any planned removal operation, citing operational security, while lawyers for some detainees are challenging the deportations, the Times reported. Advocacy group Global Refuge urged the plan to be halted, warning the flight would return people to the Taliban authorities they fled five years ago.