U.S. Prepares Flight to Deport Afghans to Pakistan, Advocates Say

The Trump administration is preparing a charter flight to deport Afghan immigrants and asylum seekers held in U.S. detention to Pakistan, NBC News reported Friday, citing a senior administration official. Bloomberg Law first reported the plan on Oct. 26, citing a federal official, lawyers and advocacy groups.

The number is disputed. The official told NBC the flight would carry dozens of people, while Khaama Press, summarizing The New York Times, reported that the Times counted more than 150 Afghans, citing three U.S. officials. The flight has not been announced. NBC reported it could leave as early as Monday, Nov. 2; Bloomberg Law reported it was expected to leave in the coming weeks, and the advocacy group AfghanEvac has said the first week of November.

Those facing removal include people with deportation orders, people denied asylum and people whose temporary protected status ended, the official told NBC. AfghanEvac, a group that helps Afghans who worked with U.S. forces, said relatives of such Afghans are among them, and that at least 80 detainees were moved to Louisiana from 34 other ICE facilities in recent days, 19 of them without legal representation. Bloomberg Law reported the relatives detail as well.

The administration’s position is that the people on the flight have no legal status here. The official told NBC the aircraft could not land in Pakistan without that government’s knowledge and approval. The State Department said it had no plans to announce the flight and that every country must manage its own borders, according to NBC. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said it could not confirm removal operations for operational security, NBC reported. Khaama reported that DHS told the Times ICE does not comment on prospective removals.

Advocates and lawyers say the risk is that Pakistan will not keep them. NBC noted that Pakistan has pressed Afghans to leave since 2023, and that deportees could face severe consequences if sent on to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, as is widely expected. Some detainees have been told their destination is Pakistan and others Afghanistan, according to Khaama and AfghanEvac. An AfghanEvac leader told NBC the Taliban would view Afghans flown from the United States with suspicion. Immigration lawyers told NBC that removing people to third countries is an effort to get around international law against returning asylum seekers.

Pakistan’s government has not publicly said it will accept the flight, and none of the reports reviewed here quotes an official Pakistani statement. NBC reported that the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in December on the legality of third-country deportation agreements. AfghanEvac has said this would be the first deportation of detained Afghans from the United States to Pakistan.