Afghan Deportations: Lawmakers Seek Halt to Flights to Pakistan

Sixty-six members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to the White House on Monday asking President Donald Trump to stop a planned mass deportation of Afghan nationals. The bipartisan group requested a pause on flights scheduled to begin Tuesday, which would transport detainees from Louisiana to Pakistan.

The lawmakers addressed the letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin. They cited reports from advocacy organizations indicating that at least 150 Afghans are set to be removed. The Associated Press noted that Department of Homeland Security officials previously told courts they intended to return some of these individuals to their home country.

The letter describes the destination as one of the most dangerous places on Earth. The signatories argued that sending people to Afghanistan, where the Taliban have governed since the U.S. military withdrawal in August 2021, acts as a death sentence. They noted that deportees face threats because of their own or their families’ suspected support of the U.S. government or criticism of the Taliban regime.

This action is part of a wider administrative strategy involving third-country deportations. The Trump administration has signed agreements with at least 35 countries to accept foreign nationals who cannot be sent back home due to risks of torture or persecution. Nonprofits Refugees International and Human Rights First count at least 25,000 people as having been forcibly sent to third countries under this policy.

Human Rights First confirmed that a specific flight from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Pakistan is scheduled for Tuesday. Advocates say the group may also include Iranian nationals. The administration has previously sent small numbers of Iranians to third countries with the aim of returning them to Iran, despite an ongoing war between the two nations.

Shawn VanDiver, founder of the AfghanEvac advocacy group, stated that most of the scheduled deportees did not have adequate legal representation to fight their cases. He explained that many were placed in removal proceedings without attorneys. VanDiver spoke to a former Afghan police officer on Monday who feared for his life if returned to the country where the Taliban took power.

The current batch of Afghans in the U.S. entered under humanitarian parole after the 2021 evacuation of more than 120,000 people. The Biden administration later granted them Temporary Protected Status for 18 months. However, few have been able to complete their asylum or special status applications due to a severe backlog in the immigration system.

VanDiver described the situation as a five-year limbo where individuals wait for permanent residency or green cards. The Trump administration has set record-low quotas for global asylum applications but made a specific exception for white Afrikaners from South Africa. This follows a November 2025 incident in which an Afghan man allegedly shot two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., leading to a halt in processing Afghan applications.

The administration also included Afghan nationals in a blanket visa ban earlier this year, triggering a review of immigration filings. Both policies are currently facing legal challenges. VanDiver and other advocates are pushing for new legislation that would restore protection, including a bill co-sponsored by Republicans and Democrats to grant Temporary Protected Status to those who lost it.