A group of 66 United States lawmakers has written to the administration of President Donald Trump asking it to halt a planned mass deportation of Afghans. The affected individuals include some who worked alongside coalition forces in Afghanistan before the military withdrawal in 2021.
In Monday’s letter, the lawmakers cited advocacy group reports that at least 150 Afghans were scheduled to be deported from Tuesday. The individuals were set to be flown from detention facilities in Louisiana to Pakistan.
The Associated Press reported that Department of Homeland Security officials had said in court filings that they eventually planned on returning some of the Afghans to their home country. The US does not have diplomatic relations with Afghanistan, which has been governed by the Taliban since US troops withdrew in August 2021.
"Sending dozens of people back to one of the most dangerous countries on earth, and where they are likely to be targeted for their or their family’s suspected support of the US government or criticism of the Taliban, is a death sentence," the lawmakers wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin.
"Our country made a promise never to abandon the Afghans who sacrificed their own and their family’s safety to stand with American service members," the lawmakers added.
As part of its crackdown on immigration, the Trump administration has made agreements with at least 35 countries to take in third-country nationals. This often occurs because officials cannot send individuals back to their home countries for fear they would be tortured, killed, or otherwise persecuted.
Critics of the practice say it undermines decades of global humanitarian norms around asylum seeker and refugee protection. They state that deportees often end up in countries with a record of human rights abuses, or places so dangerous the US tells its own citizens not to travel there. According to a tally by nonprofits Refugees International and Human Rights First, the Trump administration has forcibly sent at least 25,000 people to third countries.
Human Rights First said it has confirmed that a flight carrying some of the Afghans from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Pakistan is scheduled for Tuesday. Rights advocates said the batch of deportations to Pakistan may also include Iranians, small numbers of whom the Trump administration has previously sent to third countries to eventually be returned to Iran.
Pakistan has deported millions of Afghans to Afghanistan in recent years as relations with the Taliban have deteriorated. Most of the Afghans scheduled for deportation did not have the opportunity to properly fight their removal in court, according to Shawn VanDiver, founder and president of the AfghanEvac advocacy group.
"They were placed into removal proceedings because they didn’t have attorneys to fight," VanDiver said. He spoke on Monday to a former police officer in the Afghan government toppled by the Taliban, who expected to be deported and feared for his life if he ended up back in Afghanistan.
