Trump's Afghan deportation flight stalls, detainees get 'fragile relief'

> Trump's Afghan deportation flight stalls, detainees get 'fragile relief'

Late Tuesday, an Afghan man in ICE detention who had been given a rescheduled removal date for the week of 16 November — along with a handful of other detained Afghans on the original flight manifest — no longer had a specified departure date from the US government. Immigration lawyers also reported that Afghan clients had been moved out of staging facilities and into long-term detention, a sign they wouldn't be forced onto a plane in the coming days. Shawn VanDiver, founder and president of the nonprofit coalition #AfghanEvac, described the mood as one of 'fragile relief.'

The whiplash has been brutal. A flight meant to carry the group out of the US on election day earlier this month stayed grounded after a federal judge issued a court order temporarily blocking departure to Afghanistan or neighboring Pakistan. When that order expired last weekend, advocates braced for removals during the week of 16 November. 'In a matter of days, these allies were told they were being sent through Pakistan into the hands of the Taliban, then told they were safe, then told that nobody knows,' VanDiver said. 'That isn't immigration policy. It's whiplash inflicted on people who already survived a war.'

The group numbers more than 150 Afghans, according to the New York Times, and the AP has reported the federal government intends to route the detainees home via Pakistan. Passengers include Afghans whose relatives helped American troops, women, at least one gay man, and members of the minority Hazara ethnic group — some of whom say the Taliban previously beat them. Human Rights First warns of 'grave, systematic dangers' for Afghans sent back, listing arbitrary detentions, executions, public flogging, retaliatory violence and restrictions on women and girls. VanDiver called any use of Pakistan as a conduit 'forced rendition.'

With the immediate threat easing, #AfghanEvac is pressing the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress to pass a bipartisan bill in January granting Afghans already in the US temporary protected status through July 2029, with a vetting process. The Supreme Court in June allowed the Trump administration to strip such protections, including for Afghans. The Department of Homeland Security said it complies with all lawful court orders and that ICE does not confirm prospective removal operations for security reasons and officer safety.

The Afghan case sits inside a wider push. According to the AP, the administration held secret talks with Iran about deporting Iranians via a third country, and last Sunday an attorney reported that a US deportation flight of Iranian nationals headed for Iran through Pakistan was abruptly canceled. In late September the Supreme Court ruled on an emergency basis to let Trump keep deporting people to countries they have no connection to, and the court is still weighing the limits. Federal law is meant to stop the government from returning anyone to a country where they likely face torture; DHS says immigrants sent to a third country 'receive notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal' unless the State Department gets diplomatic assurances they'll be safe. The State Department tells Americans: 'Do not travel to Afghanistan for any reason.' The US suspended relations with Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in 2021. 'We are talking about people who've already been tortured, people who came with evidence — some of the most compelling claims,' said Sarah Mehta, deputy director of immigration policy at the ACLU. 'Why would we send Iranians to a war zone or Afghans to one of the most repressive regimes in the world knowing, indeed, that they are going to be targeted because of the very vulnerabilities that led them to flee in the first place?'