U.S. Plans to Deport Over 150 Afghans Through Pakistan

U.S. officials confirmed that more than 150 Afghans will be deported to Afghanistan through Pakistan. The plan involves sending detainees to facilities in Louisiana, where they will be transferred to a chartered flight departing from Alexandria, Louisiana, during the first week of November.

The U.S. government has no diplomatic relations with the Taliban, making direct deportation to Afghanistan impossible. Instead, the plan involves sending detainees to Pakistan, where they will be overseen during their expulsion across the border into Afghanistan.

Detainees and their legal representatives have been informed only that they will be sent to Afghanistan. Some have been held in detention centers across the country before being moved to Louisiana. A U.S. judge denied an asylum application for one detainee.

One detainee, identified only by his middle name, said he fears for his life due to his sexual orientation. Homosexuality is punishable by death in Afghanistan, and he claims being gay and married to a man is 'automatic grounds for imprisonment and execution there.'

Another case involves an Afghan man whose wife was associated with the U.S.-backed Afghan government. He was arrested by border patrol in 2024 and has been in ICE detention since. A U.S. judge denied his asylum application, and his lawyer shared the case documents under anonymity.

The New York Times reported the plan through interviews with lawyers for some of the detainees and with three officials, who spoke anonymously because the policy is confidential. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said ICE does not comment on prospective removal operations, including flight schedules, passenger manifests, destinations or individual case details.