US federal court has blocked Afghan deportation plan

A US federal court blocked on Tuesday the Trump administration’s plans to deport scores of Afghan immigrants back to Afghanistan, a move advocacy groups said could endanger their lives.

Judge Valerie Caproni of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the United States could not send any Afghan nationals to Afghanistan or Pakistan this week.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Assistant Director Christopher George told the court there were “no planned or confirmed chartered or commercial flights” to deport Afghan nationals in the US to Afghanistan or Pakistan this week, according to court documents.

US media reported last week that more than 150 Afghans in the US would be deported via Pakistan to Afghanistan as part of President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown.

Among the group were relatives of Afghans who assisted the US military in the country prior to the fall of Kabul, according to AfghanEvac, a group seeking to help former Afghan allies.

“A week ago, there was a plane. Today, the government told a federal judge there isn’t one,” AfghanEvac President Shawn VanDiver said in a statement after Tuesday’s ruling.

“That didn’t happen by accident. Veterans, advocates, 66 members of Congress, and thousands of Americans got this flight stopped,” he added.

Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities voiced “serious concern” on Monday over the reported deportation plans.

Advocacy groups have warned that the removal of former allies and their families could endanger their lives.

After regaining power in 2021, Taliban authorities announced a general amnesty for Afghans who worked with Western-backed forces and governments and have repeated promises this year that their former foes could safely return home.

But the United Nations has recorded reports of extrajudicial killings, detentions and abuses.

Pakistan’s government earlier this year ordered law enforcement nationwide to arrest Afghan citizens without visas as part of a years-long repatriation policy that has pushed back millions of Afghans who fled throughout decades of war.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fraught since the Taliban authorities took power and worsened after deadly border clashes last October that led to near-total closure of the border.

Trump’s administration last year issued travel bans for a number of countries, including Afghanistan, as part of a broad immigration crackdown.

His administration sought to end deportation protections for Afghans, some of whom were granted special immigrant visas following the 2021 takeover by Taliban authorities.