The United States is preparing to deport more than 150 Afghan immigrants detained in Louisiana, flying them first to Pakistan and then onwards to Afghanistan, according to sealed court filings and statements from officials reported by American media. The first charter flights could begin as early as Monday, 2 November 2026 — in what would be one of the largest Afghan deportation flights organised by the Trump administration so far.
The operation has not been officially announced, and no government — neither Washington nor Islamabad — has confirmed the full details publicly. Everything known so far rests on sealed federal court documents obtained by the Associated Press, three unnamed US officials cited by The New York Times, and refugee advocacy groups that track deportation flights. Here is what the record shows, what remains unverified, and why the planned route through Pakistan has drawn sharp criticism.
What the filings show
Two court documents do most of the work. In a case filed in federal court in Virginia on Friday, a senior ICE official acknowledged that an Afghan immigrant had been scheduled to be on an upcoming charter flight from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Pakistan “with further transport onward to Afghanistan.” The filing was made in the case of an immigrant who is not in detention and is challenging the deportation effort in court.
In a separate case in Oklahoma, federal prosecutors disclosed on Monday that another Afghan immigrant was scheduled to be deported to Afghanistan at some point next week. The Associated Press, which obtained the sealed filings, reported that the first removals could begin as early as Monday.
The New York Times reported on Friday, on information from three unnamed US officials, that more than 150 Afghan immigrants are expected to be deported in the current push and that the first flight could leave as soon as Monday. The plan to route the deportees through Pakistan was first reported by Bloomberg earlier in the week.
The detainees have been gathered in Louisiana from immigration facilities across the country, according to The New York Times. Advocacy groups say ICE has moved dozens of Afghan detainees to the Central Louisiana processing centre in recent days, concentrating them ahead of the planned removals.
A spokesperson for the US Department of Homeland Security told the Associated Press on Saturday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not comment on future removal operations, citing operational security and personnel safety.
Why the route runs through Pakistan
The reason for the detour is diplomatic, not geographic. The United States has no formal relations with the Taliban government, so Washington cannot arrange direct removals to Afghanistan. The three US officials who spoke to The New York Times said Pakistan would oversee the expulsion onwards once the deportees reach Pakistani territory.
The mechanism is an established one. The Associated Press reported that the Trump administration has deported thousands of immigrants to countries other than their own, using third-country removals where Washington cannot send people home directly — and, in some cases, as a deterrent. US immigration judges have often determined that a person’s life would be in jeopardy if returned, and it was not immediately clear whether any of those designated for return to Afghanistan hold protective court orders.
The wider Afghanistan deportation 2026 backdrop is stark. President Trump issued travel bans on several countries including Afghanistan, sought to end deportation protections for Afghans, and paused the Afghan resettlement programme built under his predecessor. Thousands of people who spent years in vetting remain stranded, including more than 1,000 Afghans at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar — people who assisted the US war effort or are relatives of US service members.
For Pakistan, the plan arrives at a delicate moment. Islamabad already runs a repatriation campaign of its own: the government ordered law enforcement nationwide to arrest Afghan citizens without visas earlier this year, part of a years-long policy that has pushed back millions of Afghans who fled after the Taliban returned to power. Our Afghanistan news roundup tracks the wider Kabul–Islamabad file, where terrorism from Afghan soil remains Islamabad’s stated red line.
Rights groups warn the plan is “beyond egregious”
Refugee advocates say the risk to the deportees is not theoretical. Human Rights First, which tracks US deportation flights, said on Saturday that it had confirmed a scheduled flight from Louisiana to Pakistan on Tuesday carrying Afghan immigrants. Its director of policy for refugee and immigrant rights, Savitri Arvey, described the move as “beyond egregious” and said it followed earlier removals the group had tracked: Iranian Christian converts and political dissidents removed via Qatar and Kuwait to Iran, and a Russian political dissident removed via Egypt to Russia.
Shawn VanDiver, president of the advocacy group #AfghanEvac, said the administration was preparing the flights while public attention focused on the US midterm elections on 3 November, “hoping no one is watching.” “America is about to put Afghans on a plane to the Taliban,” he said, adding that some of those facing removal are “the brothers and sons of men who served alongside US forces, families the Taliban already has every reason to target.”
Global Refuge, a refugee resettlement agency, issued a statement on 30 October expressing concern at the plan and calling for it to be halted or reversed before any deportation flight carries more than 150 Afghans to Pakistan. Its president and CEO, Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, said: “Five years ago, Americans watched Afghans cling to planes to escape the Taliban. On Monday, our government plans to charter one back to their persecutors’ hands.”
Global Refuge called on the US Congress to demand full disclosure of any arrangement with Pakistan or the Taliban, to require confirmation that no one slated for removal holds a court order barring deportation to Afghanistan, and to ensure pending legal challenges are resolved first. The agency noted that Pakistan has deported millions of Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan since 2023 amid an ongoing crackdown, raising fears about what awaits the new arrivals.
What is still unconfirmed
Significant gaps remain in the public record. No flight has been confirmed to have departed, and the dates in circulation differ: the Associated Press described removals starting as early as Monday, while Human Rights First says it confirmed a flight on Tuesday. The number — more than 150 — rests on unnamed officials, and no published list of detainees exists.
On the Pakistani side the record is thinner than the American one. Officials at the Pakistani embassy in Washington did not respond to Associated Press emails, and no statement from Islamabad has been published. Nothing public says whether Pakistan agreed to receive the detainees, whether the Afghan authorities would be notified, or what mechanism would move people from a Pakistani airport towards the Afghan border.
There is also no answer yet to what happens to people who reach Pakistan. The Taliban announced a general amnesty for Afghans who worked with Western-backed forces after retaking power, while the United Nations has recorded reports of extrajudicial killings, detentions and abuses. It is also not immediately clear whether any of those designated for return hold protective court orders — a point both the courts and Congress may yet have to resolve before the planes take off.
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