Trump Administration Plans to Deport Some Afghan Immigrants to Afghanistan, Reuters Reports, With a First Flight Expected as Soon as Monday

President Donald Trump's administration plans to deport some Afghan immigrants to Afghanistan, a U.S. official and a coalition of veterans and advocacy groups said on Friday, Reuters reported — a move that would return people to the Taliban-run country many of them fled in 2021.

More than 150 Afghan immigrants are expected to be deported, the New York Times reported, in one of the largest single expulsions of Afghans. The administration has detained dozens of Afghan immigrants in Louisiana and plans to deport them, the newspaper said, with the first flight expected as soon as Monday. A U.S. official said the deportations would be carried out via Pakistan, because Washington cannot arrange deportations directly to Afghanistan — it has no diplomatic ties with the Taliban.

Many of those facing removal fled Afghanistan after the 2021 Taliban takeover and the U.S. withdrawal, said Shawn VanDiver, the head of #AfghanEvac, the veterans-led coalition that tracks Afghan allies' cases. Some facing deportation are, in VanDiver's words, brothers and sons of men who served alongside U.S. forces — families, he said, that the Taliban already has every reason to target. VanDiver urged Congress to pass legislation granting Afghans in the United States temporary protected status to shield them from deportation.

The Department of Homeland Security said it would not confirm future removal operations, citing operational security. The administration says its immigration crackdown and deportation drive aim to improve domestic security; rights advocates say the crackdown violates due process and free-speech protections and has created an unsafe environment for minorities. Pakistan, the transit country named by the U.S. official, has itself expelled more than 2 million Afghan nationals to Afghanistan since 2023, Reuters noted.