The Trump administration plans to deport more than 150 Afghan detainees through Pakistan. The route could return at-risk immigrants to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.The US has not publicly announced the operation.

The Trump administration is preparing to deport more than 150 Afghan immigrants detained across the United States, including people who could face persecution under Taliban rule, by routing their removal through Pakistan, according to a report by The New York Times. The planned expulsions could mark one of the largest single deportations of Afghans from the US.The group includes relatives of people who worked with the US military and at least one gay man, who could face severe punishment in Afghanistan.

Three US officials told the newspaper that the first flight could leave as early as November 2, with the detainees being transferred to Pakistan before being sent across the border into Afghanistan.The plan offers the Trump administration a way around a major obstacle to deporting Afghans directly. The US does not have diplomatic relations with the Taliban government and cannot arrange removals through normal diplomatic channels.

In addition, some Afghans in the country have obtained legal protections from US courts because they could face persecution if returned.However, the officials said the deportations were effectively intended to send the detainees back to Afghanistan. The immigrants themselves have also been told by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that they are being sent there.

HOW THE DEPORTATION PLAN WORKSThe US has not publicly announced the operation. According to The NYT, which reconstructed the plan through interviews with lawyers and three US officials, detainees have been moved from immigration facilities across the country to detention centres in Louisiana in recent days.Court documents indicate that at least one Afghan immigrant has been placed on the passenger list for a specially chartered flight scheduled to leave Alexandria, Louisiana, during the first week of November.

Lawyers representing two other detainees also shared emails from federal officials informing them that their clients were due to be deported in early November. The proposed route through Pakistan is particularly significant because US law prohibits the government from deporting people to countries where courts have determined they would most likely face persecution.

It remains unclear whether any of the Afghans included in the November operation have secured such protections.GAY MAN FEARS RETURN TO AFGHANISTANAmong those facing deportation is Mohammad, a 47-year-old Afghan immigrant who has spent most of his life in the US. He told The NYT that he was detained by federal agents last year while charging his electric car and was initially held in Oklahoma before being transferred to a prison in Louisiana last week.Mohammad said his family fled Afghanistan in 1981, when he was two years old, following the Soviet invasion.

He grew up in the US but lost his permanent residency after two felony convictions in 2003, involving robbery and making threats against a school, according to government documents. He spent about three years in prison and subsequently rebuilt his life while regularly reporting to immigration authorities.He also spoke about his sexuality, saying he had come to accept being gay and married an American man in 2020.

A return to Afghanistan, where homosexuality is punishable by death, could put his life at risk.Another Afghan man facing removal told a US court that the Taliban arrested and tortured him in 2023 because of his wife's association with Afghanistan's previous government. She had served in the Afghan army and the women's police force, both of which were targeted for retaliation after the Taliban returned to power.

The man entered the US illegally in 2024 and has remained in ICE custody since his arrest. His asylum application was rejected by a US judge.

His lawyer shared the court documents with the newspaper on condition that he remain unnamed.PAKISTAN'S OWN DEPORTATION CAMPAIGNPakistan's role in the proposed deportation route is significant, given that Islamabad is already pursuing a sweeping campaign against Afghan nationals. Since 2023, more than 2.7 million Afghans have been expelled or forced to return, with Pakistan citing national security concerns.Pakistan has accused the Taliban of sheltering militant groups responsible for repeated attacks on its territory.

The expulsions have become one of the ways Islamabad is attempting to pressure the Taliban government. Pakistan has also vowed to remove all Afghans, including those with legal status, with around 1.5 million still living in the country.The campaign is not just limited to refugees, traders and daily-wage workers.

Afghan health professionals who moved to Pakistan for specialised training have also faced visa cancellations and non-renewals. Hundreds of doctors have reportedly lost their jobs and face possible expulsion.A MUCH LARGER EXPULSION EFFORTPrevious US administrations have also deported Afghans through intermediary countries.

However, those removals involved relatively small numbers, generally people facing serious criminal charges, including terrorism-related offences.Data from the Deportation Data Project, a research initiative involving the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, Los Angeles, shows that the US sent around 97 Afghans back over the past four years.The planned November operation is considerably broader. It involves people who entered the US both legally and illegally, including some with criminal records, and forms part of the Trump administration's wider drive to carry out mass deportations.Over the past two years, the administration has tightened immigration restrictions on Afghans who supported the US war effort, deported others to African countries and encouraged some Afghans stranded at a former US military facility in Qatar to return voluntarily.- Ends