Immigration

U.S. plans to deport more than 150 Afghans via Pakistan, reports say — first flight could leave Monday

Washington • October 31, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

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The Trump administration plans to deport more than 150 Afghan immigrants detained in the United States, routing them through Pakistan toward Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, according to reporting published October 30 by The New York Times and confirmed in part by Reuters on October 31. The first chartered flight could leave as early as Monday, November 2.

It would be one of the largest single expulsions of Afghans from the United States, the Times reported. The administration has not publicly announced the operation, and no passenger list or flight schedule has been publicly confirmed.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has moved Afghan detainees from facilities across the country to Louisiana in recent days, according to the reports, and dozens are now detained there. A U.S. official told Reuters the deportations would go via Pakistan. Washington cannot arrange deportations directly to Afghanistan because it has no diplomatic relations with the Taliban authorities, Reuters noted.

Many of those facing removal fled Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover and the U.S. withdrawal in 2021, said Shawn VanDiver, head of AfghanEvac, a coalition of veterans and advocacy groups. Some facing deportation are “brothers and sons of men who served alongside US forces, families the Taliban already has every reason to target,” VanDiver said, according to Reuters. The Times reported the group also includes relatives of people who assisted the U.S. military and at least one gay man, raising fears of persecution under Taliban rule.

Advocates have urged Congress to intervene. VanDiver called on lawmakers to pass legislation granting Afghans in the United States temporary protected status to shield them from deportation, Reuters reported. Global Refuge, a refugee resettlement organization, said on October 30 that the plan should be halted or reversed before any flight carries the group to Pakistan, from where Pakistan would be expected to expel them across the border into Afghanistan.

Pakistan has expelled more than 2 million Afghan nationals to Afghanistan since 2023, according to Reuters. The Department of Homeland Security told Reuters it would not confirm future removal operations, citing operational security, and ICE has said it does not comment on prospective removal operations, including flight schedules or passenger manifests.

What happens next depends on the courts and on whether the reported flights proceed as planned. Lawyers and advocacy groups have been pressing emergency legal challenges in individual cases, and the details that remain unconfirmed — who is ultimately placed aboard, and when — are the ones families are still waiting to learn.

Sources: The New York Times (Oct 30, 2026); Reuters (Oct 30–31, 2026); ABC News (Oct 31, 2026, court filing reviewed in one detainee's case); Global Refuge statement (Oct 30, 2026).