Judge Temporarily Blocks Afghan Deportations Via Pakistan Through Saturday

A federal judge in New York on Tuesday temporarily barred the United States from deporting Afghan nationals to Afghanistan or Pakistan through Saturday, November 7.

U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni wrote that the government "has effectively represented that no Afghanistan nationals will be deported from the United States to Afghanistan or Pakistan this week," and ordered officials to abide by that assurance. A senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official had told the court there were "no planned or confirmed chartered or commercial flights" for such removals this week.

The order followed a plan, described in court documents obtained by the Associated Press, to put more than 150 Afghans held in ICE custody in Louisiana on flights to Pakistan as early as Monday, for onward transfer to Afghanistan. A deportation flight had been scheduled to leave Alexandria, Louisiana, around 7 p.m. on Election Day, bound for Pakistan, according to Shawn VanDiver, president and founder of #AfghanEvac.

The flight will not leave this week after backlash from veterans, advocates and lawmakers and the judge's intervention, USA Today reported. Some of those slated for removal served alongside the U.S. military or are relatives of those who did, advocates said.

The order is temporary only: it does not rule on whether the deportations would be lawful. The administration's formal response was due Thursday, November 5, at 9 a.m., and advocates fear a flight could be rescheduled within a week or two after the pause lapses.