Afghan Deportation Flights Paused — But No One Knows for How Long

What if the deportation flight you were told would leave this week suddenly has no date — but no one officially cancels it either? That is exactly where more than 150 Afghans in ICE detention stand right now. A flight that was originally scheduled to remove them to Afghanistan via Pakistan has been grounded, but the Trump administration has not canceled it. Advocates describe the mood as "fragile relief."

What happened — and what changed

A federal judge blocked the original flight after ruling the removals could cause irreparable harm. That temporary court order expired the weekend of November 8–9, 2026. Advocates feared the administration would reschedule the flight for the week of November 16. Instead, late on November 11, lawyers learned that at least one Afghan man — and several others on the original flight manifest — no longer had a government-issued departure date. Some detainees were also moved from staging facilities back to long-term detention, a sign they would not be put on a plane in the coming days. The Department of Homeland Security told reporters that ICE does not confirm or deny upcoming removal operations for security reasons.

The people on the flight list are not a random group. Among them are Afghans whose relatives helped US troops after September 11, 2001; women; at least one gay man; and members of the Hazara ethnic minority — some of whom say the Taliban has already beaten them. Human Rights First has documented "arbitrary detentions, executions, public flogging, and retaliatory violence" against people returned to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. One detained man, represented by Shaw Drake of the University of New Mexico School of Law, says his wife is a former Afghan military officer and that he himself was severely beaten by Taliban fighters searching for her. A federal court in New Mexico issued a 14-day stay after his mental health deteriorated in ICE custody in El Paso, Texas. A second Hazara man told US asylum officers he was electrocuted and beaten with sticks by Taliban members after he reported them to police for killing his father. Officers acknowledged his testimony but said the evidence was insufficient.

The legal backdrop is complicated. All of the targeted Afghans reportedly have final removal orders, meaning the US government can legally deport them. But advocates and more than 60 members of Congress argue that a final removal order does not erase the legal bar against sending someone to a country where they face torture — a protection written into federal law. In a letter to DHS and the State Department, those lawmakers wrote: "That obligation does not disappear because a flight makes a stop along the way." The coalition #AfghanEvac, led by founder Shawn VanDiver, is pushing the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress to pass a bipartisan bill that would grant Afghans already in the US temporary protected status (TPS) through July 2029. The US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to strip existing TPS protections from Afghans earlier in 2026.

What to do

• If you or a family member is Afghan and in ICE detention, contact an immigration attorney immediately — even with a final removal order, you may have grounds to file an emergency stay of removal based on fear of torture or persecution under the Convention Against Torture (CAT).
• If you have a pending asylum or TPS case, do not miss any court dates or USCIS deadlines. Missing a hearing can result in an automatic removal order.
• Contact organizations like Human Rights First or #AfghanEvac — they are actively tracking this situation and may be able to connect you with pro bono legal help.
• If a congressman or senator represents your area, their office can sometimes intervene in urgent deportation cases — call, don't just email.

Related: our step-by-step guide — “Preparing for Your Asylum Interview”.