Judge Pauses Afghan Deportation Flights Through Saturday

A federal judge in Manhattan has temporarily barred the Trump administration from deporting detained Afghan nationals to Afghanistan or Pakistan through Saturday, a short-term order that rests on the administration’s own statement that no such flights were scheduled this week.

U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York issued the temporary restraining order on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press, in a report carried by NBC News, and ABC News. The order expires Saturday, Nov. 7, unless the court extends or dissolves it, according to ABC News.

A US federal court has temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s plan to deport a number of Afghan migrants to Afghanistan via Pakistan.

US media reported that federal Judge Valerie Caproni in New York issued the order on November 3, and it will remain in effect until… pic.twitter.com/6h7zfur5Sc

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The order came after government attorneys told the court that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had “no planned or confirmed chartered or commercial flights” to deport Afghan nationals to Afghanistan or Pakistan at least through the end of the week, ABC News reported. The AP reported that ICE books such flights weeks in advance.

An order built on the government’s own word

Judge Caproni’s written order directs the administration to “comply with and adhere to the representations” made by an ICE deputy assistant director that there are no planned flights for the duration of the order “and that it takes weeks to make such arrangements,” according to ABC News. In other words, the court did not rule that the deportations themselves are unlawful. It bound officials to what the government had already told the court.

The administration consented to that order, according to a review of the signed order published by RadarOnline, which said the ruling “does not constitute a final ruling on whether the proposed deportations would be lawful.” The lawsuit was filed by an advocacy group, Project Rousseau, on behalf of Afghan clients, according to the same report.

Bloomberg Law reported that the administration had been making plans to send Afghan nationals to Pakistan as early as Tuesday, according to court filings and attorneys whose clients were expected to be on the flight. Advocates said they expected the flight to leave from Louisiana, Bloomberg Law reported. The AP reported that court documents showed a planned Monday departure from Louisiana, where ICE runs detention and processing facilities.

Democrats and advocates pushed back

A letter led by Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., and signed by 65 other members of the House and Senate warned that deporting Afghans to Afghanistan or Pakistan could expose them to “persecution, torture, or even death,” according to the AP. The letter was sent Monday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the AP reported.

Shawn VanDiver, president of the advocacy group AfghanEvac, called the order “a reprieve, not a resolution,” according to ABC News. ABC News also reported that a Justice Department filing last week indicated dozens of Afghan detainees, possibly including relatives of Afghans who worked alongside the U.S. military, were expected to be removed this week.

What comes next

The order is temporary and narrow. It covers a single week, and the government’s response to the emergency motion is due Thursday morning, according to a breakdown of the court docket. The broader question of whether the administration can carry out these removals remains open.

The ruling lands as the administration presses ahead with what the Department of Homeland Security calls record removals. DHS said in a Nov. 3 release that nearly 1.2 million illegal aliens had been deported as of October,.

For now, any Afghan deportation flight would have to wait until after Saturday, unless the court changes its order.

Reporting by Daily Beltway.