Human Rights First Alarmed By Reports that U.S. Government is Planning to Carry Out Deportation Flights to Afghanistan and Iran via Pakistan

Washington, D.C. — Human Rights First is extremely concerned by reports from attorneys that the Trump administration is preparing to forcibly remove hundreds of Afghans to Afghanistan through a deportation flight via Pakistan. Those targeted could include Afghans who have sought safety in the United States and family members of Afghan allies who worked alongside U.S. military forces and aid organizations. This would mark the first large-scale U.S. deportation flight of Afghans into the hands of the Taliban.

As detailed in Human Rights First’s research on risks for Afghans, individuals returned to Afghanistan face grave, systematic dangers, including arbitrary detentions, executions, public flogging, and retaliatory violence. Women and girls face severe restrictions on basic freedoms, including systematic denials of education, employment, and public speech. Furthermore, it appears the U.S. government may carry out these mass removals via Pakistan, which is already forcibly expelling hundreds of thousands of displaced Afghans back to grave danger under Taliban rule. UN monitors continue to raise alarm about escalating human rights violations in Afghanistan and the failure of Pakistan and other states to adhere to international law prohibitions against return to persecution and torture.

Reports from attorneys also indicate that the administration may also soon send another deportation flight forcing Iranians back to Iran, the fourth since the start of the Trump administration, and the first since the beginning of the war in February. In addition to the severe war-related risks in Iran, including high numbers of civilian casualties and food and water shortages, there continues to be documented persecution, imprisonment and abuse of individuals who oppose the government. Human Rights First’s ICE Flight Monitor tracked three prior flights to Iran via Kuwait and Qatar from fall 2025 through early 2026, at the height of the regime’s violent repression of protests. The individuals deported have included Christian converts, ethnic minorities, and political dissidents.

"By creating arrangements with countries such as Kuwait, Qatar, and now Pakistan, the Trump administration is effectuating removals to active war zones and severe security crises where individuals may be at grave risk,” said Uzra Zeya, President and CEO of Human Rights First. “The administration’s cruel mass deportation agenda has swept up family members of Afghan allies and Iranian political dissidents. Through our legal representation and research, Human Rights First has documented the grave risks that await our Afghan allies if they are forced to return to Afghanistan, and that Iranians would undoubtedly face in Iran. Deportation flights to certain harm and insecurity—in Afghanistan, Iran, and beyond—must be stopped, and robust Congressional oversight is overdue.”

Human Rights First’s ICE Flight Monitor will be monitoring these expected flights to Afghanistan and Iran via Pakistan in real time via our BlueSky and X accounts.