IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE ARE AN AFGHAN IN DETENTION
Do not sign anything you do not understand, and do not sign anything without a copy. Ask for a lawyer. Tell every officer, every time, if you fear being sent to Afghanistan or to any other country. Then tell us what happened at afghanevac.org/removal, so we can count it and fight it.
A removal flight is being prepared. Afghan allies in detention are being told they may be sent to Pakistan or Afghanistan. Their lawyers still do not have answers about where they are going.
Meanwhile, the State Department is meeting just 41 percent of its court-ordered Chief of Mission processing benchmark, more than 13,000 Afghan allies remain overdue for decisions, and Congress is approaching another opportunity to act.
The next two weeks matter.
On November 9 and 10, veterans and Afghan allies will take their case directly to Congress. On Veterans Day, November 11, we will walk together from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol.
We need attorneys taking cases, families reporting detentions, advocates pressing Congress to protect Afghan allies, and veterans standing beside the people who stood beside us.
Here is what you need to know, and what you can do.
The removal flight is real. Some Afghans are being told Pakistan as a destination, others Afghanistan, and no one has been shown a travel document
Yet another deportation flight carrying Afghans landed in the Central African Republic last week, with at least 10 Afghans reportedly on board
State is meeting 41 percent of a court order, while more than 13,000 allies wait past the deadline set by the court
Veterans Day is November 11th, and the Promise Walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol
Ukrainians and Sudanese kept their TPS protection while DHS decides what to do next. Afghanistan did not get that courtesy
Election Day is November 3, and support for Afghan allies still crosses party lines
Take the actions below, then read on.
ACTION THIS WEEK
If an Afghan you know is detained, tell us today. Report it at afghanevac.org/removal. The most recent flight we’ve been told about is days away, and every report helps a lawyer move before it leaves.
Attorneys, join Counsel Corps. Attorneys on our team are putting together a practitioner’s guide for third country and unlawful removal litigation for counsel representing detained Afghans. Sign up for AfghanEvac Counsel Corps to get it as soon as it is ready (early this week), and to prepare to take a detained case.
Walk with us on Veterans Day. On Wednesday, November 11, veterans and Afghan allies walk together from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol. Sign up at showup.afghanevac.org/f/walk.
Join the fly-in, November 9 and 10. We train you and put you in meetings, ideally with your own members of Congress. Sign up at showup.afghanevac.org/f/flyin.
Write your member of Congress at afghanevac.org/tps. Ask them to sign the Afghanistan TPS Act discharge petition the day it opens. Anyone living in the United States can do it, citizen or not.
Fund the work at afghanevac.org/donate. Your gift brings veterans and Afghan allies to Washington and keeps Counsel Corps and Battle Buddies running after we leave. Organizations and companies that want to sponsor the fly-in, email me at shawn@afghanevac.org.
THE FLIGHT IS BOOKED
For two weeks, detained Afghans and their attorneys have reported that ICE officers were preparing people for removal in early November. AfghanEvac has now received information indicating that a Special High Risk Charter flight is scheduled to depart Louisiana during the first week of November.
What remains unclear is where that plane is going.
Some detained Afghans have been told Pakistan. Others have been told Afghanistan. We have also received reports from sources inside the government that Pakistan may be used as an intermediate destination before onward removal to Afghanistan. The individuals whose cases we are tracking have not been shown travel documents.
That uncertainty is precisely the problem. People facing removal must have a meaningful opportunity to raise claims that they would face persecution or torture in the country to which they are being sent. Their attorneys need sufficient notice to protect those rights. And the government must comply with every applicable court order.
The details we are gathering from attorneys fill in the rest, and none of it is reassuring.
We are hearing from inside the government that officials expect Pakistan to deport them. Pakistan is the stopover. Afghanistan is the destination.
The man who’d been told Pakistan at the airport had already been released. A federal judge in Texas released him in September. He flew to his family, reported to his first mandatory ICE check-in in Washington state, and was re-detained on the spot and shipped to Louisiana.
An Afghan man who had been granted protection from removal to Afghanistan, because an immigration judge found he would likely be tortured or killed there, was moved from Georgia to Jena, then to the Alexandria staging facility, and then deported to the Central African Republic. All within a week. His lawyers were given no notice.
And last week, yet another deportation flight arrived in the Central African Republic, with at least 10 Afghans reportedly on board. It is not the first. In August, the United States sent a group of deportees that included 12 Afghans there (KabulNow). These are people being sent to a country they have no connection to, half a world from anyone they know.
Our removal tracker has logged at least 30 reports since October 14, from at least 15 detention facilities in 11 states, from Louisiana, Texas, and Georgia to Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and here in California. When people were given a timeframe, it was almost always the same: early next month.
Afghans have every reason to fear being sent to Pakistan. Pakistan has arrested or detained 86,644 Afghans this year and deported more than 85,000 of them across the border to the Taliban, according to UNHCR and IOM, and it keeps deporting Afghans who are waiting in the American pipeline. Sending an Afghan to Pakistan is removal to Afghanistan with a layover. Sending a man protected from torture to a country he has never seen, without telling his lawyer, is not immigration enforcement. It is a deliberate choice to make sure no court gets the chance to stop it.
On Tuesday, we briefed attorneys from across the country on what is working in court. Our team is building a practitioner’s guide for counsel involved in third country and unlawful removal litigation in the fifth or ninth circuit, and any lawyer who wants it can sign up for Counsel Corps to receive it. We are also connecting attorneys in different states whose clients could be on the same flight, so they can share what is working instead of each starting from scratch. And we are asking Congressional offices to open inquiries for every detained Afghan whose family asks us to.
Our demand is simple. DHS must say where this plane is going, give every person slated or scheduled to be on it a real chance to state a fear of that country, and remove no one with a pending habeas petition or a grant of protection. If the government is confident this flight is lawful, it should have no trouble saying so in daylight.
Why it matters These men are being moved fast and quietly, because a removal flight is the one action no court can undo after takeoff. The next ten days decide whether they get a hearing or a one-way ticket. Report every detention at afghanevac.org/removal, and if you are a lawyer, take a case.
STATE MEETS JUST 41% OF COURT-ORDERED SIV PROCESSING TARGET
On Friday, the government and class counsel filed a joint status report with Judge Tanya Chutkan in Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Rubio, the case that forces the State Department to process Special Immigrant Visa applications on time (read the filing).
The numbers are the government’s own. In May, the court ordered State to meet monthly benchmarks for Chief of Mission decisions, the first step that confirms an applicant’s service. Over four months, State issued 3,693 decisions against a court-ordered 9,000. That is 41 percent. More than 13,000 allies have waited longer than the 120 days the plan allows, and the average wait is 666 days. State says interview scheduling has improved, down from 706 days to 291, and it deserves credit for that. But it is still capping the fix at 20 more Foreign Service Officers, five of whom have arrived, while admitting staff are being pulled into withdrawing approvals it already granted instead of deciding the cases in front of them.
Thank you to IRAP and Freshfields, who represent the allies covered by this lawsuit and pressed the court for real remedies, including overtime for trained staff and an honest accounting of how much of the unit’s time is going to revocations.
Why it matters A court order is not a suggestion. Every month State misses its benchmark, thousands of allies who served beside Americans stay in hiding or in limbo, and some of them run out of time. This is the case I will carry into every office on the Hill on November 9.
THE PROMISE WALK AND THE FLY-IN: NOVEMBER 9 TO 11
Three days in Washington, and we want you there.
Monday and Tuesday, November 9 and 10, we are on the Hill. Veterans and Afghan allies will meet with offices across Congress to push the bipartisan Afghanistan TPS Act (H.R. 9899 and S. 5308). It protects allies already here through July 1, 2029, requires full biometric and national security vetting, and has Republican and Democratic leads in both chambers. The discharge petition is expected to open that week, and we will ask members to sign it on day one. We will also brief staff on restarting Enduring Welcome pathways, resolving every case at Camp As Sayliyah, Chief of Mission revocations, family reunification, and more.
Wednesday, November 11, is the Promise Walk. On Veterans Day, veterans and Afghan allies will walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol, carrying Lincoln’s promise to care for those who served, and deliver it to Congress. Families are welcome.
Walk with us at showup.afghanevac.org/f/walk
Join the fly-in at showup.afghanevac.org/f/flyin. Veterans and allies are already signing up from Salem, Oregon, to Falls Church, Virginia, to Snellville, Georgia.
Sponsor the fly-in. AfghanEvac is seeking sponsors to help bring veterans and Afghan allies to Washington. Organizations and companies that want to sponsor, bring members, or co-sponsor, email me at shawn@afghanevac.org.
Rep. Sam Liccardo told reporters this week he and Rep Crow will move the petition after the recess, and AfghanEvac’s explanation of the bill was cited in the coverage.
SAME LAW, DIFFERENT RULES
Temporary Protected Status for Ukraine and Sudan was set to expire on October 19. Instead, DHS told CBS News that holders will “retain protection” while the department decides what to do, with no end date set (Visa Lawyer Blog).
I am glad those families are protected. Afghan allies were not given the same courtesy. Their TPS was terminated, and many of the people we brought here in 2021 are now losing work permits and sitting in detention. Same statute. Same department. A different choice.
Why it matters When the administration says its hands are tied on Afghanistan, this is the answer. They are not. DHS can hold protections in place when it wants to. Congress can make that permanent for Afghan allies by passing the Afghanistan TPS Act.
WHAT AFGHANS ARE TELLING US
Our check-in with everyone AfghanEvac has worked with since August 2021 is now well underway, and the answers are coming in every day. Many of the people answering are still in Afghanistan, or have family there.
The replies are hard to read. Here is some of what people wrote to us this week, with names and identifying details removed to protect them.
A former U.S. Army contractor, still in Kabul with his family: “My SIV case has been transferred to Pakistan, and I am currently awaiting my interview.” He is waiting on an interview in the same country that is deporting Afghans by the tens of thousands.
A father in Afghanistan: “I always change my house. My only hope is to get good news from your side.”
A family that has been living in North Macedonia since November 2021, still waiting to be resettled in the United States.
And a man who has written to organization after organization since 2021: “We have not given up hope. We are simply asking for a chance to live in safety, dignity, and peace.”
One man wrote back to ask why he never received a case number from us. He deserves a straight answer, and so does everyone else who has wondered. AfghanEvac is not the government. We do not issue case numbers, and we do not make policy. What we do is push the people who do, on behalf of Afghans who have cases, and these answers are how we show Congress who is still waiting. If you get an email from an address ending in afghanevac.org, it is from us. If you have not received one, start at checkin.afghanevac.org.
Why it matters America made a promise to these families. Many of them just told us, in their own words, that the promise has not been kept. Every answer goes into the record I carry to Washington.
PAKISTAN: 86,644 ARRESTED THIS YEAR
New figures from UNHCR and IOM show that between January 1 and October 17, Pakistan arrested or detained 86,644 Afghans and sent 812,131 back to Afghanistan, including 85,821 deportations (Amu TV). More than half of the arrests were in Balochistan. Arrests dipped 47 percent in mid-October, and UNHCR is urging Pakistan to exempt people with protection needs.
Many of the people pushed out are Afghans who were waiting in Pakistan for U.S. processing, including SIV applicants whose interviews are scheduled in Islamabad. Tension between Islamabad and Kabul remains high (Washington Times).
Why it matters Pakistan is where the U.S. asked many allies to wait. Now ICE officers are telling many detained Afghans that is where they are going, and officials inside government expect Pakistan to send them on. The road ends at the same border.
THE SUPREME COURT DECLINES A.A. v. MAST
On October 19, the Supreme Court denied review in A.A. v. Mast (No. 26-164), the Afghan family’s petition in their fight over the child taken from them through a Virginia adoption by a U.S. Marine. AfghanEvac joined an amicus brief with the Chamberlain Network urging the Court to hear it. The Court rarely takes any case, and this was always a long shot. That does not make it hurt less.
Thank you to Damon Porter, Paul Rodriguez, and the team at Hogan Lovells for their work on the brief, and to the Chamberlain Network for standing with this family.
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH: STILL WAITING
There are now 1,033 Afghan allies and family members at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar. As of October 17, 427 of them were children. This year, 155 people have left the camp, and 122 of them accepted the U.S. government’s offer to return to Afghanistan rather than keep waiting. The camp has nine more months. So far, it is not moving.
Why it matters These families did everything the United States asked. Every week the camp stands still, more of them decide that going home to danger is better than waiting on a promise. I will be raising every one of these cases on the Hill on November 9.
SAN DIEGO: CONGRESS AT THE DOOR
This week, Sen. Alex Padilla made an unannounced oversight visit to the ICE holding facility in the federal building in downtown San Diego, amid reports of a 45-day enforcement surge that began here. ICE would not confirm the operation (Office of Sen. Padilla).
He is not the first to walk through that door. Rep. Scott Peters, a longtime friend of Afghans, has shown up for our community more times than I can count, and so have other members of the San Diego delegation and delegations around the country.
That building is where Afghan allies in San Diego go for immigration court and ICE appointments, and where Battle Buddies have stood beside them. Oversight visits are how the people inside get seen. We want more members of Congress, from both parties, walking into these facilities unannounced, starting with the ones in Louisiana where Afghans are being staged for removal.
Why it matters A detained Afghan with no lawyer and no visitor is invisible. A member of Congress at the door changes that, and so does a volunteer in the waiting room. We would like to see members of Congress showing up all over the country.
A PARTNER STEPS INTO THE LIGHT
For five years, the Afghan Scout Relief Fund worked quietly, growing by word of mouth. This week it went public, with a new website at afghanscoutrelieffund.org that shows its programs and the students it serves. Congratulations to Stephen Gates and the whole ASRF team. Work like theirs is a reminder that the promise to Afghans is being kept every day by people who never asked for credit.
BATTLE BUDDIES
Not one Afghan ally who walked in with a Battle Buddy has been detained or deported.
This week, Battle Buddies stood with allies in San Diego and showed up at the Elizabeth, New Jersey detention court, where our volunteer learned the ally had already been released and confirmed where he needed to report next.
Volunteers now earn ribbons on their DISPATCH profiles for showing up, coming back for an ally’s next appointment, leading a squad, and meeting their member of Congress at home. Three appointments in the next two weeks still need a Battle Buddy.
We are also taking the facts to Afghan families in person. Community town halls have run from Rochester to Raleigh, with Chicago and Texas next.
NOVEMBER 3: ELECTION DAY
Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, and in many states early voting is already underway. Every seat in the House of Representatives and about a third of the Senate are on the ballot, along with governors, state legislatures, and local offices across the country. The new Congress takes office in January.
AfghanEvac is a nonpartisan 501(c)(3). We do not endorse candidates or parties, and we never will. But here is what I know to be true. Support for Afghan allies has never belonged to one party. The Afghanistan TPS Act has Republican and Democratic leads in both the House and the Senate. And in July, a bipartisan polling team, Lake Research Partners and The Tarrance Group, found that 84 percent of likely 2026 voters say the United States should keep its commitments to Afghan allies and their families.
If you are eligible, vote. You can check your registration at vote.gov. Ask the candidates on your ballot where they stand on Afghan allies. Whoever wins, we will be in their office in January.
[BUTTON: See the bipartisan polling → reports.afghanevac.org/polling]
COMING UP
First week of November. The Special High Risk Charter flight out of Louisiana.
November 3. Election Day.
November 6. The D.C. Circuit hears the appeal in Afghan and Iraqi Allies v. Rubio.
November 9 and 10. Afghanistan TPS Act fly-in. Sign up at showup.afghanevac.org/f/flyin.
November 11, Veterans Day. The Promise Walk, Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol. Sign up at showup.afghanevac.org/f/walk.
November 13. Comments due on the refugee 10-day rule.
IN THE NEWS
Stories from the past week.
Deportations and detention
Trump administration deported nearly 1 million through July, report finds -- The Washington Post
ICE failed to monitor detainee at risk of suicide who later killed himself -- The Washington Post
Trump’s DOJ told a judge how to rule. Then it pulled her from immigration court. -- The Washington Post
Citizenship and the election
72 percent drop in approving new citizens leaves would-be voters in limbo -- The Washington Post
Immigrants seeking US citizenship targeted in Trump administration’s illegal voting crackdown -- Associated Press
Trump officials soften approach to key immigration policy ahead of midterms -- The Washington Post
Congress and TPS
US Lawmaker Pushes To Restore Deportation Protections For 8,000 Afghans -- Afghanistan International
DHS Allows Ukraine and Sudan TPS Protections to Continue as Expiration Deadline Approaches -- Visa Lawyer Blog
Pakistan and the region
UN agencies: More than 86,000 Afghans held in Pakistan this year -- Amu TV
Pakistan urges Afghanistan to act against militants and denies recruiting Afghan fighters -- Associated Press
Afghan women and girls
Remembering a time when Afghan women had a voice and agency -- The Guardian
Afghan women could lose one of their last paths to a higher education -- DW
A government that believed in what it was doing would announce the flight, name the country, and let the courts look. This one books a charter, keeps the destination to itself, and sends people protected from torture to a country they have never seen, without a word to their lawyers.
I cannot promise every plane stays on the ground. I can promise that every Afghan you tell us about will be counted, that every lawyer who steps up will have help, and that on November 11, veterans and the allies who stood beside them will walk to the Capitol together and hand Congress the promise it made.
Report every detention. Take a case. Comment by November 13. Walk with us on Veterans Day.
They are counting on silence. Let’s not give it to them.