A deportation plane carrying about 70 foreign nationals, one of an increasing number of flights that have sent thousands of immigrants to countries where they have no ties, left for the Central African Republic on Friday, according to advocacy organizations.
On board was a 24-year-old Afghan whose father, brother and sister worked alongside U.S. forces, said AfghanEvac, a U.S.-based group that assists Afghan allies, the American Civil Liberties Union and a person familiar with the operation who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Deporting relatives of Afghans who aided the U.S. military during its 20-year campaign in Afghanistan breaks a longstanding American commitment to protect wartime allies. Thousands of Afghans fled with their families after the Taliban overthrew the U.S.-backed government in Kabul five years ago.
Under the Biden administration, many received special visas or asylum. Immigration judges granted others “withholding of removal,” which allows noncitizens not granted asylum to remain in the United States because they would face grave danger if returned to their country.
But under its immigration crackdown, the Trump administration has sought to strip hundreds of thousands of people of their protected statuses. Last July, following a Supreme Court ruling, the administration began signing accords with third countries to accept deportees.
About 19,000 people have been sent to Mexico even though they have no ties to the country. Overall, 23,000 have been sent to countries they are not originally from, according to Human Rights First and Refugees International, groups that track third-country deportation flights.
Friday’s flight was the third since June to the Central African Republic, a country enduring its own civil war., according to Human Rights First, which tracks deportation flights.
“Sending people who won protection in immigration court to a conflict zone is a callous and deliberate strategy by this administration to force people to abandon their claims and rights,” said Sarah Mehta, deputy director of immigration policy and government affairs at the American Civil Liberties Union.
Khalil, the 24-year-old deported on Friday, was granted withholding of removal last year by an immigration judge who found his fear of persecution credible, according to his lawyer, Alma David.
Several members of Khalil’s family assisted the U.S. military, according to his lawyer and family. A brother, who lives in New York, served as a database administrator for the Afghan National Army, which collaborated with the U.S. mission. Another brother, a pilot trained by the United States, was killed fighting the Taliban in 2020.
After Kabul fell in August 2021, the family fled to Pakistan, and the Taliban raided their house in search of them, according to interviews with two brothers who now live in the United States.
Khalil, identified by his first name at the request of his lawyer out of concern for his safety, traveled to the United States in the hopes of joining his brothers in 2024. He was detained after crossing the border and applied for asylum.
Army Col. Zachary Schmidt, who supervised Khalil’s brother, Najib, during the U.S. military campaign, testified at Khalil’s asylum hearing. He told the judge that he had seen texts and handwritten letters from the Taliban to Khalil’s brother, threatening the family because of work he performed in support of the U.S. mission.
“I firmly believe that if this young man is forced to return to Afghanistan he will be killed,” he said of Khalil in an interview. “The United States made a commitment to protect the people who helped us, and that includes their families.”
Najib, the brother, said in an interview that he had left Afghanistan in 2014 and applied for a special status granted to Afghans who assisted the United States as well as petitioned for asylum. (He has since obtained a green card.)
“We paid the price of serving the U.S. government; my brother was killed,” he said. “Now the situation with Khalil is very, very unfair. He could get killed immediately” if forced to return to Afghanistan.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the deportation of relatives of Afghan allies.
In a statement, the department said, “For operational security and the safety of our personnel, we would never disclose information about our deportation flights. We are applying the law as written. If a judge finds an illegal alien has no right to be in this country, we are going to remove them.”
Among those deported Friday were about 20 Afghan nationals, according to advocacy organizations and a person familiar with the operation. Another 10 were Iranians. Others were from Nepal, Nicaragua and other countries.
“Iranians who can’t go back to a war zone and Afghans who fear deportation to the Taliban are going to be essentially under house arrest, in an unstable country,” said Ms. Mehta of the A.C.L.U. “This is not immigration policy; it’s cruelty.”
The first third-country flight departed for South Sudan in July 2025.
“We’ve seen a dramatic escalation in third country deportations to countries in Africa,” said Savi Arvey, director of policy, refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First.
Friday’s flight took off from the Dallas area, according to Human Rights First. It was scheduled to make stops in Senegal and Sierra Leone before landing in the Central African capital of Bangui.
The Trump administration has increasingly relied on third-country agreements with impoverished, troubled countries to deport nationals whose countries refuse to accept them, or whom a judge has found would be in peril if repatriated.
Many of the countries, such as the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of The Congo, appear on State Department advisories warning against travel there.
“These countries are not committed to providing these men and women any protection or long-term status,” said Ms. David, Khalil’s lawyer. “These people are going to end up back in the very country where a judge has determined they are more likely than not to face severe harm.”
Until then, the deportees are often confined in ramshackle housing, according to advocates, and they receive no legal status, work authorization or legal support.
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