Pakistan Emerges as Transit Point in Trump Deportation Plans, Sparking Persecution Fears

Early on Tuesday, November 10, a small private charter jet lifted off from Mesa, Arizona, carrying Iranian nationals bound for deportation. About thirty minutes later it landed back at the same airport. At least nine Iranian detainees were returned to an immigration facility in Arizona. The aircraft, according to the monitoring group Human Rights First, could hold 17 passengers.

The New York Times reported that Pakistan had abruptly declined to receive the deportees, which forced the turnaround. That account rests on an anonymous US official and on a detainee's relative, who said an Iranian official told him of the refusal. Neither Washington nor Islamabad has offered a detailed explanation. American journalist Roger Parloff said Pakistan had "got cold feet."

It was the second aborted attempt to send Iranians through Pakistan in three days. On November 8, at least eight Iranians had boarded a different aircraft in Arizona for a route through Georgia and Pakistan. The Associated Press reported that flight was cancelled without explanation. An emergency court filing, reported by Anadolu Agency on November 8, said 11 Iranians, ten men and a woman, were scheduled for transfer through Islamabad. The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund said detainees had reportedly received 15-day Pakistani transit visas, and the filing said an Iranian official visited detainees in Arizona and showed them a passenger manifest.

The Afghan track came first. On October 31, the Associated Press reported that court documents showed plans to fly detained Afghans from Louisiana to Pakistan and then on to Afghanistan. On November 2, CBS News, citing an American official, said nearly 200 Afghans could be deported this way; the plan covered roughly 150 to 200 people, who would be moved on to Taliban-controlled territory. On November 3, US District Judge Valerie Caproni temporarily barred the deportation of Afghans to Pakistan or Afghanistan until November 7.

Pakistan has acknowledged only the Afghan discussions. On November 6, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said the matter was under consideration and that all aspects were being examined with the stakeholders concerned, as Dawn reported. Islamabad says no agreement has been finalised.

The logic of the route is diplomatic. The New York Times noted that Washington has no formal relations with Iran or with the Taliban government, which complicates direct removals. Pakistan borders both countries and hosts Iran's Interests Section at its embassy in Washington, which made it a candidate for intermediary.

Criticism has been sharp. Ashraf Haidari, a former Afghan diplomat and founder of Displaced International, said on November 4 that Pakistan must not become a back door to persecution under Taliban rule, and urged the administration to halt the removals and Congress to make the reprieve lasting protection. Senator Jeanne Shaheen called the plan reprehensible, warning that women, children and former American military allies could end up in Taliban custody. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration policy expert, wrote on November 7 that the court's order was only temporary and that ICE still wanted to deport these people via Pakistan. He pointed to a gay Afghan man, married to a US citizen, who has lived in America since childhood. Among the proposed deportees are also political dissidents and religious minorities.

On November 2, Representative Scott Peters led 66 members of Congress in demanding the administration cancel the Iranian and Afghan deportations. Their letter urged Washington to warn Islamabad against helping transfers to the Taliban and raised possible sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act.

Key questions remain open: whether Pakistan approved the transit visas, whether it agreed to receive the November 10 flight, and why it reportedly backed out. What to watch is whether courts keep blocking removals, and whether Pakistan settles its position.