A New Mexico federal judge paused the deportation of an Afghan detainee at Camp East Montana on Monday, just as the Trump administration is reportedly preparing to deport Afghans detained in the United States to their home country through Pakistan this week.
Advocacy groups say the move could put the Afghans’ lives at risk, as those deported could face retaliation from the Taliban, the governing entity in Afghanistan since 2021. Thousands fled persecution and feared for their lives after helping the U.S. military and aid groups in Afghanistan.
Sardar Akbari, the 31-year-old Afghan being held at Camp East Montana, is among those with deportation orders to Afghanistan. He had been detained in the Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, New Mexico, southeast of Albuquerque for almost two years before being transferred to El Paso on Oct. 27. Court documents show the transfer was for “staging for execution” of his final removal order.
“We believe this client is at high risk of being put on a plane to Pakistan,” said Rebecca Sheff, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU of New Mexico. “It’s cruel, heartless and reckless for the federal government to be doing this, especially to people like Afghans who have helped us, taking on risking their lives to support us in the war efforts in Afghanistan.”
Akbari fled his home country after the Taliban “severely beat him” while members of the group searched for his wife – targeting her because of her prior service with the Afghanistan military, according to New Mexico district court records.
Making his way to the United States, Akbari said he was robbed and assaulted in Peru and in Mexico before crossing into South Texas on Dec. 28, 2024. Seeking asylum, he surrendered to Border Patrol agents and was taken into federal immigration custody. The next day, U.S. authorities issued a determination of inadmissibility, according to a document cited in the court filings. He has been in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention since.
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His wife and child also fled Afghanistan, though court records don’t offer any other details about their whereabouts.
In March, an immigration judge ordered Akbari removed to Afghanistan and his removal order became final in April.
After a flurry of court activity the past week, New Mexico Chief District Judge Kenneth J. Gonzales on Monday stayed the execution of Akbari’s removal order for 14 days and until he is satisfied that adequate safeguards are in place to protect against the risk of suicide.
“The ruling was based on the acute mental health crisis that Akbari suffered when he learned of the government’s intention to deport him to Pakistan,” the ACLU of New Mexico said in a statement Monday.
The court also directed the government to transfer him back to the District of New Mexico.
Shaw Drake, co-counsel for Akbari, said the case is a window into the horrors of our immigration system.
“If ICE is able to deport vulnerable immigrants like Mr. Akbari to a country other than his own without any notice or opportunity to claim fear, the fundamental due process safeguards to which we are all entitled are rendered virtually meaningless,” said Drake, an assistant professor of law at the University of New Mexico School of Law.
Because the government hasn’t provided Akbari or his attorneys information about his planned deportation, it’s unclear whether that removal flight would be from El Paso.
Biggs Army Airfield at Fort Bliss served as a major military staging and deployment hub during the Afghanistan war and later became a temporary home for thousands of Afghans evacuated during the U.S. withdrawal.
U.S. officials confirmed the Afghan deportations in sealed court documents obtained by the Associated Press, the organization reported Saturday, saying the deportations could happen as early as Monday and likely from Louisiana.
The plan to deport Afghans to Pakistan was first reported by Bloomberg last week, with the New York Times reporting that the immigrants were going to be sent to Afghanistan after arriving in Pakistan.
Those targeted for deportation could include Afghans and family members of Afghan allies who worked alongside U.S. military forces and aid organizations in the two-decade U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, the organization Human Rights First said in a recent news release, citing the Oct. 26 Bloomberg Law report.
“For operational and security reasons, we would not confirm removal operations,” the Department of Homeland Security said in an email response to El Paso Matters. DHS did not respond to questions about the concerns cited by Human Rights First.
Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in January 2025, the administration has suspended or stopped refugee programs and visa pipelines for Afghans, which human rights advocates say has left Afghans open to removal to Pakistan or Africa under what’s called third-country deportations.
If the deportations were to happen, they would mark the first large-scale U.S. deportation flight of Afghans “into the hands of the Taliban,” Human Rights First said in an Oct. 29 news release.
The Taliban – an Islamic fundamentalist and militant group – took over Afghanistan when the United States and its NATO allies withdrew from the country in 2021 following a 20-year war.
Thousands of Afghans began fleeing the country with their families, and under the Biden administration, many were granted special visas or asylum in the United States. Others were granted “withholding of removal” by immigration judges, allowing them to remain in the United States as they faced imminent danger in Afghanistan.
“Sending our Afghan allies back to Afghanistan – knowing full well that they face retribution, and possibly certain death – is a level of cruelty that is impossible to comprehend,” U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, said in a statement.
“The Trump administration’s lack of appreciation for their service and sacrifice to our country, and the disregard of the promises we made to them will haunt our nation for generations,” Escobar said. “This administration continues to sink lower by the day, and the consequences innocent people face are heartbreaking.”
Akbar filed a federal habeas corpus petition Oct. 23, arguing his detention exceeded the six-month period addressed in the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court’s Zadvydas decision that established immigration detention cannot be indefinite for people who can’t be deported.
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Three days later, Gonzales ordered the government to respond and restricted his transfer outside New Mexico without court approval. But ICE transferred Akbari from the Torrance County Detention Facility to Camp East Montana early Oct. 27, without notifying his attorneys.
They filed an emergency motion seeking to prevent his deportation to any country other than Afghanistan without notice and an opportunity to raise a fear-based claim, citing concerns he could be sent to Pakistan. On Oct. 28, Gonzales denied the request, ruling the court lacked jurisdiction to block the final removal order and that the transfer restriction did not prevent moving Akbari to carry it out.
A flurry of filings followed Friday to Sunday, with Akbari’s attorneys submitting an ICE officer’s declaration in another case that identified Pakistan as the flight’s final destination with further transport to Afghanistan. They then filed a renewed emergency motion to block his removal on an ICE charter flight to Pakistan, arguing he had received “no meaningful notice or opportunity” to raise fears of persecution there.
Akbari’s attorneys have also expressed concerns that he might be sent to a third country in Africa where he would also face imminent danger, they said. That’s because the government hasn’t stated that any direct flight to Afghanistan is planned, court records state.
“Neither Afghanistan or Africa are good options, but in Afghanistan he could at least defend himself in his own language,” Drake, of the UNM School of Law, said. “It’s hard to say that he’d prefer that, but he has a lot more fear of being sent to another country.”
Human Rights First said its research shows individuals returned to Afghanistan “face grave, systematic dangers, including arbitrary detentions, executions, public flogging, and retaliatory violence.”
The organization said reports from attorneys also indicate the Trump administration may soon send a deportation flight forcing Iranians back to Iran – the fourth since 2025 and the first since the start of the Iran war in February.
“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,” Uzra Zeya, president and CEO of Human Rights First, said in a statement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The post He fled Afghanistan fearing the Taliban. Now a judge has temporarily halted his deportation appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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