US Deports Dozens to Central African Republic, Including Afghan Man Protected by Court

Dozens of individuals were deported to the Central African Republic by the United States on Saturday, including an Afghan man whose brothers assisted the US military, according to his lawyer and a rights group.

The man, aged in his early twenties, had been granted legal protection from removal to Afghanistan by a US judge due to fears of persecution by the Taliban, his attorney Alma David said.

According to court records, his family members in Afghanistan received threats from the Taliban because of the brothers' work assisting American forces.

Ms David confirmed that one brother currently lives in the United States, having served in the Afghan National Army alongside US troops before Taliban forces seized control in 2021.

Another one of his brothers was a pilot trained by the U.S. and was killed by the Taliban, she added.

The deportation flight which landed in Central African Republic’s capital Bangui on Saturday, included 12 Afghans and eight Iranians, as well as several people from Nepal and Nicaragua, said Savi Arvey, director of policy, refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First.

Under a series of often secret agreements, the Trump administration has deported thousands of people to two dozen countries that aren’t their own as it pushes ahead with its immigration crackdown, advocates say. Immigration lawyers say the practice is being used as a legal loophole to indirectly return some asylum seekers to countries they fled.

The flight on Saturday is the second to the Central African Republic since June, which carried two dozen migrants, including an Iranian woman facing persecution in her home country.