Judge blocks Afghan deportation flights through Saturday after outcry grounds the plane
Editorial illustration — Press Pass USAThe flight did not leave. A federal judge in Manhattan has temporarily barred the Trump administration from deporting detained Afghan nationals to Afghanistan or Pakistan through Saturday, November 7 — grounding a charter flight that was scheduled to carry some 150 Afghans out of Louisiana on Election Day, bound for Pakistan and onward overland to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
The order. In a temporary restraining order issued Tuesday, November 3, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni wrote that the government "has effectively represented that no Afghanistan nationals will be deported from the United States to Afghanistan or Pakistan this week," and barred it from doing so through November 7. The order holds officials to what government lawyers told the court hours before the flight's scheduled departure: that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had "no planned or confirmed chartered or commercial flights" for Afghans this week, and that such flights take weeks to arrange.
How it was stopped. The reversal came in a Manhattan courtroom in the case brought by Project Rousseau, a nonprofit legal group, which filed its emergency lawsuit on November 2 seeking to stop the removals of its clients. The plane had been scheduled to lift off from Alexandria, Louisiana, around 7 p.m. on Election Day, according to Shawn VanDiver, president and founder of #AfghanEvac, a coalition that helps resettle Afghans who aided the U.S. war effort. From Pakistan, he said, the passengers would have been loaded onto buses, driven through the border gate and delivered to the Taliban's intelligence service. The Department of Homeland Security said it "does not comment on prospective removal operations, including flight schedules, passenger manifests, destinations, or individual case details."
The pressure behind it. In the days before the flight, veterans who had fought beside Afghan troops called their representatives, more than 900 people flooded officials with calls and letters, and 66 Democratic members of Congress urged the administration to cancel the flights, warning that the United States is bound not to return anyone to a country where they would face torture. "Our nation made a promise to stand by the Afghans who risked their lives and their family safety for us," Rep. Scott Peters, the California Democrat who led the letter, said at a news conference on November 3. "Sending them to the Taliban breaks that promise."
Who was on the list. The would-be passengers included some who served alongside the U.S. military and relatives of those who did, as well as women, LGBTQ+ people and members of religious and ethnic minorities, according to attorneys and advocates. Many have final orders of removal, and several were detained after routine ICE check-ins. The United States has no diplomatic relations with the Taliban government and closed its Kabul embassy in 2021, which is why the plan routed the flight through Pakistan — a country that has itself been fighting the Taliban government. Even the Taliban's foreign ministry voiced unease, warning on November 2 that third countries "should not bargain over the fate of another country's nationals."
What happens next. The reprieve is temporary, not a final ruling on whether the deportations are lawful. Judge Caproni ordered the administration to submit its formal response to Project Rousseau's emergency motion by Thursday, November 5, at 9 a.m. Advocates warn the plan has not been withdrawn: VanDiver said ICE has told some detainees the flight will now leave in a week or two. "Pressure got the plane grounded. The court makes sure it stays grounded," he said. "We made a promise to these families. Today we kept it for one more day. Our job is to keep it for good."
Sources: USA TODAY, "After outcry, US grounds flight that would have sent Afghans to the Taliban," November 3, 2026 (Judge Caproni's November 3 order barring deportations of Afghan nationals to Afghanistan or Pakistan through November 7; flight scheduled to leave Alexandria, Louisiana, around 7 p.m. on Election Day; government lawyer's statement that ICE had no planned or confirmed flights this week; 66 members of Congress; DHS statement; VanDiver's account of the Pakistan route and of detainees being told the flight could leave in a week or two); Associated Press reporting, carried November 4, 2026 (temporary restraining order issued November 3; more than 150 Afghans held in ICE custody in Louisiana; Project Rousseau's lawsuit filed November 2); court filings and the November 3 order as reported by both outlets (government response due November 5 at 9 a.m.). This story follows our earlier coverage of the planned flight and the court fights over it.
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