Federal Court in New Mexico Blocks ICE from Deporting Afghan National to Pakistan Without Adequate Safeguards 

Albuquerque, N.M. — Today, a federal judge in the District of New Mexico blocked ICE from putting Sardar Akbari, an Afghan national, on an ICE charter flight headed to Pakistan on November 3 without any notice or opportunity to present a claim of fear of persecution or torture in Pakistan. 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.

“Mr. Akbari’s case is a window into the abject horrors of our immigration system, and the government’s ‘third country removals’ in particular,” said Shaw Drake, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of New Mexico School of Law, co-counsel for Akbari. “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.”

Akbari is represented by the Clinical Law Program of the University of New Mexico Law School and the ACLU of New Mexico in his habeas proceedings. Akbari’s legal team sought an emergency temporary restraining order to obtain protection against his unlawful removal to Pakistan. He is currently detained at the Camp East Montana detention facility in El Paso, Texas.

The Court issued an order prohibiting the government from removing Akbari from the United States for 14 days and until the Court is satisfied that the government has put in place adequate safeguards to protect Akbari against the risk of suicide. The Court also directed the government to transfer him back to the District of New Mexico.

Akbari has been detained in ICE custody since late 2024. The government has kept him in custody for more than six months after he was ordered to be deported to Afghanistan, without any reason, given that the U.S. has no ability to carry out deportation flights to Afghanistan due to a lack of diplomatic relationships with the Taliban government. Akbari learned through his legal team that the government intended to transport him by plane to Pakistan, where he would be likely turned over to Pakistani authorities for potential onward transport to Afghanistan. Akbari’s mental health severely deteriorated during his transfer to El Paso for staging for removal to Pakistan.

“The U.S. government is obfuscating the role of intermediary countries like Pakistan, when ICE says it intends to conduct deportations to Afghanistan and other countries where it has no diplomatic relations,” said Becca Sheff, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico. “Everyone at risk of being forcibly sent to a country to which they have no connections is entitled under the Constitution to safeguards against suffering harm there.”

The case is Akbari v. Mullin, No. 1:26-cv-03573-KG-DLM, in the District of New Mexico. A written order by the Court granting Akbari’s temporary restraining order is forthcoming.