Trump administration deports relative of Afghans who helped US military to Central African Republic

FILE - An arial view of Bangui, Central African Republic on March. 8, 2024. Sam Mednick/AP hide caption

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Sam Mednick/AP

DAKAR, Senegal — The United States on Saturday deported dozens of people to the Central African Republic, including an Afghan whose brothers collaborated with the U.S. military, his lawyer and an advocacy group said.

The Afghan man, who is in his early twenties, was granted protection against deportation to Afghanistan by a U.S. judge due to fears of persecution by the Taliban, his lawyer Alma David said.

His family in Afghanistan had received threats from the Taliban because of the work performed by the brothers in support of the U.S. military, according to court documents seen by The Associated Press.

One of the Afghan man's brothers lives in the United States and served in the Afghan National Army, which collaborated with the U.S military before the Taliban seized power in 2021, David said.

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.