Deportation of Afghan immigrants from the United States

Deportation of Afghan immigrants from the United States typically refers to the forced repatriation of Afghans who are convicted of crimes in the United States and are not American citizens.

History

The earliest Afghan immigrant in deportation proceedings has been reported in 1945. The immigration officials suspended (cancelled) his deportation, which allowed him to remain in the United States with his American family.{{Cite web |url=https://casetext.com/admin-law/in-the-matter-of-k-27 |title=In the Matter of K |work=Board of Immigration Appeals |date=May 26, 1945 |publisher=Casetext.com}} Another Afghan immigrant was placed in deportation proceedings in the early 1950s.{{Cite web |url=https://cite.case.law/f2d/253/547/#p548 |title=Khan v. Barber, 253 F.2d 547 |page=548 |work=Ninth Circuit |date=March 11, 1958 |publisher=Harvard Law School}}

=Afghans escaping from totalitarianism and genocide=

Afghanistan began to experience a great turmoil in the 1970s,{{cite web|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1077209.html|title=U.S.: Afghan Jews Keep Traditions Alive Far From Home|date=June 19, 2007|publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)|work=Nikola Krastev|access-date=2018-10-31}}{{cite book|title=The Gem Hunter: The Adventures of an American in Afghanistan|last1=Bowersox|first1=Gary W.|year=2004|publisher=GeoVision, Inc.|location=United States|isbn=978-0-9747-3231-2|pages=100–03|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WVAN9pjnRzMC&pg=PA100|access-date=2018-10-25}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGRP_jH4DAk |title=Afghan-American Family Finds Ramadan Good Opportunity for Reflection |date=September 9, 2010 |access-date=2018-10-04 |publisher=Voice of America}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsJo9SvPH2I |title=Little Kabul -- An Afghan American Community in California |work=dingopanga |date=October 21, 2011 |access-date=2018-10-04 |publisher=}} which resulted in a mass exodus of its citizens. These people were first admitted to neighboring Pakistan and Iran as refugees escaping from: (1) totalitarianism and genocide orchestrated by the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA); and (2) political repression of the mujahideen, who were engaged in a guerrilla warfare with the PDPA.{{Cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2012/08/14/3127.pdf |title=Matter of Izatula, 20 I&N Dec. 149 |page=154 |work=Board of Immigration Appeals |date=February 6, 1990 |publisher=U.S. Dept. of Justice |quote=Afghanistan is a totalitarian state under the control of the [People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan], which is kept in power by the Soviet Union.}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/07/25/3251.pdf |title=Matter of B-, 21 I&N Dec. 66 |page=72 |work=Board of Immigration Appeals |date=May 19, 1995 |publisher=U.S. Dept. of Justice |quote=We further find, however, that the past persecution suffered by the applicant was so severe that his asylum application should be granted notwithstanding the change of circumstances.}}{{cite journal |title=The Limits of Soviet Airpower: The Failure of Military Coercion in Afghanistan, 1979-89 |journal=Journal of Conflict Studies |volume=19 |issue=2 |url=https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/jcs/article/view/4356/5011 |year=1999 |access-date=2018-10-20 |last=Westermann |first=Edward B.}} Pakistan and Iran do not provide citizenship or permanent residency to Afghan refugees.{{cite news |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/863329/no-country-for-old-afghans-post-1951-immigrants-to-be-considered-illegal |title=No country for old Afghans: 'Post-1951 immigrants to be considered illegal' |work=The Express Tribune |date=November 20, 2013 |access-date=2021-09-27}}{{cite news |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2013/11/20/iran-afghan-refugees-and-migrants-face-abuse |title=Iran: Afghan Refugees and Migrants Face Abuse |work=Human Rights Watch |date=April 2, 2015 |access-date=2021-09-25}} In 1980, Congress and the Carter administration enacted the Refugee Act, which approved 50,000 international refugees to be firmly resettled in the United States each year.{{uscsub|8|1101|a|42}} (definition of "refugee")

{{Cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/07/25/3780_correction.pdf |title=Matter of B-R-, 26 I&N Dec. 119 |page=121 |work=Board of Immigration Appeals |date=May 3, 2013 |publisher=U.S. Dept. of Justice |quote=The circumstance of dual nationality is not specifically addressed in section 101(a)(42) of the Act. The legislative history of the provision affords some guidance, however.}}

=Resettlement of Afghan immigrants in the United States=

File:Tysons Corner Sunset_.jpg is one of three places in the United States where large number of Afghan refugees were firmly resettled since around 1980.]]

Each year (from 1980 onward) groups of Afghan refugee families lawfully entered the United States. These families were issued by the U.S. Department of State special travel documents. At least one such family entered with fraudulent documents and applied for asylum in the United States.{{cite book |last1=König |first1=Karin |title=Detained, Denied, Deported: Asylum Seekers in the United States |date=1989 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |isbn=9780929692227 |page=45 |url=https://books.google.com |language=en}} These immigrant families were firmly resettled all across the United States but mainly in and around New York City followed by in California, Virginia, Texas, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Florida and elsewhere.

Reasons for forceful deportation from the United States to Afghanistan

About Afghan-Americans, Cato Institute stated:{{Blockquote|Afghan immigrants aged 18–54 in the United States were incarcerated at a rate of 127 per 100,000 Afghan immigrants in 2017. By comparison, native‐born Americans in the same age range were incarcerated at a rate of 1,477 per 100,000 native‐born Americans. In other words, native‐born Americans were about 11.6 times as likely to be incarcerated as Afghan immigrants. Afghans don’t pose much of a serious criminal threat in the United States.{{cite news |url=https://www.cato.org/blog/there-no-good-reason-block-afghan-refugees |title=There Is No Good Reason to Block Afghan Refugees |publisher=Cato Institute |date=August 16, 2021 |access-date=2021-09-28}}|Alex Nowrasteh|August 2021}}

Although Afghanistan and the United States have no repatriation agreement,{{cite news |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/afghanistan-asks-donald-trump-stop-deporting-afghans/4231405.html |title=Afghanistan Calls on Trump to Not Deport Afghans |first=Jafar |last=Haand |date=January 30, 2018 |access-date=2018-10-02 |publisher=Voice of America}} approximately 378 people from the United States have been expelled, returned or extradited to Afghanistan between November 2002 and January 2016. At least 225 had no criminal conviction.{{cite news |title=Historical Data: Immigration and Customs Enforcement Removals |url=http://trac.syr.edu/phptools/immigration/removehistory/ |publisher=TRAC Reports, Inc. |year=2016 |access-date=2018-10-02}}

According to Fox News, "ICE deported more than 200 people from the U.S. to Afghanistan" in the last decade.{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/afghan-evacuee-convicted-felon-deported |title=Afghan evacuee arriving in DC was convicted felon deported from US in 2017: report |publisher=Fox News |date=September 16, 2021 |access-date=2021-09-28}} These people were Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, including Afghan-Americans who have been convicted of a common crime in the United States. Some may have been wrongfully deported.{{cite news |title=U.S. citizen mistakenly put in deportation proceedings finally returns to America |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/u-s-citizen-mistakenly-put-deportation-proceedings-finally-returns-america-n1130001 |work=NBC News |date=February 4, 2020 |access-date=2021-09-27}}{{cite web |title=Lawsuit says ICE attorney forged document to deport immigrant man |url=http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/lawsuit-claims-ice-attorney-forged-document-deport-immigrant-man |publisher=MSNBC |date=October 24, 2014 |access-date=2018-10-20 |last=Sakuma |first=Amanda}}{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/22/504031635/you-say-you-re-an-american-but-what-if-you-had-to-prove-it-or-be-deported |title=You Say You're An American, But What If You Had To Prove It Or Be Deported? |access-date=2018-10-18 |date=December 22, 2016 |publisher=National Public Radio (NPR)}}{{cite news |url=https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/pa4mq7/the-us-keeps-mistakenly-deporting-its-own-citizens |title=The US Keeps Mistakenly Deporting Its Own Citizens |access-date=2018-10-18 |date=March 8, 2016 |publisher=news.vice.com |last=Hoffman |first=Meredith}}{{cite web |url=https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2018/05/after_facing_deportation_ann_a.html |title=Michigan father of 4 was nearly deported; now he's a U.S. citizen |date=May 11, 2018 |access-date=2018-10-18 |publisher=www.mlive.com |last=Stanton |first=Ryan}} "Recent data suggests that in 2010 well over 4,000 U.S. citizens were detained or deported as aliens[.]"{{cite web |url=https://jacquelinestevens.org/StevensVSP18.32011.pdf |title=Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law |page=608 |access-date=2018-10-18 |date=September 22, 2011 |publisher=jacquelinestevens.org |last=Stevens |first=Jacqueline}}{{cite web |url=https://deportationresearchclinic.org/USCData.html |title=UNITED STATES CITIZENS IN DEPORTATION PROCEEDINGS |access-date=2018-10-18 |year=2017 |publisher=Northwestern University}}

References

This article in most part is based on law of the United States, including statutory and published case law.

External links

[https://www.foxnews.com/us/lawyer-afghan-who-helped-us-military-fears-deportation Lawyer: Afghan who helped US military fears deportation] (Fox News, Sept. 26, 2017)
[https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/afghan-served-military-detained-ice-170331204414036.html Afghan who served US military detained by ICE] (Creede Newton, Al Jazeera, Mar 31, 2017)
[https://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/afghan-refugees/article84312717.html Afghans risked their lives for U.S., now struggle in Sacramento] (video) {{subscription required}}

Category:Deportation from the United States

Category:American people of Afghan descent

Category:Afghan-American culture

Category:Afghanistan–United States relations

Category:Asian-American issues