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A coalition of US lawmakers is urging the Trump administration to cancel plans to deport more than 150 Afghans in immigration custody to Pakistan, where they would then be sent overland back to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Getting into it: In a letter sent Monday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, 66 members of Congress warned that some of those facing removal could be targeted by the Taliban over their families’ ties to the US. A US immigration official said in a sworn court filing last week that a charter flight scheduled for Tuesday from Alexandria, Louisiana, would land in Pakistan, “with further transport onward to Afghanistan,” and a US official told CBS News nearly 200 Afghans could be removed this way, though nothing is locked in yet.

The US can’t deport people straight to Afghanistan because it has no diplomatic ties with the Taliban, which took over when US troops pulled out in 2021. Advocacy groups say some of those facing removal are relatives of Afghans who worked with US forces, and at least one used to be a cop under the Afghan government before the Taliban took over. Many never had lawyers to fight their cases, according to the advocacy group #AfghanEvac. One Afghan man was pulled off the flight and released after a judge found that keeping him locked up broke his due process rights, while other judges have turned down emergency requests to stop removals.

“Sending dozens of people back to one of the most dangerous countries on earth, and where they are likely to be targeted for their or their family’s suspected support of the US government or criticism of the Taliban, is a death sentence,” the lawmakers wrote.

DHS wouldn’t discuss the flights, citing operational security, but said people deported to third countries get notice ahead of time and that the US gets assurances from those countries that deportees will be safe. It didn’t say whether Pakistan gave any such assurances, and added that once someone is out of ICE custody, ICE is no longer responsible for them.

This all comes as Pakistan has pushed more than 2 million Afghans back across the border since 2023. More than 120,000 Afghans were evacuated out of Afghanistan during the 2021 withdrawal, but many who made it to the US have been stuck in immigration limbo for years, and Trump halted processing of Afghan applications after an Afghan man allegedly shot two National Guard members in Washington last November.