Last summer, nearly a year after the Taliban took over his country, Mr. A, an Afghan man in his 20s, crossed the southern border in California and told authorities he was seeking asylum.
On Jan. 27,in a decision they would later reverse, U.S. authorities deported Mr. A back to the country he had fled.
He hid in fear in Afghanistan, convinced the Taliban would find him, as his attorneys attempted to convince the government that his deportation was a mistake and he needed to be returned.
On Feb. 21, the U.S. government paid to fly Mr. A back to Los Angeles. The extremely rare move, which amounts to an admission that Mr. A’s deportation was at least premature, did not end his ordeal: He has been in ICE custody ever since. The U.S. government has continued to pursue his deportation, though the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently put a temporary stay on his removal from the country.
The deportation — and hurried return — of Mr. A indicates that ICE is sending people back to other countries, even dangerous ones such as Afghanistan, without complete information about their cases, his attorneys say. The case of Mr. A, whom The Times is identifying by the first initial of his first name because he fears that the Taliban will kill his family if they realize he sought asylum in the U.S., is an especially fraught example. He came to the U.S. after fleeing a country that the U.S. occupied for two decades and left dangerous and in disarray.
by Prozco®