AfghanEvac, an organisation advocating for Afghan refugees, criticised the administration’s reported plans in a statement issued on Friday.

The Trump administration is reportedly preparing to deport Afghan refugees to Pakistan as early as Monday, despite concerns that they could eventually be sent back to Afghanistan under Taliban rule, media reports said on Friday.

The proposed deportation flight has not been publicly announced. However, rights advocates and families of detainees said it could take place in the coming days, according to NBC News.

The reported plans have renewed uncertainty over the future of Afghan refugees housed at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, where the US government has repeatedly extended deadlines for their removal.

Repeated Extensions to Camp Closure Deadline

The US State Department initially announced that all residents would be removed from the facility by March 31. The deadline was later extended to September 30.

In September, the Trump administration postponed the camp’s closure by a further nine months, according to the report.

Earlier this year, the administration also considered transferring Afghan refugees from Camp As Sayliyah to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where an Ebola outbreak had been reported.

Rights Group Raises Safety Concerns

The possibility of deportation to Pakistan has prompted concerns among rights advocates and detainees’ families over the refugees’ safety and the risk of their eventual return to Afghanistan.

AfghanEvac, an organisation advocating for Afghan refugees, criticised the administration’s reported plans in a statement issued on Friday.

The group alleged that the administration was preparing the flight while public attention was focused on the upcoming US midterm elections, “hoping no one is watching.”

“The government won’t say where these flights land, because it knows what happens to the people on them when they do,” AfghanEvac said, according to the report.

“A government confident in what it is doing does not hide it,” the organisation added.

The reported deportation flight follows months of uncertainty over the future of Afghan refugees at the Qatar facility as the administration continues to consider arrangements for their removal.

Neither the destination nor the timing of the proposed flight has been officially confirmed.