Issue:

Challenging U.S. Expansion of Detention Practices

Briefing guide shows the Biden administration has allowed the mistreatment of Afghans who were evacuated by the U.S. and are being held in 36 countries

On January 14, 2025, Abolitionist Law Center, Muslim Advocates, and the Center for Constitutional Rights reported that the U.S. government has enlisted at least 36 countries to arbitrarily hold tens of thousands of evacuated Afghans—many in what appear to be prison-like facilities, subjected to human rights abuses and months in limbo. Contrary to its public assertions, the Biden administration retains significant control over these sites and has allowed the inhumane conditions to persist and deteriorate.

Since 2021, when the U.S. government evacuated over 124,000 Afghans, it has closely guarded details of their effective confinement in so-called “lily pad” sites around the globe—third-country locations the U.S. government has coordinated, facilitated, or otherwise organized to process and hold Afghan evacuees\. This new, fuller picture comes courtesy of Freedom of Access to Information (FOIA) litigation brought by the organizations Abolitionist Law Center, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Muslim Advocates. Although still far from complete due to continued withholding and redactions, the records reveal widespread suffering inflicted on a population that the U.S. government has purported to help, and their plight is likely to grow even more dire when incoming President Trump implements his anti-migrant agenda.