Deported and Stateless: Bhutanese Refugees Struggle to Find a Home

Strategic Insights -

Gopal Dahal, a Bhutanese refugee, was forced to leave the United States after being detained by ICE agents and deported back to Bhutan, a country that does not want him. He now finds himself in a refugee camp in Nepal, hiding from authorities who are fining him for entering the country illegally and preparing documents to deport him again. Dahal's story is not an isolated case; at least two dozen Bhutanese refugees have been deported to a life of uncertainty after being picked up and deported from the United States.

Key Takeaways:

  • Over 100,000 people were forced to leave their homes in Bhutan due to ethnic cleansing and harassment by the monarchy.
  • The US resettlement program allowed over 90,000 refugees to find permanent homes, but many remain in refugee camps in Nepal's Jhapa region, including those who are older or have been left behind.
  • Bhutanese refugees who were resettled in the US but have criminal records are being deported back to a country that does not want them, forcing them to live in hiding in Nepal and facing fines and detention.
  • At least two dozen Bhutanese refugees have been deported from the United States since the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants.
  • Deportees are being held in detention in Nepal, confined to refugee camps, and fined for illegal entry and stay.
  • Some deportees, like Dahal, are awaiting a final decision by the Nepali authorities on their fate, fearing they will miss the final years of their parents who remain in the US.
  • The Lhotshampas ethnic minority was forced to sign documents renouncing their citizenship and right to their property or to ever return to Bhutan.
  • The US administration under President Trump threatened Bhutan with a travel ban, leading Bhutan to agree to take back the deportees in exchange for a promise that they would be deported into Nepal, not Tibet.
  • Bhutan's security forces picked up the deportees at the country's international airport, put them in a car, and arranged for them to be taken through India to the border with Nepal.

Statistics:

  • Over 100,000 people were forced to leave their homes in Bhutan due to ethnic cleansing and harassment by the monarchy.
  • The US resettlement program allowed over 90,000 refugees to find permanent homes.
  • There are currently at least 7,000 refugees remaining in the camps in Nepal's Jhapa region, many of whom are older people who have been left behind.
  • At least two dozen Bhutanese refugees have been deported from the United States since the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants.
  • The Nepali immigration department has fined deportees like Mr. Subedi about $35 for illegal entry and $8 for every day of their continuing illegal stay.

Sources:

  • The New York Times
  • Tikaram Dhakal, a spokesman for Nepal's department of immigration
  • Prakash Mathema/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
  • U.N. refugee agency official