Ashish Subedi, 36, left Nepal in 2016 for the United States under a third-country resettlement program for .
In the early 1990s, nearly 100,000 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese — known as “Lhotshampa” (southern dwellers) — fled Bhutan amid state-backed persecution of ethnic Nepali.
Over the years, the refugee population grew as thousands of children were born in camps across eastern Nepal. Between 1993 and 2003, Nepal and Bhutan held 15 rounds of bilateral talks for repatriation, all of which ultimately failed.
Now, nearly a decade after starting a new life in the US, Ashish finds himself alienated once again after being caught up in a under US President Donald Trump.
Narayan Kumar Subedi, Ashish’s father, told DW that his son was “caught up in a domestic dispute that led to police involvement,” and was deported after spending a few days in detention.
“I don’t understand why he was deported to Bhutan,” his father said, claiming there was no legal reasoning behind the move.
Bounced between countries
In March, Ashish and nine others were detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After several days in custody, they were deported to Bhutan via New Delhi in neighboring India.
According to Narayan Kumar Subedi, Bhutanese officials at Paro International Airport seized their documents, interrogated them, provided food and shelter for one night, gave them a few thousand Indian rupees, and transported them to the town of Phuentsholing near the Indian border.
From there, Indian-registered vehicles drove them about four hours west to the town of Panitanki on the India-Nepal border.
After crossing into Nepal, Ashish and three other Nepali-speaking Bhutanese — Santosh Darji, Roshan Tamang, and Ashok Gurung — were detained by immigration authorities for illegal entry.
“Bhutanese authorities confiscated their documents, ordered them not to remain in Bhutan, and ultimately threatened them with imprisonment if they refused to leave,” said Balaraam Poudyal, chairperson of the Bhutan People’s Party, who visited the detainees.
Tika Dhakal, director of Nepal’s Department of Immigration, confirmed the detentions. “They entered Nepal illegally,” he told DW. “Normally, we return such individuals to the country they came from, but this case is more complex. Deportation won’t resolve it.”
Nepal, which is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, has long hosted Bhutanese refugees. Dhakal said diplomatic notes have been sent to Bhutan, the United States, and India — but no replies have been received.
Around 7,500 refugees remain in camps in eastern Nepal — either considered ineligible for resettlement or having chosen not to participate in third-country resettlement programs.
A third-country resettlement program was launched in 2007. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), eight countries — led by the US, along with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands — accepted over 113,500 refugees. The US took in approximately 93,000, making it the largest host under the initiative.
Number of deportees expected to grow
The number of deportees is expected to grow. Ram Karki, a Bhutanese rights activist based in The Hague, told DW that hundreds of resettled refugees with criminal records in the US have received deportation notices.
“Families are reluctant to go public, fearing detention in Nepal or abandonment in India,” Karki said.
He added that most deportees were convicted of minor offenses, such as traffic violations, domestic disputes, or workplace altercations, and had already served their sentences.
Some, however, had more serious charges, such as sexual misconduct or attempted felonies, with deportation orders issued years ago.
Narayan Kumar Subedi questioned why his son was forced into statelessness once again. “My son was a refugee as a child when Bhutan expelled us, again in the US under resettlement, and now once more — deported by the US, denied by Bhutan, and detained in Nepal,” he told DW.
“The United States must clarify the terms under which these resettled Bhutanese were deported to Bhutan,” Poudyal from the Bhutan People’s Party said.
Seeking justice for deportees
Narayan Kumar Subedi still resides in the Beldangi refugee camp in Nepal. Last week, he filed a habeas corpus petition at the country’s supreme court demanding information on the four detainees, including his son.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered Nepali authorities neither to keep them in police custody nor to deport them, but to accommodate them as refugees in suitable locations — such as the camps previously used to house Bhutanese refugees before their third-country resettlement, according to court spokesperson Achyut Kuikel.
Poudyal, who is campaigning for the repatriation of the refugees as a lasting solution from exile in Nepal, commended the court’s ruling, saying it at least allows the deportees to seek refuge in Nepal.
“Unlike other deportees who can return to their home countries, Bhutanese deportees are different,” he said. “They were forcibly evicted, stripped of citizenship, and denied repatriation. Even now, Bhutan refuses to accept them.”
He added that Bhutan reluctantly accepted a few deportees only after the Trump administration placed it on a travel ban red list. “That acknowledgment by the US reinforced that Bhutan is their homeland. Yet, they remain at risk of being stateless once more.”
Human rights activist Karki believes that and the international community should be able to pressure Bhutan into accepting these US deportees, as most of them were once Bhutanese citizens forcibly evicted as part of a campaign to expel Nepali-speaking residents in the early 1990s.
Edited by: Wesley Rahn
The post Bhutanese deported from the US again face statelessness appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
