It has been four weeks since the Nepal government decided to deport four refugees who had arrived in Nepal through Bhutan after they were expelled from the United States.
According to the Department of Immigration (DoI)’s decision, these individuals, who entered Nepal illegally without passports or visas, must each pay a fine of Rs 5,000. Additionally, they are required to pay USD 8 per day (excluding days spent in detention) in visa fee and late fee, as decided by the department on June 20.
Nearly a month after this decision, the department remains uncertain about where to deport these refugees.
Tikaram Dhakal, director and spokesperson of the DoI, said, “If possible, we will deport them to the United States; otherwise, to Bhutan.” He added that the refugees must provide travel documents for that.
“Whichever country’s travel documents they submit, we will deport them there,” he told Setopati.
Here, a question arises: Is it feasible for Ashish Subedi, Roshan Tamang, Santosh Darji, and Ashok Gurung—who were deported from the United States to Bhutan and then expelled from there to Nepal—to obtain travel documents from either the US or Bhutan?
The Bhutanese government confiscated all the documents they had when they arrived from the US. In such a situation, how can they produce documents they no longer possess?
The DoI has no answer to this. The four refugees, currently staying in refugees camps in Jhapa and Morang, are also perplexed.
“We will implement whatever decision the Department of Immigration makes,” said Ram Chandra Tiwari, head of the National Unit for the Coordination of Refugee Affairs (NUCRA) at the Home Ministry. “We have no stance beyond the department’s decision.”
When asked about the issue, Home Secretary Gokarna Mani Duwadi echoed Tiwari’s response. “Whatever the Department of Immigration says is our position,” Duwadi said. “We haven’t considered any other alternatives so far.”
Home Ministry officials are reluctant to speak openly about the Bhutanese refugee issue.
However, a senior official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Nepal’s decision regarding the four Bhutanese refugees “has sent a positive message for the future.”
The official believes this decision clearly signals that Nepal will no longer accept refugees deported from the US or expelled by Bhutan, as it did in the past.
“America must bear the most responsibility in this matter,” the official said. “These refugees didn’t sneak into America. America willingly took them completing all processes. America’s biggest mistake was deporting them to Bhutan.”
The official further said, “The next responsibility falls on Bhutan. After the US threatened to place it on a negative list (red zone), Bhutan accepted the deported refugees but then sent them to Nepal without informing America. Both America and Bhutan are openly committing injustices against these refugees. Their faults are creating problems for Nepal. Nepal must not get entangled in this now.”
The official noted that Nepal’s decision to deport the four refugees will also apply to other refugees in the US.
“We’ve learned that more Bhutanese refugees are being deported. If Nepal becomes lenient, all of them could end up here,” they said. “Bhutan and America shouldn’t be exempt from responsibility while Nepal bears the burden indefinitely.”
When asked if Nepal has engaged in discussions with the US or Bhutan regarding the matter, Tiwari, head of the NUCRA at the Home Ministry, said, “Diplomatic efforts are underway, but we cannot publicize them.”
He added, “There’s been criticism that Nepal hasn’t made diplomatic efforts, but the government is actively pursuing them. These are not things to be discussed publicly.”
While claiming continuous efforts through embassies and ambassadors, Tiwari did not disclose the progress made so far.
The four young refugees are children of parents unjustly expelled from Bhutan in the early 1990s. They grew up in Nepal’s refugee camps and were resettled in the US through the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ third-country resettlement program.
While in the US, they were convicted of various criminal charges. However, they said that they were deported by the US despite having served their sentences.
After being expelled from the US and Bhutan, the four refugees arrived at the Beldangi refugee camp in Jhapa. Three of them were arrested on March 29, and one on April 1.
Ashish Subedi’s father Narayan Kumar Subedi later filed a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court demanding their release. On April 24, the Supreme Court ordered them to be released and placed in refugee camps with restricted movement. The court also ordered that the investigation be completed within 60 days. On April 25, they were released after 28 days in detention.
Living in hardship in the refugee camps, the four are now calculating the days for which they need to pay fines.
“It’s been exactly 110 days,” Ashok Gurung told Setopati on Wednesday afternoon. “The longer it goes, the more money we owe the government. There’s no clarity on where they’ll send us.”
In addition to the Rs 5,000 fine, each refugee must pay at least Rs 90,265 in visa fee and late fee for the period until July 16 as per the DoI’s decision.
Unable to obtain travel documents from the US or Bhutan as demanded by the Nepal government, they remain uncertain about how long they will stay in Nepal. They are also worried about how to arrange the money they need to pay the government.
“I’m staying here under the shelter of my friend (Ashish)’s father,” Ashok Gurung said. “We worry about what to eat in the morning and evening. I haven’t been able to change clothes since arriving. How can we pay 8 dollars per day?”
Many have suggested they approach the courts again. But they haven’t had the courage to do so due to fear of legal expenses, said Ashish’s father, Narayan Kumar Subedi.
“People suggest going to court, but that requires money too,” Subedi said. “Until recently, I was sheltering three of them, but now more deported refugees have arrived. I worry they might cause trouble somewhere or create more problems.”
With his son and friends added to his makeshift hut, Subedi says, his work of selling dried fish in nearby villages has also been affected.
Subedi’s statements indicate that more refugees deported from the US are arriving in Nepal via Bhutan. Police have been turning a blind eye to them lately.
This suggests that the Nepal government’s decision, aimed at deterring more Bhutanese refugees from coming to Nepal, has not been effective.
Human rights activist Gopal Krishna Siwakoti, who recently visited the camp and met these refugees, confirmed encountering others who had been deported.
“If Nepal’s decision applies only to those resettled in third countries, it could be beneficial in the long term,” said Siwakoti, who has long advocated for Bhutanese refugees and studied refugee issues in the Asia-Pacific region. “The government’s decision to deport those who entered Nepal illegally to their home countries may be positive in the long run. However, if it’s an attempt to deny refugee status to anyone going forward, that wouldn’t be the right move.”
He emphasized the need for discussions with the United Nations, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and other bodies regarding the issue of refugees who have arrived in Nepal via Bhutan after being deported from the US.
