The issue of refugees deported from the United States to Bhutan and subsequently sent to Nepal has once again reached the courts.
Four refugee youths were previously released from detention after filing a habeas corpus petition in the Supreme Court. Three of them have appealed to the Patan High Court and are awaiting the scheduling of their appeal hearing.
“The Department of Immigration has imposed fines on the refugees for the entire duration of their stay in Nepal, and three of them have appealed to the Patan High Court to have these fines canceled,” Advocate Hemanta Pahari told Setopati. “It has been almost a month since the appeal was filed in the high court, but the hearing has not yet been scheduled. We are waiting for it.”
According to Advocate Pahari, three of the four refugees deported from the United States to Bhutan and subsequently sent to Nepal – Ashish Subedi, Roshan Gurung, and Santosh Darji – have demanded the cancellation of the fine and late fees imposed by the Department of Immigration. The fourth refugee, Ashok Gurung, could not file an appeal due to illness.
The administration of US President Donald Trump, which has adopted a strict policy toward immigrants, has so far deported over 60 refugees to Bhutan. Bhutan, in turn, has been sending them back to Nepal.
In this process, four refugee youths arrived in Nepal in March and were arrested by police on charges of illegally entering the country. Three of them, who had reached the Beldangi refugee camp in Jhapa after being deported from the US and then Bhutan, were arrested on March 29, while the fourth was arrested 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.
Following the court’s order, three of the refugees stayed in Damak Municipality and one in Pathari-Shanischare Municipality in Morang under restricted movement. They are still there.
As the 60-day period set by the court was nearing its end, the Department of Immigration decided on June 20 to deport them from Nepal as well. The refugees were informed of this decision on June 23.
According to the Immigration Department’s decision, the refugees, who entered Nepal illegally without passports or visas, were required to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each, along with USD 8 per day (excluding the days spent in detention) in visa fee and late fee.
As of Tuesday, the refugees have spent 150 days outside detention in Nepal. According to the decision of the Department of Immigration, each refugee would need to pay Rs 168,528 in visa fee and late fee for this period, in addition to the Rs 5,000 fine.
The refugees, however, argue that they were unjustly expelled, with Bhutan confiscating their documents and sending them to Nepal empty-handed, leaving them unable to pay the fine and fees.
“We are staying with a friend’s father and managing two meals a day,” said refugee Roshan Gurung. “There’s no work, nothing. How can we pay such a huge amount? Where do we go from here?”
The Nepal government has said that the refugees must obtain travel documents, after which they will be sent back to either the US or Bhutan, depending on the origin of the documents.
Meanwhile, the number of refugees arriving in Nepal’s refugee camps after being deported from the US to Bhutan and then expelled to Nepal continues to grow.
Although Nepal Police have been turning a blind eye to their presence, many refugees are suffering from mental health issues as they cannot move around freely outside and have to hide and live with relatives.
On August 17, one deported refugee died by suicide in Damak after consuming poison. His parents came from the US and performed his last rites five days ago.
“The boys are in a very disturbed state,” said Narayan Kumar, Ashish Subedi’s father. “It’s becoming scary to leave them alone now.”
He hopes that the appeal filed by his son and his friends in the court will lead to the cancellation of the fine, visa fee, and late fee, relieving them of a huge burden.
The refugees have named the Department of Immigration and the Kakarbhitta Immigration Office as respondents in their appeal to the high court.
Accused of staying in Nepal without documents, these refugees, already burdened by detention and restricted movement, now face the additional pressure of fine and late fees. The documents they had brought from the US were confiscated by the Bhutanese government.
In such a situation, no one has an answer to how they can produce documents they no longer possess—not even the Department of Immigration.
The four refugees living in the refugee camps in Jhapa and Morang are in a state of confusion.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is unwilling to speak on the matter. Officials at the ministry are also reluctant to speak openly about the Bhutanese refugees.
However, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say that Nepal’s decision regarding these four refugees has sent a positive message for the future.
They argue that this decision clearly indicates 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,” a Foreign Ministry 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.”
After the US threatened to place it on a negative list (red zone), Bhutan accepted the deported refugees. But it sent them to Nepal without informing America, due to which the deported refugees are suffering.
“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 said.
Nepal’s decision to deport these four refugees will also apply to other refugees currently in the US, according to the official.
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.
