Call Your Representatives: Home is Here! Support Our Bhutanese Refugee Communities!

ICE is targeting Bhutanese communities who came here as refugees after facing an ethnic cleansing. Email your legistlator and ask them to speak out and help keep our communities safe and together. 

At least 12 members of the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese community have already been deported to Bhutan (via India). These individuals are refugees who fled persecution and rebuilt their lives in the United States - some for over a decade. And now following their deportation to Bhutan, at least three were rejected by Bhutan and expelled to India and then Nepal, where they are in Nepal police custody. This leaves them effectively stateless. And we do not know about the whereabouts, well-being, or safety of the remaining deportees. 

This action is part of a larger enforcement operation that has targeted at least 30 members of the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese American community. People have been taken from their homes, their places of work, and even court appearances.  Among the disappeared are dedicated heads of their household, promising young people, respected elders, cherished friends, spouses, parents, and caregivers. And in almost all cases, those targeted have lacked legal representation and access to counsel, which raises serious due process concerns. 

Who is the community being targeted? As ethnic Nepali refugees from Bhutan (locally referred to in Bhutan as Lhotsampas), we were stripped of our citizenship and expelled during a campaign of state-led ethnic cleansing in the 1990s. After decades in refugee camps in Nepal, nearly 90,000 of us resettled in the United States starting in 2008, built roots in communities across more than 40 states, obtained lawful permanent resident status or citizenship, cultivated work, attended schools, supported businesses, and raised families. However, this recent wave of ICE enforcement echoes our history of displacement and trauma, devastating families and communities that worked hard to rebuild their lives in America.

At least 30 people targeted and arrested: The U.S. government's widespread arrest and detention of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese Americans began to escalate in early March 2025, leading to the disappearance of several dozen community members across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, New York, and other states across the country. After speaking with detained individuals and their loved ones, we know that ICE has targeted and arrested over 30 community members in March 2025 alone. Among the disappeared are dedicated heads of their household, promising young people, respected elders, cherished friends, spouses, parents, and caregivers.

Legal concerns: People were taken from their homes, places of work, and at their court appearances, and it is unclear whether constitutional protections and procedures–including the use of lawful warrants when required–were followed. Most of the arrested and detained community members did not have legal representation during their immigration proceedings, and several were quickly moved to different prison facilities before they could speak to or obtain an attorney. Concerns over their safety and questions of due process have been echoed by civil rights advocates, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas, and community leaders. However, ICE has not explained the arrests, despite public concern and calls for information from officials.

How federal agents arrived: On at least one occasion, authorities arrived at a community member's doorstep, knocking and banging on the door with urgency at 6 AM, intending to arrest someone with a similar name. The family was subjected to aggressive questioning, leaving them feeling deeply frightened, including the young children. The trauma was so profound and the child was so deeply shaken that they were unable to attend school that day. Though the exact identity of the officers remains unclear—whether they were ICE agents or police—what remains indisputable is the alarming presence of four to five vehicles outside their home, further heightening the tension and uncertainty in the household, and across the broader community. The family is left to grapple with the emotional aftermath of this unsettling encounter.

What happened to the 12 people deported and left stateless? Between March 26th and March 29th, 2025, at least 12 detained individuals from our community were deported from the United States to Bhutan via India. This hazardous and confusing journey led the deported people through Bhutan, India, and Nepal. All of these countries refused to welcome the deportees or guarantee their safety. They have become tangled up in geo-national politics. At least three of the deportees were rejected and expelled into Nepal from Bhutan, then forced into Nepal police custody after they arrived at a refugee camp. Other deported individuals are missing, and their location, well-being, and safety are unknown. 

Ongoing human and international rights violations remain a grave concern, especially because deportation to India, Bhutan, or Nepal threatens to leave members of this U.S. refugee community stateless and in serious danger. This is a repeated history of forced displacement and trauma that the Nepali-speaking Bhutanese people are currently facing! The disappearing of our people contradicts decades of U.S. and international refugee law and policy, including the Refugee Act of 1980, the Convention Against Torture, and global commitments against forcing refugees to return to places where they face persecution.

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