Families visit Bhutanese refugees in ICE custody, fear deportation

After surviving Bhutan’s ethnic cleansing and 20 years in refugee camps in Nepal, they fear return.

• Jordan Wilkie/WITF
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 Jordan Wilkie / WITF

Family of one of the men detained met with Nepali-speaking community leader Tilak Niroula, far right, and Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas at Pike County Correctional Facility before visiting detained family members.

Dinesh Nepal drove across Pennsylvania, from Pittsburgh to Pike County Correctional Facility on Saturday, to visit his uncle, believing he will be deported within days.

At least 10 men from the Bhutanese refugee community in Pennsylvania have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent weeks. The families say they don’t know why their loved ones were arrested now or what will happen next.

“No one knows,” Nepal said.

The common belief is they cannot be deported to Bhutan, because that country will not accept them.

In the 1990s, Bhutan’s Buddhist-majority government targeted the ethnic Nepalese, a largely Hindu group known as Lhotshampa. Amid violence and oppression, over 100,000 of these people were driven from Bhutan into refugee camps in Nepal. After roughly 20 years of living in camps, about 85,000 of Bhutanese refugees ultimately resettled in the U.S., according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Nepal’s uncle, Bidur Khadka, was one of those refugees.

But when Nepal visited his uncle, he said ICE officials told them they have travel documents from Bhutan.

If true, those documents would allow the U.S. government to deport the men to Bhutan. It is not clear if that has ever happened before.

ICE officials have not shown them the actual documents, Nepal said.

Tilak Niroula, a leader of the central Pennsylvania Nepali-speaking Bhutanese community, said he worries for the safety of refugees returned to Bhutan.

“It is the responsibility of the U.S. government to make sure these men are protected within Bhutan,” Niroula said.

If deported, these men should be given Bhutanese citizenship and be allowed to live their lives in a dignified way, Niroula said.

He has meetings with Gov. Josh Shapiro, U.S. Senator John Fetterman, and Congressman Scott Perry this coming week.

Jordan Wilkie / WITF

Six Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees are being held at Pike County Correctional Facility. The facility is currently holding 160 people for ICE, according to warden Craig Lowe.

WITF contacted Bhutan’s consulate late Friday and did not receive a response for this story.

Four of the Bhutanese refugees have removal orders, three of whom are held at Pike Correctional, WITF confirmed.

That includes Khadka, according to Department of Justice data, with his order dating to August 2023.

“He doesn’t have a removal order,” Nepal said.

Then, when a WITF reporter showed him the record, Nepal asked, “What does that mean?”

Several families say they did not know their loved ones had removal orders. Few have lawyers or the resources to acquire them, though Niroula is working to find legal support.

One man, held in Moshannon Valley ICE Correctional Facility, has a hearing in April. His family is struggling to find a lawyer who can attend.

Jordan Wilkie / WITF

Family of one of the men detained met with Nepali-speaking community leader Tilak Niroula, far right, and Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas at Pike County Correctional Facility before visiting detained family members.

ICE has not provided the families any details, Niroula said. ICE has also not answered questions about the arrests for this story but did release a statement stating that the arrested men are not lawful permanent residents.

“All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States,” according to a statement from an ICE spokesperson.

Only two of the five men for whom WITF has reviewed records have an active green card. Each of the men has been convicted of or charged with crimes, from public drunkenness to felony assault.

It is not clear if any Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugee, previously driven out of Bhutan or born in the Nepali refugee camps, has ever been deported back to Bhutan. Tilak said he has never heard of it before.

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