Only on Sunday, 32 men and 5 women returned to Nepal by chartered plane
177 Nepali people have been deported since Donald Trump assumed his second term as US President. As 140 Nepalis were expelled till Saturday on the charge of violating the American law, 37 more were sent to Kathmandu by the US on a chartered plane on Sunday.
According to Govind Rizal, Director General of the Immigration Department, the United States returned 32 men and 5 women to Nepal with the call-sign N-486 AX of Omni Air International. US also brought back citizens of India and Bangladesh by chartered aircraft. A chartered plane carrying 37 Nepalis landed at the Tribhuvan International Airport on Sunday evening, taking the returned Indians and Bangladeshis to their respective countries.
After Trump was elected as the American president for the second term and took office on January 20, 2025, the United States adopted a policy of expelling illegal immigrants including Nepalese. Since then, the number of people who have been sent back to Nepal by a single chartered plane from America on Sunday is the highest so far.
Earlier, 8 people were brought to Nepal at one time on February 21 by a chartered ship and the rest by a regular flight.
According to the airport immigration office, most of the Nepali people who have been expelled from the US enter the US through various countries in Asia, Europe and Africa by paying large sums of money to organized gangs involved in human trafficking. Some people have gone to America for various programs and have been living there illegally.
There are more people from Rukum, Rolpa, Salyan, Pyuthan, Dang, Arghakhanchi and other districts who hand over money to the gang.
In this way, Nepal Police investigation has revealed the fact that those who enter the US through the low road (donkey route) pay up to 1 crore rupees to the gang.
The Trump administration, through its 'Immigration and Customs Enforcement' (ICE), has launched a campaign to arrest and deport immigrants living illegally in various countries including Nepal. 1.445 thousand 549 people who came to the US from various countries, including Nepal, are on the list to be deported by ICE. The information that most of the citizens of Mexico, El Salvador, India, Guatemala, Honduras, and Venezuela are living illegally has already been made public.
Ice has recently arrested and detained those who have received the final order for 'deportation' until November 24 but have not been arrested and are returning them to their respective countries. In the first phase, undocumented immigrants who entered the US after June 24, 2015 and have been ordered to leave the US are being deported. It is said that there are more than 3,500 Nepalese in the list. About 2,000 Nepalese have been living in the US under Temporary Protected Status (TPS). About 8,000 Nepalis are in America under TPS facility.
Even though Nepalis have been expelled from America on different dates before, since the start of Trump's second term (January 20, 2025), the number of returnees has increased dramatically. Out of 140 Nepalis deported from 2021 to 2024, 38 in 2021, 24 in 2022, 25 in 2023 and 53 in 2024 had to leave America. The Nepalese embassy in Washington DC has been issuing 'travel documents' for Nepalis who are subject to 'deportation'.
