Nepalis deported from the United States have expressed their intent to illegally cross the U.S. border again by paying human traffickers substantial sums of money following the end of the Trump administration, according to a Nepali police officer who recorded their statements. This revelation came after the Nepal Police’s Human Trafficking Bureau interviewed eight Nepali individuals who were deported from the U.S. on Wednesday via a removal flight operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
These individuals were part of a group of Nepalis who had previously paid human traffickers up to $65,000 to facilitate their illegal entry into the United States. Upon their deportation and arrival in Nepal, the Human Trafficking Bureau took their statements as part of an ongoing investigation into trafficking networks. During the interviews, some of the deportees indicated their willingness to once again pay traffickers significant amounts to cross the U.S. border without visas, after Trump’s tenure.
Nepalis attempting to enter the U.S. illegally via Mexico have been known to pay human traffickers as much as $100,000. A police officer involved in the investigation stated, “We are working to uncover the network of human traffickers involved in these cases. However, the deportees were unwilling to provide any information about the traffickers who helped them reach the U.S.”
The Nepalis deported on Wednesday via an ICE removal flight from the U.S. told police during their statements that they had paid traffickers up to $65,000 to enter the U.S. illegally through Mexico without visas. After crossing into the U.S., they were apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and handed over to ICE. ICE detained them and expedited their deportation process. The deportees had claimed asylum in the U.S., arguing that their lives were at risk in Nepal due to Maoists. However, their asylum claims were rejected, leading to their deportation.
Many Nepalis seeking asylum in the U.S. continue to cite threats from Maoists as a reason for fleeing Nepal, despite the Maoist group having joined the peace process nearly two decades ago and having participated in government multiple times. The U.S. government removed the Maoists from its terrorist list over a decade ago, resulting in a significantly low approval rate for asylum claims based on Maoist threats by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
In 2023, only 20 Nepalis were granted asylum directly by USCIS, while in 2022, this number was just 10—the lowest since 1997. In 2021 and 2020, 20 Nepalis each year received asylum from USCIS. In fiscal year 2019, 40 Nepalis were granted asylum by USCIS, but approval rates have sharply declined since then.
However, when USCIS refers cases to U.S. immigration courts, nearly half of the asylum claims are approved. According to data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, the asylum approval rate for Nepalis in immigration courts is approximately 60%. This rate dropped from 64% in fiscal year 2023 to 60% in 2024.
In 2023, 601 Nepalis had their asylum claims approved by immigration courts, while in fiscal year 2024, this number fell to 493. In 2022, 488 Nepalis received asylum through the courts, compared to 143 in 2021 and 308 in 2020. During the Trump administration in 2019, a record-breaking 606 Nepalis were granted asylum by immigration courts—the highest number in history.
Most of the Nepalis deported on Wednesday had entered the U.S. within the past six months. Although they were detained and their deportation processes were initiated under the Biden administration, the removals were completed under the Trump administration. Of the eight deportees on the chartered flight, six had valid passports, while the other two lacked passports. At ICE’s request and expense, the Nepali Embassy in Washington, D.C., issued travel documents for those two individuals.
Among those deported on Wednesday was one woman. The removal flight landed at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu around 10 a.m. local time, dropped off the deportees, and returned to the U.S. Nepal’s Immigration Department processed their arrival before handing them over to the Human Trafficking Bureau.
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The bureau plans to conduct further investigations and release them to their families, though the investigation into the trafficking networks remains ongoing. Police are working to identify the trafficking rings that charge Nepalis thousands of dollars to smuggle them into the U.S. via Mexico without visas.
Additional reporting by Kishor Panthi in New York.
Dipendra Dhungana
View More PostsDipendra Dhungana is a journalist based in Kathmandu with over a decade of experience in photojournalism. He currently works for Nepal’s national daily newspaper, Naya Patrika Daily. His work has been featured in numerous national and international outlets, showcasing the stories and resilience of the Nepali people. He is also a contributing journalist for NepYork.
