Jhapa, February 2
Kali Maya Magar, 41, (extreme left) recently bid goodbye to her neighbours at the Bhutanese refugee camp in Beldangi, Jhapa in eastern Nepal.
She sold off whatever she had to her relatives. Magar, a Bhutanese refugee living in Nepal for over two decades, was officially migrating to the United States, and she was spending the remaining of her days at the camp, excited to begin afresh in the ‘land of opportunities.’
“I was excited to go the US and live with my family again.”
But when Magar visited the office of the Camp Management Committee (CMC) on January 30 for her final health check up, she was ushered into the counselor’s office instead. It was there that they broke the news.
“I was thinking that an IOM (International Organization for Migration) van would be parked at the CMC where our photographs would be taken and the check up done,” says Magar.
It was at the camp office that she met her neigbours, who were supposed to have landed in the US few weeks prior to her camp visit. The Office told Magar that the migration programme was put on hold following orders from US President Trump.
The ‘temporary’ came into effect after the Trump signed an executive order on January 27, suspending refugee resettlement and entry into the US.
The ban would also affect Bhutanese living in Nepal, where more than 1,22,000 refugees had been living since 1990, before resettlement began a few years ago. Every year, hopefuls like Magar wait patiently to be resettled in countries such as Australia, Norway, and Denmark among others.
It is not only Kali Maya Magar and her neighbours who were refused entry into the US. At least four other families, who were supposed to land in the US in a few days, were turned down at the CMC in Beldangi the same day as Magar.
The rejection, however, although temporary, will negatively affect the mental health of the refugees, believes Tikaram Rasailee, secretary of CMC, Beldangi.
“Most of the families in the final stages of their application take loans to prepare for their journey,” Rasailee says.
But Kali Maya Magar is still hopeful that she will soon be reunited with her family in the US.
“They say that the ban is temporary,” Magar says.
“They have assured me that my application will be re-evaluated as soon as the ban is lifted.”
A total of 1,07,000 Bhutanese refugees have been resettled in third countries since the programme began in 2007 according to UNHCR.
