A ‘Hidden’ Community of Nepalese Migrants Fights to Remain in U.S.

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{snip} On April 25, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck [Nepal], killing nearly 9,000 people, injuring more than 20,000 and wrecking over 750,000 homes, including his own. {snip}

A humanitarian U.S. government program called temporary protected status (TPS), allowed [Keshav] Bhattarai, 56, to find refuge in America. Under the program, people from countries shattered by war or natural disasters who can’t return home safely may live and work in the United States. Initially, officials granted TPS to about 9,000 Nepalese immigrants, enabling Bhattarai to resettle in Sunnyvale in Northern California, find work as a gas station cashier and save money to send to relatives.

Last year, Bhattarai’s new life was jolted by the Trump administration’s decision to end protected status for Nepalis and Hondurans this June. That prompted him and others to join a class-action lawsuit filed in February against the Department of Homeland Security seeking to stop what it calls the unlawful termination of TPS for more than 100,000 people.

It was a dramatic pushback by the Nepalese community, which has kept a low profile amid the continuing court battles over Trump’s immigration policies.

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Last month, the plaintiffs got a break when the government temporarily stopped revoking TPS for people from Nepal and Honduras. The administration has agreed to wait until a final decision in a separate lawsuit challenging Homeland Security’s order to terminate TPS for recipients from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan.

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Gurung, a founder of the Gurung Society of Southern California, a group focused on maintaining cultural ties to the homeland, said that Nepalis believe that “members of the current administration have a goal to get rid of foreigners in the U.S.” Temporary protected status, he said, “is necessary for many people to stay safe and provide for their families.”

More than 200,000 Nepalis live in the United States, with the largest populations in Texas, followed by New York and California, which is home to nearly 10,000 Nepalis, according to community organizers.

Homeland Security has been aggressive in terminating TPS for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, many of whom have lived in the United States for two decades or more and whose countries of origin remain in dire straits.

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Initially, in 2018, former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said that official review of TPS had concluded that “the disruption of living conditions in Nepal from the April 2015 earthquake and subsequent aftershocks … have decreased to a degree that they should no longer be regarded as substantial, and Nepal can now adequately manage the return of its nationals.”

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Prarthana Gurung, campaigns and communications manager for Adhikaar, a group helping to boost Nepalis’ voices in the social justice movement, said that part of the challenge in extending TPS is Nepal’s relative lack of visibility. “A lot of people don’t even know Nepal is a country,” she said.

The New York-based group has hosted legal clinics and launched outreach nationwide to educate TPS holders about their rights, while pushing for legislation to allow them to establish permanent residency. Its staff also offers training for immigrants on how to distinguish between police officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Adhikaar was part of a team that helped find candidates like Bhattarai to be plaintiffs in the current lawsuit against the government.

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Bhattari said he understands that TPS wasn’t meant to be a permanent solution for displaced people.

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