Bhutan on the US travel ban ‘red list’ but no one knows why
An absolute travel ban has been imposed on citizens from the kingdom nestled between India and China, causing surprise and uproar. In the absence of official explanations, several ideas have been put forward: Bhutan’s migration policy vis-à-vis exiles, a fake refugee scandal, overstaying. Whatever the case, existing data do not justify the measure. Some speculate a possible mix-up with Bangladesh.
Thimphu (AsiaNews) – The Trump administration has added the Kingdom of Bhutan to its list of countries whose citizens are banned from entering the United States, the New York Times reports.
The decision, which has surprised and confused many people, is based on an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump on 20 January, inauguration day, asking the State Department to identify nations “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries” into the United States.
The US president said he was taking the action to protect American citizens “from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes”.
Last week, the New York Times published a list of 43 countries divided into three coloured categories based on the travel restrictions that will be imposed their nationals who intend to travel to the United States.
For now, it is only a draft made by security officials. Eleven countries considered enemies of the United States are on the "red list” with an absolute travel ban: Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and, for some unknown reason, Bhutan.
Several African and Asian countries (like Pakistan, Laos and Myanmar) are on the “orange list" and "yellow list”, which entail stringent criteria for entry into the USA.
Although the list is not definitive, a flurry of conjectures have been made to explain why Bhutan was included. The predominantly Buddhist country, with a population of about 800,000, is located between India and China, whose influence it has to carefully manage.
The inclusion appears that much odder considering that earlier this month Freedom House classified Bhutan as the only "free" country in South Asia.
For some observers, the Himalayan country’s migration policies might be the cause since the kingdom has refused to accept the return of some exiles.
In the 1990s, following the introduction of the "one nation, one people" policy, the Bhutanese government expelled about 80,000 Nepali-speaking Hindus. Victims of threats and persecution, they sought refuge in Nepal housed in camps.
Although most have since built a new life in the United States, Canada and Australia, Bhutan continues to prohibit these exiles from returning.
Another possibility as to why Bhutan was placed on the red list concerns a scandal dating back to 2023, when hundreds of Nepalis posed as Bhutanese refugees with false papers in order to enter the United States.
An investigation revealed that top Nepali government officials were involved in the scam, including Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, a former Deputy Prime Minister, and Bal Krishna Khand, former Home Affairs Minister, arrested on charges of extorting more than two million dollars from hundreds of Nepalis.
Other explanations could be the rise in Bhutanese citizens crossing US land borders, from Canada and Mexico, but the numbers are very small: only 51 Bhutanese nationals were caught between 2021 and 2024 for violating s immigration laws, according to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, while the Department of Homeland Security claims that only 200 Bhutanese were caught living illegally in the United States between 2013 and 2022 while just 61 were considered inadmissible upon arrival.
According to other sources, who believe that Bhutan will be moved to the yellow list, the actual issue is "overstaying” in the United States after their visa expired, that determined the inclusion. However, here too, the data raise doubts. In 2022, only 112 out of 295 Bhutanese visitors did not leave the US as requested, a number that dropped to 72 out of 371 the following year.
These figures that are in line with or lower than those of other countries that have been included in the other two lists or have not been included in the lists at all.
One of the countries not subject to Trump’s travel ban that stands out is Bangladesh, which has been led by a transitional government since August last year. In recent months, Islamist parties, marginalised under the rule of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, an ally of the United States, have increased their demands. Some observers think that US officials may have quite simply confused the two South Asian countries.
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19/06/2007
10/03/2017 14:20
