Free Binod Shah: Deportation Defense and Family Support

We are a network of immigrants and allies across Idaho raising awareness for Mr. Binod Shah, a resident of Twin Falls who is currently stateless, and in ICE detention.

His family is in need of funds, as Mr. Shah is the main mechanic at his family's business, and unable to contribute as the main earner for his wife, college-age son, infant, and mother who just had two back to back surgeries. Please donate or share his story. Funds from this request will go to legal expenses, as well as some living expenses.

A concurrent campaign to call Mike Simpson's office is underway, as ICE has said that April 13th could be his last day on U.S. Soil.

According to his legal team, this is his story:

Mr. Shah was born in Bhutan. The year that he was born, the Kingdom of Bhutan passed the Bhutan Citizenship Act of 1985, which by operation of law, revoked the Bhutanese Citizenship of thousands of other Bhutanese of Nepali ethnicity, like Mr. Shah. This was part of a well-documented ethnic cleansing of Bhutan carried out in the 80s and 90s, to expel those from the country who are not ethnically Bhutanese, especially the large minority of Nepali ethnicity.

When Mr. Shah was approximately four years old, his father was detained by the Bhutanese government and held for over a year, during which time he was subjected to brutal torture, which has left him with permanent health issues. When he was released from custody, he collected his wife and children, including the then five-year-old Mr. Shah, and the family was relocated to a refugee camp in Nepal. The Bhutanese took possession of all of their property in Bhutan, including their home and all of their possessions.

Mr. Shah grew up in the refugee camp. In the camps, the refugees were subjected to harassment by Nepali security forces, which was at times worse than what they had faced in Bhutan. When he was 20 years old, the UN resettled Mr. Shah and his family in the United States. He became a permanent resident and built a life in this country. Unfortunately, in 2017, he was convicted for a crime in Idaho for which he was given a suspended sentence. He was detained by ICE in approximately January of 2018, and ordered deported by an Immigration Judge in May of 2019, to Bhutan.

However, the Kingdom of Bhutan refused to issue Mr. Shah a passport or otherwise agree to repatriate him. Unable to remove him to Bhutan, ICE released Mr. Shah from custody in approximately September of 2019, after more than a year and a half of detention. He was placed under an order of supervision, and granted work authorization. Mr. Shah dedicated himself to his family and his rehabilitation. He opened a mechanic shop in Twin Falls, which he operated with his US Citizen spouse, and reported to ICE periodically as required.

A little over two weeks ago, Mr. Shah was contacted by ICE, who informed him that they had obtained a travel document for him from the Kingdom of Bhutan, and that he needed to turn himself in for removal. This was the same week that ICE took into custody a group of Bhutanese men residing in Pennsylvania.

Mr. Shah complied with this order and was transferred to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, where he has been awaiting his removal to Bhutan, the country which had expelled him and his family on account of their ethnicity when he was only five years old.

In the last week, the first deportation flight was carried out by ICE. After landing in Bhutan, the deportees were taken into Bhutanese custody, and immediately driven to Bhutan’s border with India, and expelled. India refused to accept them and as a result, some of the group secured passage to Nepal, where some were detained for entering the country without authorization.

Whatever agreement Bhutan made with the United States to accept deportees like Mr. Shah was not made in good faith, and if removed from the United States, Mr. Shah will not be allowed to take up residence in Bhutan, and will face the real possibility of indefinite confinement and likely persecution, as a stateless individual.

As the United States cannot ensure the repatriation to Bhutan of Mr. Shah, and as he has no rights to reside anywhere else in the world, he should be released from custody. At the very least, he should be informed of whichever country to which he will be removed by the United States and their proxies in the Bhutanese government, and provided with an opportunity to request protection from removal to that country before an Immigration Judge.

He has demonstrated that he is not a flight risk, and should be set free pending resolution.