Since Donald Trump began his second term as US president, 23 Nepalis have been deported as part of a crackdown on undocumented immigrants. Among them, four were women and 19 were men.

They were flown to Kathmandu and handed over to immigration authorities at Tribhuvan International Airport. The US administration provided the deportation list to the Nepali Embassy in Washington, DC, which issued travel documents for their return.

Airport immigration chief Tirtha Raj Bhattarai said the deportees started arriving on January 22, with the latest arrival on Monday.

According to records, one Nepali arrived on January 22, another on January 24, one on January 29, two on January 30, one on January 31, three on February 1, three on February 5, two on February 6, six on February 8, two on February 16, and one on February 17.

Immigration authorities process deportees before handing them over to Nepal Police’s Human Trafficking Bureau for further questioning.

“According to the records, since January 22, 23 Nepali citizens have been deported from the US so far. Upon their arrival, we process their paperwork at immigration and hand them over to the Human Trafficking Investigation Bureau of the police,” said Bhattarai.

Many deportees had entered the US illegally through human traffickers or overstayed their visas.

Deputy Inspector General Dinesh Acharya, Nepal Police spokesperson, said the bureau is questioning deportees for intelligence on these trafficking operations.

“Traffickers have long been smuggling people into the US through various routes across Asia, Africa, and South America. This network is vast, and we interrogate deportees to gather intelligence on their operations,” said DIG Acharya. “If anyone has paid these networks to enter the US and is now deported, their information is crucial for our investigations,” he added.

Between 2021 and 2024, 140 Nepalis were deported from the US—38 in 2021, 24 in 2022, 25 in 2023, and 53 in 2024. The rising number of deportations in recent weeks suggests more undocumented Nepalis, including those with temporary residence permits, could face removal.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has intensified arrests of those with final deportation orders, with a focus on individuals who entered the US after June 24, 2015, and were ordered to leave. Over 3,500 Nepalis have been issued deportation orders, with an estimated 2,000 under Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Around 1,300 Nepalis are believed to be at immediate risk of deportation.

ICE has publicly listed 1,445,549 undocumented immigrants for deportation. The largest undocumented populations in the US are from Mexico, El Salvador, India, Guatemala, Honduras, and Venezuela, with significant concentrations in California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois.