The US Embassy in Kathmandu has sought clarification from the Nepal government following the refusal of immigration officials to allow an American citizen to enter Nepal.

Embassy officials told the Post that it had sent a formal request for clarification from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday.

“The US Embassy is troubled that the Nepal government deported a US citizen on the basis of a request from a foreign government,” Andie De Arment, the US Embassy spokesperson, told the Post. “We are seeking clarification from the Nepal government about the facts of this specific instance and, more generally, about whether US citizens seeking to enter Nepal will be subject to clearance from other foreign governments.”

Acting on a blacklist provided by the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu, immigration officials at Tribhuvan International Airport, on Saturday, sent back Penpa Tsering, who they believed to be working for the Dalai Lama.

However, the Penpa Tsering who was refused entry turned out to be the wrong man—an American citizen who shared the same name as the former representative of the Tibetan Administration to the United States.

Since Saturday, more details have emerged about the incident. According to immigration officials, Tsering was flagged as being on a blacklist as soon as he landed. Officials then conducted a Google search and came across videos of Penpa Tsering, the former representative of the Tibetan Administration to the US, who they believed to be the man on the Chinese Embassy’s blacklist. Junior officials immediately rang up Eshor Raj Poudyal, the director general for the immigration department who rushed to the Home Ministry and met with Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa and Home Secretary Prem Kumar Rai, two junior officials who were in the immigration desk at the time of the incident told the Post.

All the while, there were repeated calls to the Immigration Office and the Home Ministry from the Chinese Embassy to detain Tsering, the officials said. It is unclear how the Chinese Embassy was notified about Tsering’s arrival in Kathmandu. Both officials asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t allowed to speak about the incident with the media.

The Post’s numerous attempts to reach Poudyal, who heads the immigration department, for comment went unanswered.

Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi confirmed to the Post that he has received a communication from the US Embassy.

“Since we were busy in another function today, the ministry has not yet discussed the contents of the communication,” he said. “Once we do, we will respond to the US Embassy.”

Officials at the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu did not respond to the Post’s phone calls.

During interrogation, Tsering told immigration officials that he was a Tibetan but not a leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile, as suggested by immigration officials, and that he was only in Nepal to meet friends and family.

Officials then sent Tsering back to the US, via Doha on a Qatar Airways flight, on the Nepal government’s expenses.