Most of the Nepali population living in the San Francisco Bay Area are either Asylees and/or undocumented immigrants or refugees. The approximately 10-year long Maoist movement in Nepal displaced many families from their local residences to the larger city as they sought security from the fallout of the conflict. After the government began interrogating people en masse, suspecting potential Maoist sympathies, people started fleeing from the country itself to avoid both government torture and potential guerilla retribution. As of today, displaced peoples in Nepal continue to experience violence within their communities, and as human trafficking as it relates to immigration has become a more prevalent issue, we have found that trafficking agents in Nepal lure displaced Nepali people by convincing them that they both have a better future for their family and themselves waiting for them in the US and to sell their property to...

Most of the Nepali population living in the San Francisco Bay Area are either Asylees and/or undocumented immigrants or refugees. The approximately 10-year long Maoist movement in Nepal displaced many families from their local residences to the larger city as they sought security from the fallout of the conflict. After the government began interrogating people en masse, suspecting potential Maoist sympathies, people started fleeing from the country itself to avoid both government torture and potential guerilla retribution. As of today, displaced peoples in Nepal continue to experience violence within their communities, and as human trafficking as it relates to immigration has become a more prevalent issue, we have found that trafficking agents in Nepal lure displaced Nepali people by convincing them that they both have a better future for their family and themselves waiting for them in the US and to sell their property to assist in paying the agents off. These agents usually collect these fees an advance, which can add up to tens of thousands of dollars, that these people must pay back once they arrive in the US. Once they leave, it can take up to six months to a year to reach the US border, and many people die on the way with their family in Nepal never knowing what happened to them. If they reach the US, they are treated as illegal immigrants and enter exploitative working conditions to repay their debt to their trafficking agents. Labor exploitation includes unbearable working conditions (e.g., making less than the minimum wage, having immigration documents held by employers, no vacation or sick time, no breaks, 18-hour workdays, living in the place of employment, etc.), employer threats (e.g., deportation, termination from employment, separation from family, loss of legal status, and imprisonment), and actual physical and emotional abuse from employers. Often, they are working in very difficult and low paying jobs which don’t even pay enough for them to cover half of their expenses. Nepali community members in the Bay Area by and large work as domestic workers, care givers, restaurant workers and drivers. Every day they see their dreams shattered, many people are not ever able to bring their family to the US or earn enough to regain the property they already lost in Nepal.