Families in rural Rukum mortgaged land and borrowed at crushing rates to fund “donkey route” journeys to America; their sons ended up in US detention centres.
An elderly parent says: “Here, the lenders are after us. Over there, the American police have our son.”
In the rain-soaked hills of Rukum East, a middle-aged couple sits by a mud-house fire, smoke stinging their eyes. Their son, who left home just after finishing Grade 12, has spent the past 19 months in a US jail. They spent nearly Rs 10 million – later ballooning past Rs 13 million with legal fees and living costs – to send him there. “It feels as though we paid money to send our son to jail,” the mother says.
The story is no longer rare in Nepal’s midwest.
From Village Promise to Multi-Country Ordeal
Young men from Rukum East and neighbouring districts have for more than a decade poured family savings, bank loans and high-interest borrowings into what locals call the “donkey route” – an irregular, multi-country trek designed to reach the United States. Agents once charged Rs 800,000 to Rs 1 million. Prices later climbed toward Rs 8.5 to 10 million or more per person.
One young man, identified only as Sabin, left at 18. An agent insisted his father accompany him to Dubai on visit visas. After 14 months in the UAE, the journey continued through Brazil and other countries. On 6 January 2025 the family received word that he had reached America – and been arrested almost immediately. Nearly three months later he confirmed he was in jail. He remains there, speaking to his parents by brief video call every Monday.
A second young man from the same village, Aashish, followed a similar path. He left after Tihar (Deepwali) in 2021, was shuttled between agents, paid a total of Rs 8.5 million to traffickers and more than Rs 10 million overall once lawyer fees and expenses were added, and has also spent 19 months in a California jail – the same facility as Sabin for part of that time.
Both families mortgaged property, borrowed from banks, relatives and local lenders, and now face relentless pressure for repayment while their sons remain in detention with uncertain futures. Sabin’s parents have sent documents from Nepal, including birth and citizenship certificates and hospital records, and paid an initial Rs 1 million to a US lawyer plus monthly allowances. They were told six months ago of a final hearing; it has not yet occurred. Sabin is attempting to claim he cannot safely return to Nepal because of lingering effects of the Maoist conflict.
The Scale of the Gamble
The phenomenon is concentrated in former conflict areas of western Nepal. Local estimates put hundreds of people from single rural municipalities either already in the United States, en route, or returned. Sisne Rural Municipality alone has been estimated to have around 600 residents in the US and another 200 on the way. Similar patterns appear across Rukum West, Dang, Salyan and neighbouring districts.
Routes typically begin with flights from Kathmandu to Dubai or other transit points, then continue through a shifting combination of countries in the Middle East, Europe, Africa or South America before the final overland push through Central America and Mexico. Journeys can last many months and expose migrants to extortion, dangerous terrain, detention in transit countries and the constant risk of abandonment by agents. Some never arrive. A few have died. Others have returned empty-handed after years of effort and debt.
Police and anti-trafficking authorities acknowledge the problem but note that few families file formal complaints, limiting prosecutions. Organised networks continue to operate, and large money-laundering cases linked to illegal US migration have been filed in recent years.
Tightening Borders and Rising Deportations
The flow has slowed as the United States tightened immigration enforcement, particularly after the change in administration in early 2025. Yet the consequences of the earlier rush remain visible in village after village. Deportees have returned in growing numbers. Official figures and embassy data show hundreds of Nepalis removed in 2025 alone – far higher than in previous years – with many originating from the same western districts that fuelled the donkey-route traffic.
Those who reach US soil often face immediate detention. Asylum claims based on past conflict-related fears face high evidentiary hurdles years after the peace process. Detention can stretch for many months while cases wind through the system. Families back home continue to pay legal fees and living allowances while interest on their loans compound.
Lives Held in Suspension
Inside the mud house in Rukum East, the weekly calls offer fragile reassurance. Sabin tells his parents he is fine and will be out soon. They do not know when – or whether – that will happen. Outside, lenders keep coming. The father stares into the fire: “Here, the lenders are after us. Over there, the American police have our son.”
Similar accounts echo across the hills. Parents who once imagined remittances transforming family fortunes now confront the possibility that their sons may return with nothing except the debt they left behind. Some who made it earlier and found work have become the very examples that encourage others to try. The cycle of hope, payment, risk and disappointment has left deep scars on households that had little margin for error.
Human traffickers and migration agents still find willing clients because the alternative – limited local opportunity – feels equally bleak to many young people. The government and policing agencies know the pattern. Families, however, remain largely alone with the consequences: sons in distant detention centres, crushing debt at home, and the slow realisation that the American dream they purchased has delivered only uncertainty and loss.
The rain continues outside the mud house. Inside, the fire burns low. The weekly video call is the only remaining thread connecting parents to a son they sent halfway around the world with everything they could raise – and who has not yet come home.
Image: Grok
