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USA Today
20-03-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Citizens of tiny Bhutan, 'Land of the Thunder Dragon,' may end up on Trump travel ban list
Citizens of tiny Bhutan, 'Land of the Thunder Dragon,' may end up on Trump travel ban list Bhutan is a country whose constitution says it must remain 60% under forest cover at all times. Is visa overstays the reason it may wind up on the Trump travel ban list? Show Caption Hide Caption Hundreds gather in NY to protest Trump on International Women's Day Hundreds participated in a 'Unite and Resist' march protesting Trump on International Women's Day. A remote Himalayan mountain kingdom nestled between China, India and a bunch of clouds may be about to get more distant. Bhutan is known as the "Land of the Thunder Dragon" and for its deeply Buddhist culture and for measuring national happiness. On Friday, it could became one of 43 countries whose citizens face restrictions or demands on entering the U.S. because of a new Trump administration travel ban. According to a draft list of plans developed by the Trump administration, Bhutan could join "red" list countries such as traditional American adversaries Iran and North Korea, whose citizens may be entirely barred from entering the U.S. Another possibility is it could be designated an "orange" list nation, for which travel is restricted but not entirely cut off, or a "yellow" list country, which means it would be given 60 days to address concerns about its perceived immigration-related deficiencies. The draft memo was seen by The New York Times and Reuters news agency. More: Trump administration weighs travel ban on dozens of countries, memo says President Donald Trump imposed a ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations in his first term. When he took office for his second term, he issued an executive order requiring the U.S. State Department to identify countries "for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries." Trump said that he was taking the fresh action to protect American citizens "from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes." It's not fully clear why Bhutan, home to fewer than 800,000 people and until relatively recently tucked away in the mountains in virtual isolation from the rest of the world, was added to the list. Here's some of the factors that might come into play. First of all, what do we know about Bhutan? Bhutan was an association of local fiefdoms until the 18th century; following British intervention, it became a hereditary monarchy in 1907. The country became a two-party parliamentary democracy about 100 years later, though Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck − Bhutan's fifth "Dragon King" − is still the de facto constitutional head of state. The country only started opening up to outsiders in the 1970s, when the first tourists were allowed in. Bhutan did not get television until 1999. It still has no traffic lights − perhaps the only country in the world without them. Bhutan is approximately half the size of Indiana. Its constitution mandates that 60% of the country must remain under forest cover for all time as part of a commitment to conserve the environment. Since 2008, Bhutan has been using what it calls the "Gross National Happiness" index to track its citizens' well-being, a gauge that goes beyond economic indicators to encompass social, cultural and environmental factors that contribute to happiness. However, Tshering Tobgay, Bhutan's prime minister, has said the concept can mask real problems in Bhutan, such as chronic unemployment, poverty and corruption. Related: Reporter's notebook: Finland, happiness, saunas, NATO and the threat from Russia Michael Hutt, a professor at London's School of Oriental and African Studies, said Bhutan's political elite has traditionally been dominated by Buddhists who emigrated from Tibet. There is also a large Hindu minority, originally from Nepal. In the 1990s, Bhutan's Buddhists started to see its Hindus as a political threat, though the conflict was not over religion, it was over ethnicity and politics, sparked by resurgent Bhutanese nationalists. After a rebellion, about 100,000 Bhutanese Hindus left for refugee camps in Nepal. Hutt said they lived in these camps for about 20 years until countries in the West, including the U.S., offered to resettle them. Around 65,000 moved to the U.S., chiefly to the East Coast; also to cities in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. In recent years, Bhutan has become the world's third largest cryptocurrency investor. Why would Trump put Bhutan on a travel ban list? The White House has not said why Bhutan could be specifically targeted. But visa overstays may be one factor. While the total number of travelers to the U.S. from Bhutan each year is relatively small − well short of 1,000 − data from the Department of Homeland Security's 2023 "Entry/Exit Overstay Report" show that Bhutanese who entered the U.S. that year as students, for exchange visits, or for business or tourism purposes, had a high overstay rate. The report said that more than a quarter − 26.6% − of Bhutanese students and exchange visitors remained in the U.S. beyond their authorized period. For Bhutanese nationals who entered the U.S. on business or tourist visas, the overstay figure in 2023 was 12.7%. By comparison, the average overstay rate for students and exchange visitors from the United Kingdom in 2023 was 1%; for business and tourist travelers, it was 0.4%. Trump travel ban: Central Ohio Somali, Bhutanese families could feel pain The Bhutanese, a news website, reported that Bhutan's inclusion in the travel ban could also be linked to a series of immigration fraud scandals. In one, Nepalese nationals falsely posed as Bhutanese refugees to try to gain entry into the U.S. In another, first made public in a 2010 cable by the WikiLeaks whistleblowing platform, a group claiming to be cultural performers from Bhutan was unearthed as front to get into the U.S. illegally. According to the WikiLeaks cable, the group initially told the U.S. Embassy that their purpose of travel was to perform as members of a Buddhist folk music and dance troupe at several U.S. venues. Some members admitted they were actually intending to travel to the US. to work illegally and hoping to bring other with them. Bhutan has a high youth unemployment rate that hit 19% in 2024, according to the World Bank. That may be one reason pushing many Bhutanese seek work and study opportunities overseas, with Australia the top destination. Bhutan vs. Trump. What happens now? Bhutan's ministry of foreign affairs and external trade did not return a request for comment on what the country could be asked to do to satisfy U.S. immigration officials − to get off the Trump administration list. According to Kuensel, a Bhutanese media outlet, the nation's officials have formally requested a review of the listing, insisting that Bhutanese citizens do not pose a significant security threat to the U.S. Karma Loday is a blogger and former Bhutanese politician. He wrote an open letter Trump on his Facebook page, saying he felt "it is unfair" to have his "beloved country enlisted with some of the countries with terrorism history." In other posts, Loday also appeared to suggest that Bhutan had ultimately been placed on the list as a result of having its reputation being "smeared using false narratives" by members of Bhutan's diaspora. He didn't elaborate. Hutt, who wrote a book on Bhutan's refugees, said it's a misconception that Bhutan's Hindu minority were persecuted. "They weren't nice to them. They weren't persecuting them" because of their religion, he said. Still, he said Bhutan is not an easy for place to reach or procure a visa for and that refugees who fled the country find it "problematic" to go back because they are scrutinized by Bhutan's security services. A Human Rights Watch report published on Tuesday, based on findings from the United Nations, found that Bhutan's government has locked up people for life without parole for expressing their political opinions. "We may not have the answer to why Bhutan is on the list," said Sudarshan Pyakurel, the executive director of the Bhutanese Community of Central Ohio, in an email. "We strongly believe that the White House should engage with Bhutan to establish diplomatic and bilateral relations rather than resorting to a one-sided travel ban."
USA Today
20-03-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Activists ramp up efforts to push back against Trump
Activists ramp up efforts to push back against Trump Show Caption Hide Caption Hundreds gather in NY to protest Trump on International Women's Day Hundreds participated in a 'Unite and Resist' march protesting Trump on International Women's Day. In a blue strip of Rep. Kevin Kiley's California district, an empty chair will sit on stage when his constituents gather tonight. 'We would love to have him show but we haven't heard one word from him,' said Kathy Dotson, the event's organizer and leader of the Nevada County chapter of Indivisible, a progressive advocacy group. Dotson said there is local appetite to hear from Kiley in the county, which supported Democrat Kamala Harris with 54.4% of the vote in November's presidential election. Recently two of the congressman's staff people held an event locally and were greeted by over 400 unhappy constituents. Dotson spoke with people waiting in line. 'They were so concerned. The majority of them were seniors. They were concerned about Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and quite a few were veterans, and they were petrified that their livelihoods were going to be affected,' she said. 'People are scared. People are really, really nervous.' In just two months since Trump took office and began a sweeping effort to restructure government by firing tens of thousands of federal employees, closing entire departments and shutting local offices for agencies like Social Security, activists have ramped up their efforts as well, with lessons learned from a fight that began in Trump's first term. Protests have accelerated across the country as Trump has rolled back protections for green card holders, asylum seekers, transgender people and federal workers. In February alone, more than 2,085 protests took place nationwide, according to the Crowd Counting Consortium, a joint project of Harvard Kennedy School and the University of Connecticut. That's an increase from 937 protests in February 2017, during the first full month of the first Trump administration, though many of those were much larger than America has seen so far in 2025. The White House dismissed the increasing activism. 'Anyone who thinks protests, lawsuits, and lawfare will deter President Trump must have been sleeping under a rock for the past several years," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to USA TODAY. "President Trump will not be deterred from delivering on the promises he made to make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers across the country who overwhelmingly re-elected him.' 'He deserves to be shamed for this' After a spate of contentious townhalls gained media attention last month, National Republican Congressional Committee leaders told House Republicans not to hold in-person meetings. Members of Congress blamed liberal provocateurs for the high pressure events. "Democrats are trying to distract voters from their abysmal approval ratings and out-of-touch records with manufactured productions organized by far-left activist groups who are funded by billionaire mega-donors. Voters see through their pathetic charade," NRCC Spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement. Instead of in-person public meetings, several members of congress, including Kiley are holding virtual townhalls with prescreened questions and no chance to push back. Kiley, whose district stretches along California's eastern border from south of Death Valley to north of Lake Tahoe, did not respond to requests for comment. Local activists are changing their strategy in response to the NRCC directive: dozens of groups have scheduled meetings in the next few weeks to talk about what is happening in Washington, and how President Donald Trump's administration may change their community. Each meeting will feature an empty chair in an attempt to shame their member of Congress for not holding an in-person town hall, open to every constituent. 'Honestly, he deserves to be shamed for this. He absolutely does," Heather Meaney-Allen, who leads an Indivisible chapter in Williamsburg, Va. said of her congressman, Rep. Rob Wittman. "He is too much of a chicken to actually show up and face the people that put him in office, or even those of us who didn't vote for him ever, but he still represents us. He's still supposed to be our congressman." Williamsburg JCCC Indivisible has had a contentious relationship with Wittman since the first Trump administration. Their townhall, scheduled for March 23, will feature a cardboard cutout of the Republican and the chicken dance more commonly seen at weddings. Wittman will not attend because his staff did not organize the event, his office said. "I look forward to answering these constituents' questions during our next telephone town hall – I hope they will sign up and participate," Wittman said in a statement. Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin called the empty chair townhalls, 'Organizing 101.' 'If they show up, great, then you've succeeded in creating a town hall. But if they don't show up, then you have something to represent them, cardboard cutout, a person in a chicken suit, a live chicken on stage I've seen before, whatever it may be,' he said. More: The Donald Trump resistance is ready for when Democrats are done grieving National Indivisible organizers aren't involved in setting up the local town halls, they are just promoting the idea, he said. 'It is up to you to do," Levin said of the hundreds of Indivisible chapters across the country. "I'm not flying into any district with even my least favorite Republican member of Congress to set something up. Either folks in the district do it or it doesn't happen." Meaney-Allen, who expects more than 140 attendees next week, said participation in her group's weekly protests at the local courthouse have skyrocketed since Trump's election, with energy unlike anything she's seen in nine years of activism. 'We have a huge amount of retired military here, and they showed up. They are livid. They took an oath to our Constitution, and they are still living that oath to our Constitution. These were true Americans out there,' Meaney-Allen said. 'It's been building. It's increased every single week.' Thousands of protests For weeks, protests have taken place on small town street corners, in major cities, state Capitols and in Washington. Some have focused specifically on supporting federal workers, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, Palestinian self-determination or Ukraine, while others have demonstrated against Trump's agenda generally. Some have been led by the progressive groups like Indivisible that formed the "resistance" during Trump's first term. Others were organized by labor unions, special interest groups, fired federal workers or just frustrated Americans. Hundreds gathered outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City on Feb. 14 to protest the Park Service deletion of the word 'transgender' from its national monument website. Starting March 1 and continuing since, thousands have shown up at national parks to protest staffing cuts that have resulted in fewer services for the public. On March 13, almost 100 protesters were arrested during a sit-in at Trump Tower in downtown New York City. Organizers Jewish Voice for Peace, called for the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist with a green card detained by federal immigration agents. In El Paso, on March 16, activists hung a massive upside down American flag from an overpass. Indivisible, Women's March, MoveOn and more than a dozen other national and local activism groups have teamed up for a "mass mobilization" April 5 to bring together thousands of people at hundreds of protests and marches in Washington as well as spread across nearly every state. More: Thousands travel to Washington for People's March ahead of Trump inauguration 'More people are becoming alarmed' Indivisible's local numbers are growing every day, Levin said. And each month exceeds how many people joined in the first months of Trump's first term in 2017, he said. 'More and more people are becoming alarmed,' Levin said. '... maybe it's the 17th time they've heard some story about some egregious thing Musk has done, and that 17th time was too much, and so now they're going to show up at their meeting until things start to get better. I think we're going to see more and more people get active, and I so far don't see it slowing down.' Tabitha St. Bernard-Jacobs, chief partnerships officer at Women's March, said a flood of people are coming forward to join existing groups or create new ones. Women's March organized the mass protests in Washington and across the country the day after Trump's first inauguration where many local activists first met and formed groups. 'There was this narrative at the end of the last year that the resistance is dead and people aren't mobilizing, and that's just not what we're seeing or hearing from our base, and that's also not what we're seeing and hearing from people around the country," St. Bernard-Jacobs said. She said the key is that more people are willing to take on leadership roles in their local community and are mobilizing and organizing without relying on national groups. People aren't just showing up for a march and then going home, she said. They are looking for ways to get involved locally. 'We want people to envision mobilization going forward like Yes, show up, yes. Make your sign, yes. Put on your slogan T-shirts, and (then) think about day two and day 30 and day 100 afterwards," she said.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Activists plan nationwide protests against Trump agenda for International Women's Day
Some Americans are observing International Women's Day with a call to action. Protests and rallies are set to take place Saturday in communities across the country as part of the Women's March 'Unite and Resist' mobilization effort. The prominent women's rights organization, which formed in the days after Donald Trump's first inauguration, said the goal of Saturday's events is to 'build and strengthen the relationships we'll need to face what's ahead.' The group encouraged people to 'create the networks we'll need to resist fascism and the takeover of our freedoms.' The planned mobilization comes six weeks into Trump's second administration. Since taking office, Trump has authorized several executive actions that are likely to have a disproportionate effect on women. Not least among these is the executive order the president signed within hours of his inauguration dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion in the federal government. The following day, Trump rescinded a decades-old executive order that prohibited government contractors from discriminating based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin. Some legal experts worry the moves could give the federal government, the largest employer in the United States, a green light to discriminate. Many activists are also concerned about threats to abortion access. Trump's appointment of three conservative justices to the Supreme Court in his first term paved the way for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which overturned 50 years of precedent guaranteeing the right to abortion. During his campaign, Trump frequently flip-flopped on whether he would sign a national abortion ban as president, eventually declaring he would veto such a bill if it reached his desk. Still, his administration appears to be cracking down on access to reproductive health care via other avenues. The Justice Department filed a motion this week to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Biden administration over Idaho's near-total abortion ban. And on Thursday, Trump's nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Marty Makary, told a Senate committee that he would review a Biden-era rule that allows patients to get mifepristone, one of two pills frequently used in a medication abortion, without seeing a health care provider in person. The pill, which is also used for miscarriage care, has become a lifeline for women in states with more draconian restrictions. Women of Michigan Action Network, one of the local organizations working with Women's March, invited members of its community to join Saturday's event, laying out what it believes is at stake in a statement: 'Our rights and our country are being threatened on every front: freedom of the press, marriage equality, healthcare, the economy, reproductive freedom, a functioning government, and our right to live in a democracy, not a dictatorship!' This article was originally published on
