Central Pa’s Bhutanese Nepali community celebrates restaurant opening after ICE raids

Following ICE raids and deportations by President Donald Trump’s administration, Central Pennsylvania’s Bhutanese Nepali community celebrated the opening of a new restaurant in Swatara Township on Sunday. Community members are asking those living in the Harrisburg area to support their shops and restaurants. 

Dozens of members of Central Pennsylvania’s Bhutanese Nepali community celebrated the grand opening of the Swatara Restaurant and Bar, a Nepali restaurant, in Swatara Township on Sunday. 

The celebration came at a turbulent time for the community, as President Donald Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has in recent weeks launched raids against the Bhutanese Nepali community in the US and deported 18 refugees back to Bhutan, including six from Pennsylvania. 

Despite the pain of recent weeks, members of the local Bhutanese community said they remain strong and committed to protecting each other. 

“ I’m very grateful that our elected officials, our community leaders are together on this,” Tilak Niroula, chairperson of the Bhutanese Community in Harrisburg, said to those in attendance. “Let us look into each other. Just care about our friends and families. If we hear anything that anybody’s looking for, support and services, let’s try to help each other because this is our community. Our community is very strong.”

Officials from Swatara Township’s town council and police department also attended Sunday’s grand opening ceremony to show support for the community. 

 ”The Bhutanese community has supported Swatara Township,” Shane Steele, Vice President of Swatara Township’s Board of Commissioners, said in an interview. 

“When you look at the businesses across Derry Street, the corridor once vacant, they’ve come in and started to open establishments such as this restaurant here [and] the whole entire mall that we’re located.”

Steele also spoke in support of the Bhutanese Nepali community at a recent Dauphin County Commissioners meeting, and reiterated that the issues they’re facing is something that has a long history in this country, especially for Black and Brown people. 

“This is not just a Bhutanese issue. This is a Black and Brown issue. The United States government, the federal government, has had an issue for centuries with Black and Brown people, and it needs to be adjusted.” 

There are over 40,000 members of the Bhutanese Nepali community living in the Harrisburg and Lancaster areas, making them some  the largest communities of Bhutanese Nepali refugees in the country. In total, Pennsylvania is home to over 70,000 Bhutanese Nepali community members. 

Many of those individuals fled their home country of Bhutan in the late 1980s and 1990s after the government carried an ethnic cleansing campaign against Nepali-speaking Bhutanese people. They spent close to two decades living in Nepali refugee camps before immigrating to the US in the 2000s. 

Khagen Ghimirey, owner of the Swatara Restaurant and Bar, spent years living in a Nepali refugee camp before making his way to Richmond, Va. and eventually the Harrisburg area. He said that he’s “blessed and proud to be a citizen of this great nation.” 

Ghrimirey called on Harrisburg area residents to seek out his restaurant and others to help support the Nepali community during this time. During the grand opening celebration, his restaurant offered a free buffet that included noodles, chicken curry, and other Nepali foods. 

“ I would like you guys to come and try our food,” Ghrimirey said.  

“I know you guys don’t like that much spicy, we will make it okay, spicy. So just come and try it. It is gonna’ be great food and the service is going to be quality service here at Swatara.”