Soccer as Sanctuary: Bhutanese Refugees Find Home on Harrisburg’s Fields
A Community Under Threat
Ecorescuezone.com – For the Bhutanese community in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the soccer pitch has transformed into something far greater than a recreational space. It stands as one of the rare havens where residents feel secure amid an unprecedented wave of deportations sweeping through their neighborhood. Under intensified immigration enforcement, dozens of community members have been removed from the United States over the past eighteen months, fundamentally altering life for families who had finally found stability.
Before March 2025, the U.S. government maintained a policy of not deporting these stateless refugees, regardless of their criminal records. That changed dramatically. Now, individuals are being flown to Bhutan—a nation that continues to refuse citizenship recognition and expels deportees upon arrival to either India or Nepal. Unable to return to Bhutan, Nepal, or remain in the United States, these individuals face a profound statelessness, left without any place to call home.
Roots in the Refugee Camps
The journey began decades ago when ethnic-cleansing campaigns forced thousands of Lhotshampa people from Bhutan. As the country pursued modernization and unification during the 1980s, government policies specifically targeted ethnic Nepalis, affecting both their legal status and cultural practices. Families spent nearly twenty years living in camps across Nepal, where soccer emerged as an essential lifeline.
Barred from obtaining work permits, families constructed farms and schools during daylight hours. When evening arrived, they turned to the sport to process their accumulated traumas. Kalu Singh Tamang, a national soccer star in Bhutan before his expulsion, became particularly influential. While residing in the Beldangi camps of Jhapa, Nepal, he coached thousands of fellow refugees in the game he loved. Tragically, he passed away within the camp, never experiencing the freedom to leave.
“When we were in Nepal, in the refugee camp, I played with [Tamang] and he coached so many of the refugee soccer fans. Our community, especially the adults, are having so many problems with mental health issues [since the camps], so I started this adults’ tournament.”
— Birkha Gurung, co-founder of the memorial tournament
Carrying the Tradition Across the Ocean
The soccer legacy traveled with the community that embraced it. In 2007, the United States launched a resettlement initiative backed by the United Nations, relocating approximately 85,000 refugees to American soil. Each year, a memorial tournament honoring Tamang’s name brings together refugees from throughout the nation.
Both the memorial tournament and Soccer for Success—a youth initiative serving more than fifty children weekly—operate through Asian Refugees United (ARU), a Harrisburg-based nonprofit organization. ARU additionally provides cultural education to refugee children. The proceeds from tournaments now support the youth program, ensuring the game passes to younger generations who may never witness the camps or their parents’ homeland.
“We were not prepared for this when we [built] the rapid response team. Our job now requires us to talk to the family members, folks who are in ICE detention. The immediate need is to stop the deportations. Folks who are deported, they are not safe.”
— Robin Gurung, ARU co-founder
Fear Reaches Into Daily Life
Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to provide comment when approached for this report. Meanwhile, anxiety has spread beyond those directly affected by deportation. Bhagawat Dulal, who serves as both a Soccer for Success coach and translator for detainees, observes how ordinary activities now carry uncertainty.
“I had some people I was talking to ask, ‘Can I go garden or should I not do that because of the [ICE] situation?’ The one thing that has always been there through Bhutan, Nepal and to America: We found a way to garden, because that is what brought us joy — and now the same people are scared to go garden.”
— Bhagawat Dulal, Soccer for Success coach
Robin Gurung has shifted from managing soccer programs to dedicating herself entirely to advocacy. She spends evenings and weekends collaborating with immigration attorneys, training staff in civic engagement, and traveling to Washington to meet with lawmakers.
Resilience Endures
Despite mounting challenges, the community persists. Fields fill weekly with children learning from their elders. Religious festivals continue to bring people together. Trades developed during camp life now thrive through small businesses. On the soccer field and beyond, they maintain what ARU staff member Manju Gurung described as “a future of hope, for our parents and all refugee parents around the globe.”
Maansi Srivastava is a freelance documentary photographer based in Washington, D.C. Find more of her work on her website, Maansi.photos.
