This Idaho man faces deportation to a country that doesn’t want him

Carolyn Komatsoulis and Alex Brizee, Idaho Statesman

TWIN FALLS (Idaho Statesman) – A 40-year-old Twin Falls resident with a criminal history who’s facing deportation could soon be stateless, with no legal right to be anywhere.

Binod Shah first came to the U.S. as a refugee, fleeing ethnic cleansing in his home country. He moved to Twin Falls in 2008 and could now be forced to leave his wife and 9-month-old son after he turned himself into Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

His home country, Bhutan, revoked his citizenship and expelled ethnic minorities like him who have Nepali ancestry. But under President Donald Trump’s administration, Bhutan started accepting deportees from the U.S., Binod’s lawyer, Neal Dougherty, told the Idaho Statesman. According to news reports, the country has been taking them in only to expel them to other countries again.

Binod’s wife and lawyer worry that he could face the same fate. “He’s a father, a husband and a businessman,” said his wife, Stephanie Shah, who was born in Idaho. “He’s the kind of migrant that we need in the country.”

Binod was kicked out of Bhutan at 4 or 5 years old and lived for over a decade in a refugee camp in Nepal before coming to Idaho in his early 20s, his wife and lawyer told the Idaho Statesman. He eventually became a legal permanent resident in Twin Falls, according to Dougherty.

But Binod got into legal trouble around eight years into living in the Magic Valley and lost his green card, Dougherty said. He pleaded guilty in 2018 to aggravated assault after admitting to a fight with his then-wife. The next year, he was put in deportation proceedings, Dougherty told the Statesman.

In 2019 Bhutan didn’t want him or people of his ethnicity, so Binod was released under ICE supervision, his attorney said. He was required to check in with immigration officials and fulfilled that requirement, Dougherty said.

Green card holders can be deported if they commit a crime. Any immigrant who commits an aggravated felony can be deported, according to the Immigration and Nationality Act. But immigrants have a lower incarceration rate than people born in the United States, a 2023 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found, and are 30% less likely to be incarcerated than white people born in the U.S.

Now, Binod is caught up in a political storm, as the Trump administration continues to crack down on deportations.

His wife said Binod has worked hard and is an active community member. Everything he did wrong, he’s already paid for, she told the Statesman.

Representatives with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, as well as ICE, did not respond to a request for comment.

Stephanie and Dougherty said Binod faced deportation by Saturday, April 12. But there’s uncertainty over whether the U.S. will expel him. Binod is being held in the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, according to an ICE detainee locator.

“I’m doubtful that they’re actually going to be able to do that,” Dougherty said. “You’re not supposed to be removed to a country that refuses to accept you.”

Binod pleads guilty to aggravated assault

Diane Davis, a friend of Binod and Stephanie, remembered seeing three people sitting in the back of a church building over a decade ago. She went over and introduced herself and ended up back at their home. The space had no furniture and several Nepali refugees, Davis recalled in an interview with the Statesman.

The Jerome woman met Binod over a decade ago, in his first days in the United States, she said. Binod has grown a lot since he came to the country, she said. His time spent incarcerated made him a different person, Davis added.

“He was so mature,” Davis said. “I can’t say enough good about who he’s become. And he will say that it’s because of God. God changed him in the prison.”

Binod has spent time in the criminal justice system. His most serious offense was in 2017, when he got into a physical altercation with his then-wife. They filed for divorce in 2017, and two years later, he met Stephanie.

“He’s tried to really prove himself again and again,” Stephanie said. “It feels like every single time, right when he’s ready to really do well, he loses everything.”

The Twin Falls Police Department arrested Binod in May 2017 after his then-wife said he threatened her with a knife, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Statesman. Binod pleaded guilty to felony aggravated assault, but remained adamant during his plea hearing that he wasn’t holding a knife.

“The violence of the situation in this case is disturbing to me,” 5th District Judge Ben Cluff said during Binod’s 2018 sentencing. “The defendant needs to understand and must pay a price for disobeying the laws of our country.”

Cluff placed Binod on probation for five years and added a 90-day sentence at the Twin Falls Jail.

Binod, through an interpreter at his hearing, apologized for his mistakes and said he wanted to “make progress” in his life.

“I want to move on with my life in a positive way,” Binod said.

On behalf of Binod’s ex-wife, the prosecution said in a statement to the court that she thought Binod should “get what he gets,” but was concerned about what would happen to his immigration status. She said deporting him wouldn’t be fair to their two children, who are now 21 and 15 years old.

Binod held in ICE detention

Binod started learning mechanical skills in Nepal, and continued to develop those skills as a long-haul truck driver based in Idaho, his wife said. And after leaving detention in 2019, Binod didn’t know what to do with his life, she said. Then he helped a woman with her flat tire, and she insisted on giving him $20, Stephanie told the Statesman.

That same year, he started a mechanic shop. But he ended up back in the system in 2022 after he was arrested for driving under the influence.

His DUI was a felony and sent him to the North Idaho Correctional Institution in Cottonwood. He was released seven months later, in April 2023, on probation and began working again with his wife, Stephanie, at their shop.

Since his release in 2023, Binod has maintained his sobriety and demonstrated “a positive lifestyle,” his probation officer wrote in a recent request for early release.

“We are respectfully requesting that Mr. Shah be granted an early discharge from felony probation,” IDOC Probation and Parole Officer Ryan Matthews wrote in a January request.

His release wasn’t granted, and he’s still on probation in Twin Falls until 2027.

Since news broke of Binod’s ICE detention, Idahoans have spread information online hoping to drum up support for his plight. They have asked people to call U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, whose congressional district includes Twin Falls, to get Binod out of detention. Stephanie said people have also offered to write to Idaho’s congressional delegates and governor.

Simpson, U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo, and Gov. Brad Little did not return requests for comment.

But the support has been meaningful to Stephanie, she said while soothing the couple’s crying 9-month-old baby. Binod is “the heart and soul” of their mechanic shop, Stephanie said, and the “life of the party.”

His detention has been overwhelming and an emotional roller coaster, she said. She’s trying to take care of her family, the shop and her customers.

The two were able to hire temporary workers, but Stephanie can’t do the mechanical work on vehicles. Their baby is not as happy since Binod was detained, she said.

“Dad is his favorite,” she said. “I’m not Dad.”

Stephanie said Binod has rebuilt his life from nothing three times, and is getting ready to do it again.

“He said ‘I feel like I’m garbage,’ ” Stephanie said. “No country wants me.”