WASHINGTON — US lawmakers on Tuesday denounced Thailand for expelling more than 4,000 Hmong into Laos and demanded that the Vientiane government allow immediate international monitoring to ensure their safety.
The senators representing Minnesota and Wisconsin, states home to much of the Hmong community in the United States, said they "strongly condemn" Thailand for going ahead with Monday's mass expulsion despite US and UN pleas.
"This action violates humanitarian and refugee principles and could have serious repercussions," said the statement by Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
"We share the concern of many of our Hmong-American constituents whose loved ones have been forced to return, and we will be paying close attention as the Hmong are resettled in Laos," said the senators, all members of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party.
The senators urged Laos "to ensure the safety and well-being of these individuals and to allow immediate and ongoing monitoring by international observers at all stages of the resettlement and reintegration process."
In a separate joint statement, the top Democrat and Republican on the House Foreign Relations Committee said that the repatriation "marks a dangerous precedent" for refugees worldwide.
"The Lao government must ensure that they are treated humanely, guarantee access to the international community for independent monitoring, and let those who are eligible for resettlement be resettled promptly," wrote Representatives Howard Berman, the committee chair, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican.
Both Thailand and Laos said that the Hmong were illegal immigrants and not political refugees as they contended. Thailand said it had received assurances that Laos would treat them well.
But Hmong activists say that the ethnic group continues to face persecution in communist Laos stemming from the time of the Vietnam War, when the mountain people were recruited to fight alongside US forces.
Doctors Without Borders said earlier this year that Hmong who fled to Thailand recounted killings, gang-rape and malnutrition inflicted by Laotian forces.
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