Wat Thamkrabok Refugees

This is a petition to support and protect a growing group of Hmong refugees who have been trapped in Thailand for nearly thirty years.

As you are aware, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has offered resettlement as a means of protecting special groups such as the Hmong of Laos and the Montagnards of Vietnam who are persecuted or suffer enduring hardship because of their pro-American stance. Now is the time to reassert this protection, for one of the last remaining groups of Hmong refugees.

Currently, over 15,000 Hmong refugees from Laos have lived on the grounds of a temple Wat Thamkrabok in central Thailand since fleeing their homeland after the Vietnam War, many after serving alongside American military forces. Now there is momentum at the U.S. Department of State and the Government of Thailand to provide durable solutions for those refugees, including the resettlement of approximately 8,000 or all of them in the United States.

We ask for your help to further this momentum currently under way at the U.S. Department of State by sending a letter to urge the U.S. Department of State to provide the option of third-country resettlement in the United States for these remaining refugees, many of whom supported the United States during the Vietnam War, which resulted in heavy casualties for their families.

Following the War, hundreds of thousands of Hmong fled Laos for refugee camps in Thailand. Thousands later left the camps, including Ban Vinai, for fear of repatriation, and many found relative sanctuary in Wat Thamkrabok, a Buddhist temple in central Thailand. According to a recent New York Times article, approximately 15,400 Hmong refugees from Laos now live at the temple grounds. Others have since left the temple and now live on the margins of Thai society, without access to Thai citizenship or the possibility of integration into that country. Many inside the temple grounds, as well as outside of them, still possess the documentation of refugee status they obtained in refugee camps.

These refugees, many of whom are our family members, continue to exist in impoverished and vulnerable circumstances. Without access to Thai citizenship, they lack full rights in that country, are often victims of exploitation, and remain there only under the temporary permission of the Thai Government. We are concerned about the safety of our close relatives, who are there now, and are ready and willing to assist the United States in resettling our relatives in the U.S.

Historically, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has offered resettlement as a means of protecting special groups such as the Hmong of Laos and the Montagnards of Vietnam who were and continue to be persecuted and to suffer hardship because of their pro-American stance. We recommend that this Administration continue to demonstrate America's loyalty to its suffering allies by offering the option of voluntary resettlement to our families, who are still in need protection.

We would be pleased to provide you with more specific information, and we stand ready to serve as a resource in your efforts to protect the human rights of vulnerable groups through resettlement and other means.

Again, thank you for your leadership in helping our community. We will follow up with your office to find out the status of this request.