{"id":54542,"date":"2025-02-07T10:05:31","date_gmt":"2025-02-07T18:05:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/vietnamese-in-thailand-wait-anxiously-after-trump-suspends-refugee-program\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T10:05:31","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T18:05:31","slug":"vietnamese-in-thailand-wait-anxiously-after-trump-suspends-refugee-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/vietnamese-in-thailand-wait-anxiously-after-trump-suspends-refugee-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Vietnamese in Thailand wait anxiously after Trump suspends refugee program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Read more on this topic in Vietnamese.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Hundreds of Vietnamese in Thailand who are hoping to be resettled as refugees in the U.S. have been left in limbo by President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to suspend refugee admissions and resettlement programs.<\/p>\n

The executive order<\/u><\/a> signed on Jan. 20 suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP, and decisions on applications for refugee status, while allowing the secretaries of state and homeland security to admit refugees on a case by case basis. The order called for the resettlement of refugees to be halted indefinitely. However, it will be reviewed in 90 days to see whether the program benefits Americans.<\/p>\n

The suspension also affects programs such as the Welcome Corps<\/u><\/a>, established by the State Department in 2023 to enable U.S. citizens or permanent residents to sponsor refugees and help them resettle in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Welcome Corps said in a statement on its website the suspension of USRAP \u201cincludes intake of new applications for the Welcome Corps, as well as processing of all active or previously submitted applications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Musician Nam Loc Nguyen fled Vietnam in 1975 and settled in Los Angeles. He was named \u201cCitizenship Ambassador\u201d by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, in 2022. He said Trump\u2019s executive order could affect about 1,500 Vietnamese refugees in Thailand who are hoping to be resettled in a third country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most direct and significant impact on refugees in general, and on Vietnamese refugees in Thailand in particular.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vietnamese refugees in Thailand include political activists, human rights advocates and members of ethnic minorities who have suffered discrimination for their religious beliefs, had land seized and documents denied by authorities.<\/p>\n

Since Thailand has not joined the U.N. Convention on Refugees, Vietnamese even when recognized as refugees by UNHCR are not granted that status and cannot work.<\/p>\n

Hopes of US resettlement fade<\/b><\/h3>\n

Trump\u2019s executive order also affects people who have already been approved for resettlement. Even those who have plane tickets and were about to leave Thailand for the U.S. face delays, at least temporarily.<\/p>\n

Nguyen Thanh Khai, 47, and his family fled to Thailand in 2013 and are still waiting for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, to grant them official refugee status.<\/p>\n

Without legal documents, Khai and his family have been forced to take cash-in-hand jobs such as preparing vegetables at markets and selling sugarcane juice.<\/p>\n

Khai was held for 40 days in 2018 at Bangkok\u2019s Immigration Detention Center for working without a permit. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy life here is illegal. They are always trying to deport me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In early 2024, Khai got news that a group in the U.S. had sponsored his family under the Welcome Corps program. For the first time in 12 years, he said he could hope for a stable future for him and his children.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was devastated when I heard that the Welcome Corps program had been suspended. I had been hoping and waiting. Now, I feel so sad for my kids\u2019 future,\u201d he told Radio Free Asia.<\/p>\n

Khai\u2019s oldest daughter, Thanh Ngan, 18, is in her penultimate year at high school. She said that her studies had suffered because she lacks legal documents. Unlike her friends, she was not allowed to participate in exchange programs, including a school camping trip to China.<\/p>\n

Ngan hopes to become a dentist and said she was overjoyed when she heard she was moving to America.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was ecstatic to hear that my family had been sponsored as I really want to go to the U.S. to study,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I heard that the Welcome Corps program had been suspended, I felt really sad and anxious. I want to study until finishing college but \u2026 with only U.N.-issued documents, I can\u2019t go to university.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED STORIES<\/b><\/p>\n

Tide of Myanmar war refugees tests Thailand\u2019s welcome mat for migrants<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

UN experts urge Thailand to halt deportation of 48 Uyghurs to China<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Musk says US aid agency will be closed<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. immigration lawyer Hoang Duyen said the criteria for asylum in the U.S. are clearly stipulated in U.S. immigration law. Therefore, immigration-related and refugee protection organizations could take legal proceedings to challenge Trump\u2019s executive order. However, one of those groups said it wasn\u2019t clear how the situation in the U.S. would progress.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 4, the International Rescue Committee, which helps people resettle as refugees in the U.S., emailed Nam Loc saying:<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom today, all programs are temporarily suspended. All refugee appointments at the resettlement support center\/s are canceled until further notice \u2026 Even officers working for charity organizations in Bangkok don\u2019t know how things will be. Therefore, it\u2019s hard for us to anticipate.\u201d.<\/p>\n

Waiting patiently in Thailand<\/b><\/p>\n

Tran Anh Qua was a political dissident in Vietnam and a contributor to Vietnam Thoi Bao, <\/i>or Vietnam Times<\/i>, an independent newspaper banned by the government. In early 2023, police detained and questioned him for two days about his activism. In August 2023, he fled to Thailand.<\/p>\n

Qua said his application was processed quickly and the USCIS gave him permission to resettle in the U.S. last October.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was overjoyed because it felt like a rebirth opportunity,\u201d he said. \u201cMoving from a country where freedom is scarce \u2013 where many see it as a big prison \u2013 to the freest country in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The USCIS told him he needed at least four months to complete medical exams and vaccinations before entering the U.S. His first vaccination appointment was scheduled for mid-November but was postponed because it coincided with the U.S. presidential election. He didn\u2019t receive his first shot until Jan. 21. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy next vaccination is on February 18, but I\u2019m not sure if it will happen. I\u2019m afraid they might send me home without giving me the shot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, he said he still believed he would eventually be able to settle in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe in the U.S. Constitution. I believe that the political and legal system will function as it should.\u201d<\/p>\n

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Mike Firn.<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tin t\u1eeb RFA Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Read more on this topic in Vietnamese. Hundreds of Vietnamese in Thailand who are hoping to be resettled as refugees in the U.S. have been left in limbo by President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to suspend refugee admissions and resettlement programs. The executive order signed on Jan. 20 suspended the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, or USRAP, …<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[246,251],"class_list":["post-54542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vietnam","tag-english","tag-rfa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}