Action Alert
Support Resettlement of "Wat Thamkrabok" Hmong Refugees
According to a recent New York Times article*, the governments of the United States and Thailand are considering resettling approximately 8,000 of the last large group of Hmong refugees from Laos within Thailand's borders. These refugees, live on and around the grounds of a temple named Wat Thamkrabok. The refugees now number over 15,000, and have been stranded in Thailand for nearly thirty years. These refugees do not have access to Thai citizenship, are often subject to maltreatment and terrible poverty. And their prospects for integration into Thai society are slim.
Please call and write your Members of Congress and ask them to contact the U.S. Department of State and urge them to facilitate the resettlement of the Wat Thamkrabok refugees into the United States. To find your U.S. Representative please go to http://www.house.gov/. To find your Senators, please go to http://www.senate.gov/.
Feel free to use the following talking points:
- Since the end of the Vietnam War in Laos in 1975, these remaining Hmong refugees have been trapped in a country that is unwilling to grant them citizenship, and they are often subject to unfair treatment and dire poverty.
- Many of the refugees in Wat Thamkrabok have close relatives in the United States who have been waiting for years to be reunited with their loved ones, and are eager to help them build new lives in the U.S.
- Historically, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program has offered resettlement as a means of protecting special groups who continue to be persecuted and suffer hardship for their support of the United States. Many of the refugees in Wat Thamkrabok fled Laos because they supported the U.S. during the Vietnam War. They helped the U.S. Government and now they need our help.
For updates on the fight for Wat Thamkrabok refugees contact:
HND — (202) 463-2118 or email info@hndlink.org.
SEARAC — at (800) 600-9188 or visit the website at http://www.searac.org/new.html.
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