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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’s decision to suspend refugee admissions and resettlement programs.
The executive order 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.
The suspension also affects programs such as the Welcome Corps, 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.
Welcome Corps said in a statement on its website the suspension of USRAP “includes intake of new applications for the Welcome Corps, as well as processing of all active or previously submitted applications.”
Musician Nam Loc Nguyen fled Vietnam in 1975 and settled in Los Angeles. He was named “Citizenship Ambassador” by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, in 2022. He said Trump’s executive order could affect about 1,500 Vietnamese refugees in Thailand who are hoping to be resettled in a third country.
“This is the most direct and significant impact on refugees in general, and on Vietnamese refugees in Thailand in particular.”
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.
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.
Hopes of US resettlement fade
Trump’s 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.
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.
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.
Khai was held for 40 days in 2018 at Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Center for working without a permit.
“My life here is illegal. They are always trying to deport me,” he said.
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.
“I 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’ future,” he told Radio Free Asia.
Khai’s 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.
Ngan hopes to become a dentist and said she was overjoyed when she heard she was moving to America.
“I was ecstatic to hear that my family had been sponsored as I really want to go to the U.S. to study,” she said. “When I heard that the Welcome Corps program had been suspended, I felt really sad and anxious. I want to study until finishing college but … with only U.N.-issued documents, I can’t go to university.”
Lobby Congress
Nam Loc said he thinks it’s important to lobby Republican and Democrat politicians in the U.S. to inform them of the dangers facing Vietnamese refugees. This could encourage U.S. authorities to review and change the executive order, he said.
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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’s executive order. However, one of those groups said it wasn’t clear how the situation in the U.S. would progress.
On Feb. 4, the International Rescue Committee, which helps people resettle as refugees in the U.S., emailed Nam Loc saying:
“From today, all programs are temporarily suspended. All refugee appointments at the resettlement support center/s are canceled until further notice … Even officers working for charity organizations in Bangkok don’t know how things will be. Therefore, it’s hard for us to anticipate.”.
Waiting patiently in Thailand
Tran Anh Qua was a political dissident in Vietnam and a contributor to Vietnam Thoi Bao, or Vietnam Times, 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.
Qua said his application was processed quickly and the USCIS gave him permission to resettle in the U.S. last October.
“I was overjoyed because it felt like a rebirth opportunity,” he said. “Moving from a country where freedom is scarce – where many see it as a big prison – to the freest country in the world.”
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’t receive his first shot until Jan. 21.
“My next vaccination is on February 18, but I’m not sure if it will happen. I’m afraid they might send me home without giving me the shot,” he said.
However, he said he still believed he would eventually be able to settle in the U.S.
“I believe in the U.S. Constitution. I believe that the political and legal system will function as it should.”
Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Mike Firn.