Thai authorities in Bangkok have arrested more than 60 Montagnard Christian migrants who faced persecution in Vietnam and have also drawn criticism from the U.S. government for deporting 40 Uighur ethnic minorities back to China.
The group consists of 68 Montagnard Christians, including men, women, children and at least one pregnant woman, Radio Free Asia reports, citing refugee aid organization Boat People SOS. All were apprehended on Sunday during a memorial gathering near the Thai capital that involved prayer and worship.
Most remain in detention for allegedly staying in the country without legal documentation and could face deportation, according to reports.
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Police transferred the detainees to immigration authorities, and those who were unable to pay court-imposed fines ($120) or bail remained in jail. Officials stated that legal entry requirements had not been met, resulting in charges of illegal entry and residence.
Some of the detained are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and at least 43 possess refugee cards issued in Thailand. Police said individuals without the funds to cover fines faced an eight-day jail term, followed by transfer to an immigration detention facility, Suan Plu.
The center is known for overcrowded cells, where men, women and children may remain for months or years.
Although authorities have signaled no immediate plans to send them back to Vietnam, concerns persist about the possibility of deportation at a later stage.
A portion of the group attends Christian services in Thailand while seeking asylum.
During the raid, Thai officials also detained members of Montagnards Stand For Justice. The group’s founder, identified in records as a Montagnard activist, was arrested by Thai authorities in mid-2024 following a request from Vietnam, which accused him of involvement in a disturbance last year.
The UNHCR had granted him refugee status before his apprehension, and he is currently awaiting the outcome of extradition proceedings in a Thai appeals court. The individual’s spouse organized the funeral service for her mother, who had died in Vietnam, according to media reports.
Montagnards who face extradition charges in Thailand are subject to Thai courts’ decisions, which involve criminal or immigration proceedings. Lawyers for the arrested activists have pointed to Thailand’s Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance Act, 2022, as a factor the courts should consider when determining if it is safe to return them to Vietnam.
Vietnamese authorities labeled MSFJ a terrorist organization last year, claiming ties to violent incidents in the Central Highlands. MSFJ has denied any involvement.
There are more than 4,000 Vietnamese refugees in Thailand, most of them having fled Vietnam because of persecution and harassment for their Christian or political beliefs, according to the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern. They wait several years for an outcome from the UNHCR or other agencies.
Vietnamese dissidents and religious minorities have tried to find refuge in Thailand for decades. However, Thailand has not ratified the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Due to this, individuals seeking asylum in the country lack formal protection under international refugee laws.
Individuals with refugee cards who are accused of violating entry and residence rules can also encounter prolonged confinement.
On Thursday, around 40 men from the persecuted Uighur ethnic minority group in China were deported by Thai authorities after over a decade in the country.
Citing local sources and a member of the Thai Parliament, the watchdog group Christian Solidarity Worldwide notes that witnesses saw two sets of vehicles with covered windows transporting detainees from the Bangkok detention center.
The Chinese state media CCTV confirmed that “40 Chinese illegal immigrants” had been repatriated. A photo shown by CCTV showed people of Uyghur ethnicity.
The men were among a group of around 300 Uyghurs detained in March 2014 after they crossed the border to Thailand in a bid to flee persecution in China.
Reports from U.S. officials and human rights groups found that China had imprisoned more than 1 million people, including Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups, in Xinjiang concentration camps. The prisoners are taught to be secular citizens who will never oppose the ruling Communist Party, advocates claim.
Although most of the 300 arrested in Thailand were sent to Turkey, CSW reports that 109 were deported to China. A source told the watchdog that five Uighurs are held in the Klong Prem Central Prison while three are housed at the Bangkok detention center.
The U. S. Embassy Bangkok stressed in a statement that similar deportations “have prompted violent retaliatory attacks in the past.” Mervyn Thomas, CSW’s founding president, said the deported Uighurs will “surely be arbitrarily detained and likely experience torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the deportations in “the strongest possible terms,” saying that China lacks due process rights and Uighurs have “faced persecution, forced labor, and torture.”
“As Thailand’s longstanding ally, we are alarmed by this action, which risks running afoul of its international obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture and the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance,” Rubio said in a statement. “This act runs counter to the Thai people’s longstanding tradition of protection for the most vulnerable and is inconsistent with Thailand’s commitment to protect human rights. We urge all governments in countries where Uyghurs seek protection not to forcibly return ethnic Uyghurs to China.”
In the final days of the first Trump administration, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo designated China’s mass internment, forced labor and forced sterilization of Muslim minorities in western Xinjiang Province a “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.”
