Rights groups slammed the Trump administration’s decision to end protected status for Myanmar citizens due to the country’s “notable progress in governance and stability,” even though it remains mired in a bloody civil war and the head of its military regime faces possible UN war crime charges.
In her announcement on Monday ending temporary protection from deportation for citizens of Myanmar, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cited the military’s plans for “free and fair elections” in December and “successful ceasefire agreements” as among the reasons for her decision.
“The situation in Burma (Myanmar) has improved enough that it is safe for Burmese citizens to return home,” she said.
The military under Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing seized power from democratically-elected Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021 and is seeking to add a sheen of international legitimacy to its government with the upcoming elections.
But with Suu Kyi in prison and her party banned, most outside observers have denounced the elections as a sham.
“Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem is treating those people just like her family’s dog that she famously shot down in cold blood because it misbehaved.
“If her order is carried out, she will literally be sending them back to prisons, brutal torture, and death in Myanmar,” Phil Robertson, the director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, said on Tuesday.
“Secretary Noem is seriously deluded if she thinks the upcoming elections in Myanmar will be even remotely free and fair, and she is just making things up when she claims non-existent ceasefires proclaimed by Myanmar’s military junta will result in political progress.”
Myanmar’s military leadership welcomed the shift in US policy, saying that it considered Washington’s reasoning behind lifting the protections “a positive statement.”
Government spokesperson Maj Gen Zaw Min Tun said that returning citizens who had committed serious crimes “would be prosecuted according to the law” but that “the rest would be given special leniency.”
“Myanmar citizens in the United States can return to the motherland,” he said in a message on state-run MRTV television. “We welcome you.”
The military’s 2021 takeover sparked a national uprising with fierce fighting in many parts of the country, and pro-democracy groups and other forces have taken over large swaths of territory.
The military government has stepped up activity ahead of the election to retake areas controlled by opposition forces, with airstrikes killing scores of civilians. — AP
