Vietnamese asylum seeker An and his family had one foot in the door to resettlement in the United States — until President Donald Trump issued an executive order that closed it.
The Jan. 20 executive order was just the beginning of his problems. On May 27, his wife Ngoc got a phone call from her husband. “I’ve been arrested by the police,” An told her.
He’d been arrested by Thai police in Bangkok where his family of four had sought asylum seven years earlier and were waiting patiently for resettlement.
In 2018, they had been forced to flee their home in Nghệ An province, Vietnam, due to political persecution. An and several other Catholics involved in a community construction project had been threatened with imprisonment by local police after they spoke out against a mob attack allegedly backed by the authorities.
Life for An and his family in Thailand proved tough as well, even after the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, determined they had a valid fear of persecution back home.
“As refugees, life is incredibly unstable and difficult,” Ngoc told Radio Free Asia. She requested that she and her husband be identified by a single name for safety reasons.
“We’re not allowed to work legally, and every time we go outside, we’re terrified of being arrested. If we’re detained, who will care for our children? And we fear being abandoned by the U.N. and human rights groups,” she said.
Her worst fears came true. An was picked up by police while selling sugarcane juice in a residential neighborhood of Bangkok — the family’s only source of income.
A Bangkok court found him guilty of “illegal immigration, residence, and labor.” Unable to pay the 8,000 baht ($245) in court fees, An was sentenced to 16 days in prison. Upon completing his sentence, he will be transferred to an immigration detention center.
Now, the family faces the grim prospect of separation. An is in detention in the very country he once believed would offer safety — and worse, he faces the possibility of deportation to Vietnam, where returning could place him in grave danger.
‘So happy and hopeful’
Just six months ago, their situation was full of hope.
In late 2024, after more than six years of waiting to be resettled in a third country, the family was selected to participate in Welcome Corps, a U.S.-based refugee sponsorship program.
“We were so happy and hopeful,” Ngoc recalled. “We prepared all our documents carefully for the interview. We prayed everything would go smoothly so we could leave as soon as possible.”
For Ngoc and her husband, being resettled would mean a chance for their two daughters, ages 11 and 9, to grow up in safety — and to have a future.
But the joy was short-lived. On Jan. 20, 2025, the day of his inauguration, President Donald Trump issued the executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. The Welcome Corps program, along with their case, was also put on hold.
Ngoc described feeling “devastated” by the news and said the suspension had “extinguished the hope of many refugees.”
The impact wasn’t limited to her family. According to BPSOS, a U.S.-based nonprofit supporting Vietnamese refugees in Thailand, around a dozen other Vietnamese families are stuck in limbo, awaiting U.S. resettlement.
“These people will now have to stay in Thailand much longer. It used to be about three to five years, but now it could be indefinite — until the U.S. reopens the program,” Nguyen Dinh Thang, director of BPSOS, told RFA.
‘What I fear most’
The UNHCR also appears less-equipped to help, as it scales back its global operations amid cuts in funding by the United States and other donors.
When refugees are detained by local police in Bangkok, the UNHCR protection unit often intervenes to seek their release. But when An was arrested on May 27 and Ngoc said she called the UNHCR hotline for help, it wasn’t until five days later that a staff member finally got in touch. UNHCR did not immediately respond to a request for comment from RFA about this.
An now risks forced repatriation, and with it the threat of imprisonment. According to BPSOS’s Thang, Thai authorities have a troubling track record of cooperating with the Vietnamese government to detain and deport asylum seekers — including high-profile cases like Duong Van Thai, Truong Duy Nhat - formerly a contributor to Radio Free Asia - and Y Quynh Bdap. All these cases drew condemnation from international rights groups.
In February, Thailand deported 40 Uyghurs to China, despite warnings from rights groups that they would likely face persecution.
Thang said his organization is working tirelessly to prevent “any form of cooperation” between Thailand and Vietnam that could lead to An’s deportation.
“That’s what I fear most,” Ngoc said of the possibility that her husband could be sent back. Each day, she logs onto the Resettlement Support Center’s (RSC) website - which provides information for prospective U.S.-bound refugees - hoping for an update on her family’s case.
“Trump said it would only be a 90-day pause. But it’s been over four months now, and we still haven’t heard a thing,” she said, her voice heavy with disappointment.
Edited by Mat Pennington.
