Phil Robertson, archive

 

Rights organisations have sharply criticised the Trump administration for ending deportation protection for Myanmar nationals, arguing the decision ignores the brutal civil war still tearing the country apart.

 

The Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday that Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Myanmar would be terminated in January, citing what it described as “notable progress in governance and stability”. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pointed to the junta’s promise of “free and fair elections” in December and supposed ceasefire gains.

 

Rights groups say this bears no resemblance to reality. Myanmar’s military, led by Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing, seized power in 2021, jailed Aung San Suu Kyi, banned her party, and has since waged a nationwide campaign of airstrikes, forced conscription and mass arrests. UN investigators accuse the junta of war crimes, and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have sought an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over atrocities against the Rohingya.

 

Phil Robertson of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates said the decision would send people “back to prisons, torture and death”, calling Noem’s justification “deluded”. Human Rights Watch echoed the criticism, saying almost every claim in the DHS notice is contradicted by extensive reporting from the UN, foreign governments and the US State Department itself.

 

The shadow National Unity Government, formed by elected lawmakers barred from office after the coup, said the move “does not reflect the reality in Myanmar”, where fighting has intensified ahead of the junta’s planned election. Large areas of the country are now controlled by resistance forces, and more than 3.5 million people have been displaced.

 

Even the State Department’s own travel advisory warns Americans not to enter Myanmar due to armed conflict, landmines, arbitrary arrests and “wrongful detentions”. Rights monitors say more than 30,000 people have been jailed for political reasons since the coup, and nearly 7,500 killed.

 

Despite this, Homeland Security maintains that conditions have “improved enough” for Myanmar nationals to return safely, and that extending TPS would be “contrary to the national interest”. Up to 4,000 people could now face deportation.

 

Critics say the decision is so detached from the situation on the ground that it is unclear who was ever meant to believe it.

 

-2025-11-26

Citing what it described as “notable progress in governance and stability”. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pointed to the junta’s promise of “free and fair elections” in December and supposed ceasefire gains.

 

Ha! Only numskulls like Noem, Rubio and Trump would fall for something like that. Besides everything Trump does, everything he says, everything he proposes and everything he has enacted is a complete representation of his utter and total moral bankruptcy. 

 

 And Don likely admires the junta for their absolute control and their manner of dictatorship.

 

Trump adores despots and dictators and despises democracy