Myanmar junta welcomes US end to deportation shield

Zaw Min Tun, wiki

Myanmar’s military regime has praised Washington’s decision to end temporary protected status (TPS) for its citizens living in the United States, even as rights groups warn the country remains unsafe.

Around 4,000 Myanmar nationals currently benefit from TPS, which allows foreign residents from crisis-hit nations to stay and work legally in the US. The programme was extended to Myanmar after the 2021 coup plunged the country into civil war, sparking mass arrests and repression.

On Monday, the Trump administration announced that Myanmar would no longer be eligible, citing “substantial steps toward political stability” including forthcoming elections and the lifting of emergency rule earlier this year. Homeland security secretary Kristi Noem declared it “safe for Burmese citizens to return home.”

The junta swiftly welcomed the move. Spokesperson Zaw Min Tun described it as “a positive statement,” urging exiled citizens to return and take part in December’s general election. “You are all welcome to participate in building a modern and developed nation,” he said.

But international monitors strongly dispute the US assessment. The UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar reported rising evidence of “serious international crimes” in the run-up to the polls, including detentions of critics and airstrikes on contested areas. Nicholas Koumjian, head of the mechanism, warned such actions “may amount to crimes against humanity.”

Conflict data suggests as many as 90,000 people have been killed since the coup. Civil society groups in the US condemned the TPS decision, with Me Me Khant of Students for Free Burma calling it “a slap in the face” to exiled communities. “It’s obviously really not safe to go back home,” she said.

The military insists elections beginning on 28 December will mark a return to normality. Yet Aung San Suu Kyi’s party has been dissolved, dissent is criminalised, and large parts of the country remain under martial law. UN human rights chief Volker Turk said holding a vote under such conditions was “unfathomable.”

-2025-11-27