Cambodian exodus from Thailand jumps to nearly 180,000

[IsaanUSA]

Im just curious if anybody has an opinion on what will happen to Cambodia now? Will a sudden influx of people cause additional economic growth in Cambodia? Will most people return to rural life and not make an impact on the economy? I'm just curious what happens when a 180,000 citizens all decide to return home at the same time.

[Tokay]

The police have been making rounds here in Chiang Mai looking for Burmese the past few days. The news told one story (I think it was posted here) about them arresting 100+ illegals, but many of the local Burmese and mountain people are also heading home now. One girl I know told me they raided her beauty salon looking for illegals, then went business to business down the street doing the same. At the same time, there is news saying the army is not going after migrant workers. Well, that is correct, they are not. They sent the police to do it. Word games.

[Robby nz]

Two good opinion stories on this in the BKK post this morning, worth reading.

[Fat Haggis]

Very good reading

[tonbridgebrit]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/415941/cambodia-slams-thailand-over-post-coup-worker-exodus

Cambodia slams Thailand over post-coup worker exodus

• Published: 18 Jun 2014 at 09.12 | Viewed: 2,214 | Comments: 0
• Online news: Local News
• Writer: AFP

Cambodia has accused Thailand's new military rulers of fomenting an exodus of migrant workers which it claimed had caused at least eight deaths and economic hardship for both countries.

Cambodian workers rush home over the past week as afraid of being arrested. (Bangkok Post file photo)

Some 188,000 Cambodians -- who help keep major Thai industries afloat but often lack official work permits -- have streamed across the border since the junta warned last week that illegal foreign workers face arrest and deportation.

At a meeting in Bangkok Tuesday, Cambodia's ambassador and Thailand's top foreign ministry bureaucrat agreed to quash "rumours" of a crackdown and to set up a hotline on labour issues.

Ambassador Eat Sophea also dismissed rumours of the shooting and abuse of Cambodian migrants by Thai authorities -- among the factors believed to be triggering the mass departures.

The junta which took power last month has insisted there is no crackdown and tried to calm the panic that has seen the exodus of what could be, by some estimates, the entire undocumented Cambodian population in Thailand.

But if the meeting was intended to mend fences between the two governments, Cambodian Interior Minister Sar Kheng was in more combative mood as he later placed blame for the crisis squarely at Bangkok's door.

"After the military coup in Thailand, the Thai military leaders sent illegal Cambodian migrant workers in a rush without informing and discussing with Cambodia," he said in Phnom Penh, adding that eight people had been killed in traffic accidents linked to the exodus.

"I think that the current leaders of Thai junta must be held accountable for what has happened."

Sar Kheng, who is also deputy prime minister, said Cambodian migrants had helped boost the Thai economy, which is the second-largest in Southeast Asia and draws large numbers of migrants from its neighbours.

"So when they deported them, there will be a problem," he said, adding: "According to my informal information, (Thai) employers have started to protest against the issue."

At the main border crossing in Poipet -- a bustling town home to several large businesses, casinos and hotels -- around 9,000 Cambodian migrants arrived in Thai military trucks and police cars on Tuesday.

The total number of Cambodians returning from Thailand via Poipet and smaller border crossings has now reached 188,000, said Kor Sam Saroeut, governor of Cambodia's northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey where the main checkpoint is based.

Bun Veasna -- who was employed as a construction and seafood worker in Chonburi province southeast of Bangkok -- was escorted into Poipet by Thai police along with his brother on Tuesday.

"All the Cambodians in my area have returned home. We were scared of being arrested and jailed or killed there. We did not feel safe," the 32-year-old said.

Thailand's military regime has strongly denied it has been forcing Cambodian labourers out of the country and dismissed reports of killings as "groundless".

Since last Wednesday's threat to arrest and deport all illegal foreign workers, the Thai foreign ministry has stressed the "great importance" of the role that migrant workers play in the economy.

In the past Thai authorities have turned a blind eye to illegal labourers drawn from countries including Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos because they were needed when the economy was booming.

But now the country is on the verge of recession after the economy contracted 2.1 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2014.

The coup in Thailand on May 22 followed years of political divisions between a military-backed royalist establishment and the family of fugitive former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin was a close ally of Cambodian premier Hun Sen and this may help to explain the exodus of Cambodians, migration policy expert Andy Hall commented.

"I suspect that the Cambodian mass returns compared to Myanmar workers' minimal returns so far reflects the more sensitive political relationship between Thailand and Cambodia," he said.


The above article is from the Bangkok Post. Has the Cambodian government got it wrong ??

[harrry]

If the Cambodians are ilegally in the country it is probably best they do return home. This would enable an orderly system of immigration to meet labor shortages and ensure that the countries secuirity and economy are safeguarded. A pool of illegal workers sets them up for exploitation (often by their own countrymen) and acts as a pool of people who can as they do not have access to health care act as a resevoir of illnesses that can spread.

Having them work here is fine but it isw up to Thailand to set the terms for that.

I see that in many cases the thai government is providing transport and compare that with their treatment of illegal other immigrents who overstay their visas and are detained until they pay fines of up to 20000baht and then have to pay their own airfare home.

Edited June 18, 2014 by harrry

[Fat Haggis]

I don't think you can link to the BP tonbridgebrit, it's against the forum rules I believe

[thaibeachlovers]

_{I feel the same about Illegal Immigrants in Thailand as I do about abot the ones in the USA. Get them out !!}

Got to laugh at right wing Americans. A nation of immigrants where they all feel obliged to call themselves "Irish" or "Italian," where they think a 100 year old building is old and a land stolen off the natives - yet they have the cheek to now shout "immigrants out" to the latest arrivals,

USA would collapse without slave illegal immigrant labour, so would Thailand.

It seems even an entire country can be associated with Thaskin now and its citizens castigated. Dark days ahead for Thailand.

Few US citizens object to LEGAL immigration, and that has not stopped, nor is it likely to.

BTW, the people most hurt by illegal workers taking jobs in the US are blacks, who have the highest unemployment rate in the US.

NB, the huge rush of illegals now are mainly CHILDREN and pregnant women, most of whom are not capable of working. They are being sent to go on benefits.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

The police have been making rounds here in Chiang Mai looking for Burmese the past few days. The news told one story (I think it was posted here) about them arresting 100+ illegals, but many of the local Burmese and mountain people are also heading home now. One girl I know told me they raided her beauty salon looking for illegals, then went business to business down the street doing the same. At the same time, there is news saying the army is not going after migrant workers. Well, that is correct, they are not. They sent the police to do it. Word games.

Went past the field where the Burmese migrant workers hang out waiting for work this morning (between the moat and Tesco superhighway).

Normally 100s, earlier in the week 10, this morning 4.

Edited June 18, 2014 by AnotherOneAmerican

[Ned]

So when will the mass exodus of farang begin?

[tullynagardy]

Few US citizens object to LEGAL immigration, and that has not stopped, nor is it likely to.

BTW, the people most hurt by illegal workers taking jobs in the US are blacks, who have the highest unemployment rate in the US.

NB, the huge rush of illegals now are mainly CHILDREN and pregnant women, most of whom are not capable of working. They are being sent to go on benefits.

Just concern for your negro brothers yeah ?

BTW please inform me how an illegal immigrant can claim benefits, and then please outline what they are? The social security system in the US is (by world standards) poor to its own citizens, so Im keen to hear just what benefits you think an illegal can claim in the US to make it worth their while coming not to work.

A few stats on the woman and children majority would be great also.

[thaibeachlovers]

Few US citizens object to LEGAL immigration, and that has not stopped, nor is it likely to.

BTW, the people most hurt by illegal workers taking jobs in the US are blacks, who have the highest unemployment rate in the US.

NB, the huge rush of illegals now are mainly CHILDREN and pregnant women, most of whom are not capable of working. They are being sent to go on benefits.

Just concern for your negro brothers yeah ?

BTW please inform me how an illegal immigrant can claim benefits, and then please outline what they are? The social security system in the US is (by world standards) poor to its own citizens, so Im keen to hear just what benefits you think an illegal can claim in the US to make it worth their while coming not to work.

A few stats on the woman and children majority would be great also.

Didn't you hear about how Obama said all children brought illegally to the US could now stay without fear of deportation? Not supposed to apply to new illegal children, but the ones coming now don't know that.

Illegals can go to public school and get foodstamps ( far as I know ), also get free emergency health care. If a pregnant woman can have a baby in the States, she gets to stay.

Edited June 19, 2014 by thaibeachlovers