Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced a policy that bars the granting of visas to “foreign government officials responsible for, or complicit in, the forced return of Uyghurs or members of other ethnic or religious groups with protection concerns to China.”Footnote ¹ He immediately applied the policy to restrict the entry of current and former Thai government officials who were “responsible for, or complicit in, the forced return of 40 Uyghurs from Thailand on February 27[, 2025].”Footnote ² Secretary Rubio, who as a senator introduced the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020,Footnote ³ and who during his confirmation hearing promised to “lobby” Thailand not to return the Uyghurs to China,Footnote ⁴ stated that the United States is “committed to combating China’s efforts to pressure governments to forcibly return Uyghurs and other groups to China, where they are subject to torture and enforced disappearances.”Footnote ⁵ This was the first time the United States has penalized foreign officials for violating the principle of non-refoulement.

The Uyghurs who were forcibly returned to China in February were detained in Thailand eleven years earlier, in early 2014.Footnote ⁶ They were among more than three hundred Uyghurs who were apprehended by the Thai government after traveling across China and through southeast Asia with the aid of smugglers, in an attempt to reach Malaysia and eventually Turkey.Footnote ⁷ Like thousands of other Uyghurs who fled across international borders when and where they could, those who made it to Thailand had sought to escape the Chinese government crackdown on their ethnic group, Turkic-speaking Muslims from the Xinjiang region.Footnote ⁸ A year after their capture, Thai authorities deported 109 to China despite the protests of human rights officials who had warned that the Uyghurs would be persecuted upon their return.Footnote ⁹ The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) decried the deportation as “a flagrant violation of international law.”Footnote ¹⁰ Around the same time, about 173, classified as Turkish citizens, were permitted to travel to Turkey for resettlement there.Footnote ¹¹ Perhaps as many as sixty, though, remained in immigration detention in harsh conditions.Footnote ¹² In the decade since, some of the detainees escaped and made their way to Turkey, and some died while in confinement.Footnote ¹³ Forty-eight still remained in Thai custody in February 2025.

The Uyghurs’ oppression by the Chinese government has been well-documented. About a million Uyghurs have been interned in camps and prisons.Footnote ¹⁴ Hundreds of thousands of children have been placed in state-run boarding schools for assimilation and indoctrination.Footnote ¹⁵ Birth control measures have been imposed by the government in an attempt to reduce the size of the Uyghur population.Footnote ¹⁶ A 2022 report by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights concluded that “[s]erious human rights violations have been committed in” Xinjiang, including arbitrary detention, “torture or ill-treatment,” “sexual and gender-based violence,” “undue restrictions on religious identity and expression, as well as the rights to privacy and movement,” and “violations of reproductive rights.”Footnote ¹⁷ The report further stated that “[t]he extent of arbitrary and discriminatory detention of members of Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim groups . . . may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”Footnote ¹⁸ At the end of President Donald J. Trump’s first term, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo determined that Chinese government had committed crimes against humanity and genocide in Xinjiang.Footnote ¹⁹

The continued detention of the Uyghurs posed a challenge to the Thai government. Thailand is not a party to the Refugee Convention or its Protocol, and it does not recognize asylum or refugee status. Thus, under Thai law, the Uyghurs are considered illegal migrants, and their detention is subject to the broad powers of the state.Footnote ²⁰ But Thailand is a party to the Torture Convention, including its obligation not “expel, return (refouler) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”Footnote ²¹ So, while international law does not prohibit Thailand’s detention of the Uyghurs (subject to its international human rights obligations), it does restrict Thailand’s ability to remove them. Thailand was urged by the United States and other countries, as well as by UN officials and human rights groups, to abide by its obligations under the Convention and not return the Uyghurs to China.Footnote ²² China demanded the Uyghurs’ return from Thailand, as it had from other countries around the globe where Uyghurs have fled. China is a critical partner of the Thai government (since 2020, for example, China is Thailand’s top foreign direct investor), and its influence is growing.Footnote ²³

With the Thai government pulled in different directions, the Uyghurs were left in limbo for years. Reportedly, Canada and the United States had offered to resettle them.Footnote ²⁴ According to a U.S. official, “[t]he United States has . . . consistently and repeatedly offering to resettle the Uyghurs in other countries, including, at one point, the United States.”Footnote ²⁵ But Thai Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai denied this. “We waited for more than 10 years,” he said, “and I have spoken to many major countries, but no one told me for certain [of a resettlement offer].”Footnote ²⁶ Russ Jalichandra, Thai vice minister of foreign affairs, acknowledged, though, “that there would be massive repercussions that would make it impractical to” send the Uyghurs to a third country.Footnote ²⁷ “Thailand,” he said, “could face backlash from China and that could affect countless Thai lives.”Footnote ²⁸

Thailand’s reluctance to decide where to send the Uyghurs still in custody abated by early January 2025. In December, a month following talks between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Thai officials had begun secret discussions regarding removal.Footnote ²⁹ A formal request for the Uyghurs was made by China on January 8.Footnote ³⁰ Shortly thereafter, Thai immigration officers took photographs of the detainees and told them to complete paperwork, actions that previously preceded removals. The Uyghurs, fearful of their imminent return to China, went on a hunger strike.Footnote ³¹ Human rights officials and the U.S. government cautioned Thailand not to remove them.Footnote ³² Prime Minster Paetongtarn and President Xi met again in early February.Footnote ³³ Throughout January and February Thai officials denied they were planning to send the Uyghurs to China, but in fact plans were being made for their return, and a chartered flight flew forty of the forty-eight in custody to Xinjiang on February 27.Footnote ³⁴

A Thai foreign ministry statement maintained that “the Thai Government has received assurances from the Government of China concerning the safety of the Uyghurs and [Thailand] will continue to follow up on the well-being of this group.”Footnote ³⁵ Officials stated that the assurances “included not only a guarantee of their safety, but a guarantee that no legal action would be taken against this group . . . [and that China] would facilitate health checkups, a reunion with their families and relatives and appropriate reintegration into society, allocating a budget for their housing and guaranteeing employment.”Footnote ³⁶ Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said that “[t]he repatriation is carried out in accordance with the laws of China and Thailand as well as international law and common practices. It is a step taken by the two sides to jointly combat human smuggling and other cross-border crimes.”Footnote ³⁷ According to Xinhua, “[a] senior [Chinese Ministry of Public Security] official explained that the repatriated individuals had been deceived by criminal organizations into illegally crossing borders, ultimately becoming stranded in Thailand.”Footnote ³⁸ “Their families have repeatedly sought government assistance for their return,” the official said.Footnote ³⁹

Thailand’s actions were condemned by international and national officials. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk asserted that the deportation “is a clear violation of international human rights laws and standards,” in particular the principle of non-refoulement in the Convention Against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.Footnote ⁴⁰ UNHCR stated that it “deeply regret[ted] the deportation” and called it a “clear violation of the principle of non-refoulement and the Royal Thai Government’s obligations under international law.”Footnote ⁴¹ The European Parliament passed a resolution that “[c]ondemn[ed] the deportation of Uyghur refugees to China; call[ed] on the Thai authorities to immediately halt any further forced returns of refugees, asylum seekers and political dissidents to countries where their lives are at risk.”Footnote ⁴² Anouar El Anouni, Spokesperson for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, “deeply regret[ted] the deportation by Thailand . . . in a breach of the principle of non-refoulement and Thailand’s obligations under national and international law as a member of the Human Rights Council.”Footnote ⁴³ Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom also condemned Thailand.Footnote ⁴⁴

The United States denounced the removals as well. On the day of their return to China, Secretary Rubio said that the United States is “alarmed by [Thailand’s] action, which risks running afoul of its international obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture and the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.”Footnote ⁴⁵ Two weeks later, Secretary Rubio announced the new visa restriction policy and its attendant application to Thai officials.Footnote ⁴⁶ The policy was adopted pursuant to Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which declares inadmissible “[a]n alien whose entry or proposed activities in the United States the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”Footnote ⁴⁷ The names of the Thai officials were not released, as U.S. law generally provides for the confidentiality of visa records.Footnote ⁴⁸ Indeed, individuals designated under a visa restriction policy might not know that they have been so penalized, as only those with current visas are notified of the action.Footnote ⁴⁹ The confidentiality of visa denials under Section 212(a) has been criticized as reducing the effectiveness of the sanction.Footnote ⁵⁰ The United States has not announced any additional measures in response to the Uyghurs’ removal.

Responding to the visa restriction policy and its application to Thai officials, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that “Thailand has always and will continue to value the long-standing and close treaty alliance with the United States, based on mutual respect and shared strategic interests both at the bilateral and regional levels.”Footnote ⁵¹ China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning responded to Secretary Rubio’s announcement more bluntly. “By politicizing this issue, the U.S. is in nature applying double standards and suppressing dissent,” she said.Footnote ⁵² “The U.S. on the one hand engages in indiscriminate deportation against illegal immigrants,” Ms. Mao continued, “yet on the other points fingers at and smears other countries’ legitimate law enforcement cooperation, and slaps sanctions and puts pressure on others. This is typical bullying.”Footnote ⁵³ She concluded: “China strongly condemns all ill-intentioned vilification and illegal sanctions against China and Thailand, and firmly opposes the U.S. manipulating Xinjiang-related issues under the pretext of human rights, interfering in China’s domestic affairs, and disrupting the normal law enforcement cooperation between China and relevant countries.”Footnote ⁵⁴

Following the deportation at the end of February, eight Uyghurs remained in Thai custody. In April, three, who were dual nationals of Kyrgyzstan and China, were resettled in Canada.Footnote ⁵⁵ The remaining five are currently imprisoned, serving sentences for attempting to escape.Footnote ⁵⁶ Government officials said they would be deported to China upon the completion of their sentences.Footnote ⁵⁷