(KPL) 837 illegal migrants in Thailand who volunteered to return to their hometown have arrived Vientiane last Sunday. A welcome home ceremony was held at the ministry of public security. Lao-Thai committee Deputy Head colonel Siphanh Phoutthavong signed the handover documents with Thai-Lao committee Secretary Colonel Phailod Vilaylak. The migrants had been held at illegal migration detention camps in Nong Khai and Phetsaboun province in Thailand.
These illegal migrants will be sent to stay at the temporary accommodation center in Borlikhamsay province for education in order to prevent them from being exploited by human traffickers.
The returnees who are homeless and have no assets will be registered as residents of Phalak, a newly created village established in 2006 in Kasy district, Vientiane province. The government of Laos will also allocate land to the migrants and give them initial assistance until they are self-reliant.
The return of the migrants was in accordance with an agreement of the Lao-Thai and Thai-Lao sub-general border committees made in September last year.