Young migrant tells of life in Thai detention camp
Almost all of the 392 illegal migrants who returned from Thailand early this month were happy to arrive back in Laos , but one young man is still upset after his girlfriend left him to marry a Thai man.
Chua was a resident of Namhorn village in Meuangfeuang district, Vientiane province, when he decided to leave home in 2004.
He was following his girlfriend and her mother to a detention camp in Thailand 's Phetsabun province.
Most illegal Lao migrants go to Thai detention camps with the hope they can migrate from there to the United States . Chua didn't know this was the reason his girlfriend and her mother wanted to go to Thailand .
“I didn't have any idea, I just went there because my girlfriend asked me to,” Chua said.
Chua said he didn't want to go to Thailand , but his girlfriend promised to marry him if he went with her.
“I didn't want to live at the camp at all because life there was very tough. We had only rice, but no food to eat it with, and we were confined to the camp,” he said.
“I waited and waited, but she finally got married to a Thai Hmong after almost one year and escaped from the camp leaving her mother and me.”
W ithout his girlfriend there was no reason for him to stay in the camp, so he returned to Laos . His girlfriend's mother stayed at the camp.
Chua's girlfriend paid people money to take them to the camp, which is common among illegal migrants.
“Perhaps she left me because I have no money,” he said.
Chua will return to his village and live with his parents.
He spoke to reporters on July 22 in Vientiane during a ceremony to send 81 of the migrants back to their provincial homes.
During the past week, the group of migrants were sent home by Lao-Thai Sub-General Border Committee.
Sixty-two people were sent to Vientiane, 101 to Xieng Khuang, 40 to Luang Prabang, one to Oudomxay, four to Luang Namtha, eight to Xayaboury and 95 to Borikhamxay.
Government officials educated the migrants at a centre in Borikhamxay province to make them aware of tactics used by human traffickers.
Lao-Thai Sub-General Border Committee member Yong Chanthalangsy was responsible for sending migrants home in Vientiane and Xieng Khuang. He urged local authorities to help the migrants adjust to life back in Laos .
By Souksakhone Vaenkeo (Latest Update July 28, 2008)
I wonder why the news from Laos and the news from foreign countries are totally different. Are Hmong really happy to come back or they are forced to come back by Thai ?
it is not different from mexican go to us illigal. the law is the law if you break the law you get in trouble, and i want to know too did us send mexican poeple back home? if they enter us illigal?
