Cablegate: Another Uneventful Cambodian Deportation Of

VZCZCXRO2742
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHPF #1458 3341121
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301121Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH PRIORITY 0124
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 1642

UNCLAS PHNOM PENH 001458

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS AND PRM
BANGKOK FOR REFCOORD SCHERER
HO CHI MINH CITY FOR TIM SWANSON
GENEVA FOR RMA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF CB VM
SUBJECT: ANOTHER UNEVENTFUL CAMBODIAN DEPORTATION OF
SCREENED-OUT MONTAGNARDS

REF: A. PHNOM PENH 1303

B. PHNOM PENH 104

1. (SBU) Early in the morning of November 30, 21 ethnic
Montagnard Vietnamese citizens departed a UNHCR site in Phnom
Penh by bus headed for the Cambodia-Vietnam border in the
first forced repatriation since January 2007 (ref B). The 21
individuals being deported arrived in Cambodia prior to May
1, the cutoff date for Montagnard arrivals to be considered
for U.S. resettlement if UNHCR denied them refugee status.
The UNHCR had denied the 21 individuals refugee status and
they had subsequently been rejected for resettlement in the
U.S. following DHS USCIS interviews. The deportation was
originally scheduled for October 18, but was postponed
because 20 of the individuals still fell within a 90-day
period to request a review of their rejection by DHS (ref A).
That 90-day period ended November 22.

2. (SBU) The deportation went quietly and without incident.
When the bus pulled out of the compound, adults on the bus
were not smiling but they were waving, and children in the
back of the bus were smiling and waving. Cambodian police
officers, an MFA official and an MOI official were also at
the site, as well as a UNHCR representative and a reporter
from The Cambodia Daily. A Cambodian police official and an
MFA official accompanied the Montagnards to the Vietnamese
border, where they were to be turned over to Vietnamese
authorities.
MUSSOMELI

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