WHS • 2025

13-F-0442_Franken_Correspondence.pdf

tinitcd ~tarrs ~rnatt January 27, 2010 The Honorable Hillary Clinton Secretary of State Department of State Washington, DC 20520 The Honorable Robert Gates Secretary of Defense Department of Defense Washington, DC 20301 WASHINGTON, DC 20510 Dear Secretary Clinton and Secretary Gates: We are writing concerning the December 28, 2009, forced repatriation by Thai authorities to Laos of about 4,000 Hmong asylum seekers from Laos. This occurred despite the efforts by both your departments, particularly Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwartz and Army Chief of Staff General George Casey, with the support of Members of Congress and international humanitarian organizations, to find an expeditious solution to this problem consistent with international standards. Some of the Hmong who were sent back to Laos had links with the United States and Thailand in the so-called "secret war" in Laos...