US imposes visa penalties in Myanmar and Laos

The United States imposed visa penalties in Myanmar and Laos on Tuesday after countries refused to take back immigrants that Washington wants to expel. The two Southeast Asian countries join the list of countries that have delayed or refused to accept US nationals expelled from the United States and are among the countries against which the Trump administration has retaliated by imposing restrictions on visas

to accept citizens, the State Department has ceased issuing certain types of visas to higher level officials. In Myanmar, the restrictions affect some employees of the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population and the Ministry of the Interior as well as members of their families. In Laos, restrictions apply to the Ministry of Public Security and other government officials.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security declared that Myanmar and Laos refused to issue travel documents or to accept nationals. "As a general rule, recalcitrant countries that refuse to issue travel documents mean nothing about the US deportation process," said Homeland Security.

If there is no obvious way to expel someone, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) must release them from their care after six months. It is unclear how many people tried to deport to Myanmar and Laos, or how many were released.

Last year, the Trump administration sanctioned four countries – Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone – for refusing to comply with the expulsion policy . While the United States has long maintained a "recalcitrant" list, only two countries have been previously subject to visa sanctions, according to CNN: Guyana, in 2001, and The Gambia, in 2016.

In the middle of the Trump administration expel immigrants with criminal records, Southeast Asians began to be deported in record numbers. In April, 43 Cambodians were deported to Phnom Penh, the largest group returned under a 2002 bilateral agreement.

More than 16,000 members of the South Asian community, many of whom arrived in the United States As refugees, have received final orders. According to the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC), a nonprofit organization based in Washington