Vietnam Receives Hundreds of Deportees as US Removals and Cambodia Scam Raids Drive Returns

Two Routes Home, Different Needs

Vietnamese authorities received 33 citizens deported from the United States at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on May 13, 2026. Officers from the Ho Chi Minh City Police immigration division joined the reception, part of a growing series of handovers involving people returning from the United States and Cambodia during the first five months of the year.

The Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security put the number received by localities across Vietnam in the first quarter at 138. Its country breakdown listed 77 from the United States, 58 from Cambodia and four from Canada. Those figures add up to 139, one more than the stated total. Ho Chi Minh City Police said cumulative arrivals from the United States and Cambodia had reached the hundreds since January.

The returns bring together people with very different histories. Those deported from the United States typically face removal over visa overstays, criminal convictions or failure to meet residency requirements. Many returning from Cambodia include trafficking victims rescued from forced labor in compounds running online fraud schemes.

Vietnamese authorities are responding with more than immigration paperwork. Airport intake now includes medical screening, checks on legal status, help replacing documents and arrangements for social support. Each person is assessed to determine whether the return involves an immigration violation, a criminal matter or exploitation by traffickers.

The Ministry of Public Security is coordinating with municipal health and social welfare departments because both groups may need immediate help, even when their legal circumstances differ sharply. A person needing emergency treatment, someone without relatives or housing, and someone wanted by police require different responses. The reception process must address those needs while helping returning citizens settle back into life in Vietnam.

How the Recent Returns Unfolded

The May airport reception followed months of immigration enforcement abroad and a widening campaign against Cambodia's online fraud industry. The sequence shows how separate developments have contributed to Vietnam's growing intake of returning citizens.

• Since mid-2025, Cambodian authorities have carried out sweeping raids against online scam compounds targeting people across Asia and beyond.
• In January 2026, tycoon Chen Zhi, described as a central figure in the fraud industry, was arrested and extradited to China. Cambodia's crackdown intensified afterward.
• Between January and early February 2026, Cambodian government figures recorded more than 110,000 foreign nationals deported and another 210,000 leaving voluntarily.
• In February 2026, United States lawmakers introduced the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act to seek relief for certain refugees facing removal.
• During the first quarter of 2026, Vietnam's Immigration Department recorded 138 deportees received by localities, alongside a country breakdown totaling 139.
• On May 12, Ho Chi Minh City authorities received four citizens deported from Cambodia, including a man wanted for intentionally inflicting bodily harm.
• On May 13, Vietnamese authorities received 33 citizens deported from the United States at Noi Bai International Airport.

By May 29, the growing number of returns was placing attention on both the treatment of people after arrival and the circumstances that had led to their removal. In the United States, that includes the position of refugees who have lived there for decades. In Cambodia, it includes people recruited into jobs that became forced labor.

Why Longtime Refugees Face US Removal

More than 15,000 refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are under final orders of removal in the United States. A final removal order is an administrative decision by an immigration court authorizing the government to deport someone who lacks lawful status or has committed certain crimes.

Many affected refugees arrived decades ago as children in families displaced by the Indochina wars. Extensive United States military operations in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam displaced millions of people. Some were later resettled in American cities with limited support, building lives and raising families far from their countries of birth.

The 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act expanded the crimes that could trigger deportation. New standards applied retroactively to refugees who had already served sentences for past offenses. In practical terms, an old conviction could become grounds for detention and expulsion years after the criminal punishment had ended.

Supporters of relief legislation describe this as double punishment: a person serves a criminal sentence and later faces removal for the same conviction. They also argue that many refugees were not properly informed of the immigration consequences when they accepted plea agreements decades ago. A plea agreement allows a criminal case to be resolved through an agreed plea rather than a trial.

The current United States administration has expanded enforcement, including transfers to countries where people hold neither citizenship nor residency. For families who have spent decades in the United States, removal can mean separation from children and relatives as well as displacement to a country they barely know.

What the Relief Bill Would Change

United States lawmakers introduced the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act, known as SEADRA, in February 2026. The proposal would cancel removal orders for Cambodian, Hmong, Lao and Vietnamese refugees who arrived before 2008.

The bill would grant permanent work authorization and replace regular visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices with virtual monitoring. It would also create legal pathways for people already deported overseas to return to the United States and reunite with their families.

Supporters say the measure would benefit refugees who have spent nearly 50 years in the United States, raised children there and become part of their communities. Their argument connects the consequences of old convictions with the country's responsibility toward people resettled after wars in which the United States played a major role.

SEADRA remained a legislative proposal as of May 29. Its protections would depend on passage. For those already under removal orders, the proposal addresses both the risk of future deportation and the separation experienced by families whose relatives have already been sent abroad.

Deportation to Countries With No Personal Ties

American authorities have negotiated agreements with dozens of countries over the past year to accept deportees who have no connection to those destinations. The United States has signed deportation agreements with at least 27 nations, often in Africa and Latin America, where migrants may be housed in hotels, shelters or prisons.

Several Southeast Asian nationals have been sent to these third countries. One Cambodian refugee who arrived in the United States as a toddler spent more than five months imprisoned in Eswatini after American officials refused to send him directly to Cambodia. He described being shackled during a flight lasting 21 hours, then held in a high security prison with limited access to legal counsel.

Another group, including people from Vietnam and Laos, was sent to South Sudan. The United States has acknowledged these transfers as part of its broader strategy to enforce removal orders, while details of the arrangements remain opaque. Transfers involving Eswatini, Rwanda and South Sudan have drawn criticism from human rights observers.

Legal advocacy groups argue that the arrangements sever family ties and leave refugees in legal limbo, meaning they lack a clear route to resolve their position. Critics say agreements without clear legal frameworks or safeguards expose deportees to arbitrary detention and can leave them imprisoned without charges for months. Supporters argue that the arrangements give the United States more power to enforce immigration laws.

The Cambodian foreign ministry has previously indicated that Cambodia accepts deportees directly from the United States. Advocates therefore question why Cambodian citizens would need to be transferred to African countries. For Vietnamese nationals, the expansion of these agreements has created concern about being sent somewhere other than Vietnam.

The transfers also carry substantial costs. A congressional report estimated that certain removals to third countries cost more than $400,000 per detainee, adding questions about spending and efficiency to concerns about detention and family separation.

Cambodia's Crackdown Sends Workers Out

Cambodia's returns stem from a different crisis: an industry of online scam operations, some of which rely on forced labor. Raids that began in mid-2025 intensified after Chen Zhi's arrest and extradition to China in January 2026.

Cambodian government figures put deportations at more than 110,000 foreign nationals between January and early February, with another 210,000 leaving voluntarily. Those figures cover foreign nationals broadly, rather than Vietnamese citizens alone. The scale helps explain why neighboring countries have had to prepare for large numbers of returning people.

The United States Treasury has also sanctioned Cambodian Senator Kok An and associates over alleged involvement in scam operations. Sanctions place restrictions on designated people or entities. The allegations against people connected to the industry have sharpened attention on whether enforcement reaches its organizers as well as its workers.

Moeun Tola, executive director of the Cambodian labor rights group CENTRAL, said enforcement had focused on lower ranking workers rather than those directing and profiting from the schemes. He described why he believed the networks were continuing despite the raids.

If you ask whether it is over, I would say it is not. Only some individuals have been arrested, while those named in sanctions do not appear in the government arrest reports. Without holding the masterminds accountable, these online scam networks cannot be destroyed.

His assessment points to a central concern in the crackdown: removing workers from compounds while leaving their organizers able to continue operating. For Vietnamese authorities receiving people from Cambodia, the immediate task is to identify who was exploited and what assistance each person needs.

When a Job Offer Becomes Forced Labor

Vietnamese recruits have been drawn to Cambodia through social media advertisements promising legitimate office or customer service jobs with salaries far above wages at home. After reaching locations such as Sihanoukville, Bavet and Poipet, some had their passports confiscated and were forced to carry out online fraud targeting Vietnamese and international victims.

Taking a worker's passport can leave that person unable to travel freely or leave a workplace. In these cases, a promise of paid employment became a means of trapping people in illegal labor. Vietnamese police have repeatedly targeted smuggling routes across the border and extracted citizens from compounds over the past year.

The reception of four Vietnamese citizens deported from Cambodia on May 12 illustrates why individual checks matter. Immigration officers discovered that Trinh Quang Khai, born in 1994, was wanted for intentionally inflicting bodily harm. He was transferred to Ho Chi Minh City Police for prosecution.

One of his companions received an administrative penalty for illegal exit, while the other two were processed for reintegration. An administrative penalty addresses a breach through an official sanction outside the prosecution described in Khai's case. Reintegration means helping a returning person resume life in the community.

Ho Chi Minh City Police continue to screen returnees to identify trafficking victims and people suspected of breaking the law. Authorities say victims should receive protection, while those responsible for violations should face the appropriate legal process. The circumstances of departure, work abroad and return all matter to that assessment.

Medical Care, Documents and a Place to Stay

Ho Chi Minh City Police have expanded their reception work from processing documents to arranging direct support. Officers contact relatives, guide returning citizens through residency registration and help reissue identification documents lost or confiscated abroad.

Medical teams are available for vulnerable returnees. During the May 13 reception from the United States, a person with a history of epilepsy needed emergency hospitalization after authorities identified poor health during intake. City police medical personnel arranged an immediate transfer, and the person's condition was stabilized before family members could be located.

Another recent case involved a deportee who collapsed shortly after landing and was rushed to a municipal hospital for emergency stabilization. Health officials praised the response as an example of the city's emergency preparedness extending to returning citizens.

Local hospitals have agreed to provide emergency treatment even when deportees cannot immediately produce proof of insurance or residence. That allows urgent care to begin while officials address documents, family contacts and other practical needs.

People without relatives able to support them, stable housing or financial resources may be placed in social welfare centers across Ho Chi Minh City. Municipal police coordinate those arrangements with ward administrations and the municipal Department of Health. Officials describe the assistance as a humanitarian effort reflecting a policy that no one is left behind.

The Immigration Management Division says reception activities follow Vietnamese government policy on human rights, including freedom of movement and lawful immigration. Municipal officials say many returnees want stable employment and an opportunity to rebuild their lives. Medical care and temporary shelter address immediate needs, while identity papers and residency registration help them begin that process.

Finding Relatives and Preventing Further Exploitation

Ho Chi Minh City authorities are asking relatives who have not reestablished contact with deported family members to approach local police or immigration divisions to begin sponsorship procedures. Dedicated telephone lines and office hours allow families to check whether a relative is among recent arrivals.

The effort is intended to reduce the number of people staying in temporary shelters because their families do not know they have returned. Contacting relatives can help connect someone with a place to live and support after a sudden removal from abroad.

The Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security has also urged citizens planning to study, work or travel overseas to research destination country laws and complete legal exit and entry procedures. Officials warn that illegal migration networks and fraudulent documents expose people to arrest, deportation and lengthy or permanent entry bans, damaging future opportunities.

Unauthorized migration routes also expose travelers to exploitation. Ho Chi Minh City Police have specifically warned against social media advertisements promising light office work or high salaries in Cambodia. Such advertisements have served as a main lure for traffickers operating along the border between Vietnam and Cambodia.

Vietnamese authorities have pledged to continue dismantling smuggling routes while expanding awareness campaigns about safe and legal labor migration. The prevention effort sits alongside the work at airports and reception centers: helping those already returned while warning others about recruitment promises and migration arrangements that can lead to detention or forced labor.

Key Points

• Vietnamese authorities received 33 citizens deported from the United States at Noi Bai International Airport on May 13, 2026.
• The Immigration Department reported 138 returns in the first quarter, although its listed country figures totaled 139. Ho Chi Minh City Police said arrivals from the United States and Cambodia had reached the hundreds since January.
• Reception services include medical screening, emergency treatment, replacement identity documents, residency registration, family contact and temporary accommodation.
• More than 15,000 refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are under final removal orders in the United States.
• SEADRA, introduced in February, would provide relief for eligible Southeast Asian refugees who arrived before 2008 and create pathways for deported people to return.
• United States transfers to third countries have sent Southeast Asian nationals to destinations including Eswatini and South Sudan.
• Cambodia recorded more than 110,000 foreign deportations and another 210,000 voluntary departures between January and early February during its crackdown on online scam operations.
• Vietnamese authorities are screening returnees for trafficking and criminal matters while warning citizens against fraudulent job offers and illegal migration networks.