On Monday, November 24, 2025, the Trump administration announced a controversial decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Myanmar nationals living in the United States—a move that has drawn swift condemnation from rights groups and international observers, while being embraced by Myanmar’s embattled military regime. The decision, which affects around 4,000 Myanmar citizens, comes at a time when the Southeast Asian nation remains mired in civil war, with widespread violence, political repression, and a looming election widely dismissed as a sham.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made the announcement, citing what she described as “notable progress in governance and stability” in Myanmar. She pointed to the military junta’s plans for “free and fair elections” in December and the existence of “successful ceasefire agreements” as justifications for ending TPS, which had protected Myanmar nationals from deportation and allowed them to work legally in the U.S. since 2021. “The situation in Burma has improved enough that it is safe for Burmese citizens to return home,” Noem stated, adding that the decision was made in consultation with the State Department.
But rights organizations and Myanmar’s pro-democracy opposition were quick to challenge that assessment. According to The Associated Press, Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, lambasted the move, saying, “Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem is treating those people just like her family’s dog that she famously shot down in cold blood because it misbehaved—if her order is carried out, she will literally be sending them back to prisons, brutal torture, and death in Myanmar.” He further described the decision as “the worst of the worst foreign policy ever seen from the Trump administration in Southeast Asia,” warning that deported Myanmar nationals face a grim fate amid ongoing conflict.
Such concerns are not unfounded. Since Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a 2021 coup, Myanmar has been locked in a bloody civil war. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 30,000 people have been arrested for political reasons, and 7,488 have been killed since the military takeover. The regime stands accused of war crimes, including indiscriminate airstrikes, the use of landmines, targeting of schools and hospitals, and using civilians as human shields. The International Criminal Court has even requested an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over crimes against humanity related to the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority before the coup.
Despite these grim realities, Myanmar’s military leadership was quick to seize on Washington’s decision as a diplomatic victory. The junta’s spokesperson, Major General Zaw Min Tun, appeared on state-run television to welcome the shift in U.S. policy, saying, “Myanmar citizens in the United States can return to the motherland. We welcome you.” He promised that those not guilty of serious crimes would be given “special leniency,” though he also warned that returnees who had committed serious offenses would be prosecuted according to the law. The regime also urged returning citizens to “take part in nation-building” by voting in the upcoming December election, which the junta has touted as a step toward democracy.
However, few outside the military’s inner circle are convinced. The planned election, with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi still imprisoned and her party banned, has been almost universally denounced as illegitimate. The shadow National Unity Government (NUG), formed by elected lawmakers barred from office after the coup, expressed deep disappointment in the U.S. decision. NUG spokesperson Nay Phone Latt told The Associated Press that the military continues to conduct forced conscription and daily attacks on civilians, and that the elections “were excluding any real opposition and would not be accepted by anybody.”
International skepticism has also been voiced by the United Nations. Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, recently told AFP, “It would be unfathomable that elections held in the current circumstances could be free or fair. How can anyone say that they’re free and fair?” The U.S. State Department’s own travel guidance remains stark: “Do not travel to Burma due to armed conflict, the potential for civil unrest, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, poor health infrastructure, land mines and unexploded ordnance, crime, and wrongful detentions.”
John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, was blunt in his assessment, stating, “Extensive reporting on Myanmar contradicts almost every assertion” made by Homeland Security. “Homeland Security's misstatements in revoking TPS for people from Myanmar are so egregious that it is hard to imagine who would believe them. Perhaps no one was expected to.”
The end of TPS for Myanmar nationals is part of a broader pattern under the Trump administration, which has also removed such protections for citizens of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria, South Sudan, and Venezuela. The termination of Myanmar’s TPS will take effect on January 26, 2026, leaving many at risk of forced return to a country where, as rights advocates warn, they could face persecution or worse.
Meanwhile, the Myanmar regime has been working to polish its international image, reportedly hiring lobbying firms in Washington to improve relations with the U.S. government and Congress. The junta has also welcomed other recent U.S. policy shifts, including the lifting of sanctions against four junta-linked arms dealers in July and the earlier cutoff of federal funding to broadcasters like Radio Free Asia and Voice of America—moves that have, according to The Irrawaddy, delighted coup leader Min Aung Hlaing by silencing key democratic voices.
As the January deadline approaches, many Myanmar nationals in the U.S. face an agonizing dilemma: return to a homeland wracked by war and repression, or stay and risk deportation. For rights groups, lawmakers, and the Myanmar diaspora, the decision by the Trump administration is a stark reminder of the disconnect between political rhetoric and the on-the-ground reality in Myanmar. The coming months will reveal just how deeply the consequences of this policy shift will be felt—not only by those directly affected, but by the broader struggle for democracy and human rights in a country that remains, in so many ways, at war with itself.