Excerpt from By Will Jackson with wires

Factual analysis ‘fantastical’

The TPS would expire for roughly 4,000 Myanmar nationals on January 26, the DHS said.

International actors, including the United Nations, have said elections the junta is planning for December and January cannot be free and fair while some opposition parties remain banned and former leader Aung San Suu Kyi languishes in jail.

TRUMP has NO brain to understand the Myanmar status

Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch said the US factual analysis was “fantastical”.

“Contrary to its content, there have been no improvements in governance or stability, the revocation of a state of emergency is meaningless in effect, and the so-called elections announced by the military are widely understood to be theatre — not even a farce, which at least might be amusing, but a sham.”

International Crisis Group senior Myanmar adviser Richard Horsey said there had been no “meaningful improvements” in the situation in Myanmar that would make it safer than before for people to return.

“It is hard to imagine any well-informed observer reaching such a conclusion,” he told the ABC.

“Rather, it appears that regime political decisions — to end the national state of emergency in order to pave the way for elections intended to consolidate the military’s political control — are being used as convenient cover for the US administration to pursue its immigration objectives.

“In fact, the elections are likely to increase violent repression as the regime seeks to impose its deeply unpopular plans.”

Mr Horsey said anyone forced to return to Myanmar would face suspicion and scrutiny, and the very real prospect of incarceration and abuse.

He said in recent weeks people had been imprisoned for minor criticisms of the elections, such as liking or sharing social media posts objecting to the polls, with one man given a 47-year sentence for putting up a poster.

“By framing events in the way it has, the US administration risks emboldening the regime and may give cover to other countries in the region and beyond to use the elections as a pretext to normalise relations with [the military junta],” he said.

The administration’s justification appears to contradict members of President Donald Trump’s own Republican party, who have long advocated for tough policies toward Myanmar’s junta.

State Department report cites human rights abuses

House Foreign Affairs East Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee chairwoman Young Kim, at a hearing on Myanmar last week, called the upcoming elections a “sham” that was “designed to create an illusion of legitimacy while allowing the junta to continue serving as a proxy for China and Russia”.

The State Department warns US citizens not to travel to Myanmar “due to civil unrest, armed conflict, and arbitrary enforcement of local laws”.

The department’s most recent human rights report on the country, published in August, said there were “significant human rights issues” in Myanmar, including credible reports of arbitrary killings and disappearances, torture, persecution of journalists and restrictions on religious freedom, among other abuses.

“The human rights crisis in Burma deteriorated during the year as the conflict between the military regime and opposition forces (including ethnic armed organisations) intensified, marked by increased regime air strikes and artillery attacks on or near civilian sites,” it said.

The State Department also highlighted the deaths of two senior opposition leaders who died after being arbitrarily detained by the military government.

The State Department on Monday (local time) declined to comment, referring questions to DHS.

TPS status for Myanmar had been extended for 18 months, ending November 25, under the administration of Mr Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.

Mr Trump has revoked TPS for nationals from several countries since taking office in January as part of his immigration crackdown.

ABC/Reuters