Overview
- House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations leaders Brian Mast, Gregory Meeks, Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen called the Dec. 28 elections illegitimate and designed to manufacture legitimacy for a China‑backed junta.
- The lawmakers urged the president and democratic allies to denounce the process and any results that do not reflect a free choice by Myanmar’s voters.
- DHS this week ended Temporary Protected Status for Myanmar citizens, with Secretary Kristi Noem citing the end of the state of emergency, planned “free and fair” elections and cease-fire claims as signs of progress.
- Advocacy groups including the International Campaign for the Rohingya and Campaign for a New Myanmar rejected DHS’s rationale as false and misleading given ongoing repression.
- Since the 2021 coup, AAPP reports at least 7,498 people killed and more than 30,000 arrested, while UN figures show over 275,000 have fled to neighboring countries.