Lao-Hmong refugees at Ban Huay Nam Khao, in Thailand's Phetchabun province, believe that they will be repatriated to Laos in the very near future, because Thai authorities have sped up their screening and fingerprinting processes.

Lao officials taking foreign diplomats on a tour of a resettlement site for returning Hmong refugees in Kasi district

A Huay Nam Khao refugee told VOA's Bangkok stringer Songrit Pongern by phone that Thai soldiers have been coming to the detention center every day since December 4 to screen them and forcibly fingerprint anyone who resists.

Lao and Thai authorities consider the refugees illegal immigrants and have agreed to return them all to Laos by the end of 2007. The Lao government has set up resettlement villages for the returning refugees in Ban Phalak, Kasi district.

Listen to our Laos Today report for more details in Lao.