Thailand ? Thailand sent army troops with shields and batons to evict some 4,000 ethnic Hmong asylum seekers today and send them back to Laos despite strong objections from the U.S. and rights groups who fear they will face persecution.

Under tight security, more than 1,000 of the Hmong were loaded onto covered military trucks and driven out of the camp toward buses waiting near the Lao border, Thai authorities said. Journalists kept at a distance from the camp could see many children inside the trucks.

With the eviction under way, the United States called for it to stop.

The Hmong, an ethnic minority group from Laos’ rugged mountains, helped U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. Many Hmong fought under CIA advisers during the so-called “secret war” in Laos before it fell to the communists in 1975.

The Hmong claim they have been persecuted by the Lao government ever since.