The issue of polygamy has emerged as a sticking point in plans for the United States to accept more than 14,000 ethnic Hmong refugees, officials said Monday.
The issue arose as a U.S. delegation headed by Mayor Randy Kelly of St. Paul, Minnesota, the city that will take most of the refugees, began talks in Bangkok over their future.
General Pallop Pinmanee, of Thailand's Internal Security Operations Command, said he would meet with Kelly later Monday to discuss the polygamy question and other details.
"The U.S. said they will only allow men to bring one wife for each family, which is impossible. Many Hmongs have several wives. How can we separate family members?" he said.
Pallop said another issue is that about 1,000 elderly Hmong do not want to go to the United States. "They want to stay at Tham Krabok, which we cannot allow," he said.
A camp at Tham Krabok, a Buddhist temple in central Thailand, houses about 14,400 Hmong who were recently accepted for entry into the United States. More than half are destined for St. Paul, home of the biggest Hmong community in the United States.
The 20-member U.S. delegation, which includes expatriate Hmong, is scheduled Tuesday to visit the camp, where residents are being screened with tests to prove they are in good health and are not addicted to drugs.
The delegation's spokeswoman, Laura Mortensen, said the first of the refugees were expected to arrive in the United States in August or early September.
"The drug tests will be one of the biggest hurdles," she said. She would not comment on the polygamy issue.
The U.S. government has taken in tens of thousands of Hmong in recognition of their help to U.S. forces during the Vietnam War and the minority's subsequent persecution.
The Hmong at Tham Krabok are among the last of roughly 300,000 who fled to Thailand after the Communist takeover in Laos in 1975. Their presence has long been a thorny issue between Laos and Thailand.