Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing 128 foreigners denied entry into Thailand. Let's jump in. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Border checks tightened.

I made another video contemporaneously with this one where I discussed the fact that look, there has been a paradigm shift here in Thailand, a major one when it comes to the issue of Immigration. It is now a viewed much more through the lens of National Security rather than what it was viewed as is more law enforcement which by the way there was a major change if you go back in the past 10 years, go back roughly 7 years ago really to the time when Surachate "Big Joke" Hakparn took over Thai Immigration as the Head of Immigration and began imposing a much more law enforcement attitude toward immigration, as opposed to an administrative processing attitude. Subsequent to that, in roughly the past 3 months, I made an video recently discussing this, we have also now seen a shift from more of a Law Enforcement perspective to now a National Security perspective especially in light of the activity that's going along, excuse me, that's happening along the Thai-Cambodian Border. (I'm trying to say 'going along' but that's not really the right word.) That being said, jumping in here, Border checks tightened. Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, quoting directly: "The Immigration Bureau is also coordinating with security and intelligence agencies to obtain more information on suspected foreign mercenaries, and if specific individuals can be identified, screening can be more targeted, reducing disruption for ordinary tourists, he said. He added that tighter checks may lead to long queues, particularly at Suvarnabhumi Airport, but waiting times would not exceed 45 minutes. The Immigration Bureau has tightened screening of foreign nationals entering Thailand, applying the Immigration Act to deny entry to individuals assessed as potential threats. In December alone, 78 Cambodian nationals were denied entry, despite Cambodia's inclusion on Thailand's visa-free list of 93 countries. Additionally, 128 foreigners suspected of links to mercenary activities were denied entry in the first 10 days of the month."

So, within the first 10 days in December there were 128 foreigners who appear from the context of this article, not of Cambodian descent, were denied access to Thailand, "suspected of links to mercenary activities", because they were suspected of those links. As I discussed in another video, they're tightening up border security tremendously; now we are seeing this. Now whether or not they are mercenaries or whatever, I'm not really going to get into the sort of the merits of all of that; that's not the thrust of this video. The thrust of this video is to advise folks of the fact that yes there is now heightened scrutiny at Thai Immigration checkpoints, and Thai Immigration Officers are not particularly reticent about denying entry to foreign nationals who may not even be of Khmer descent, who may not be Cambodian by extraction. Again, this has broader implications than just the border at this point. This thing is as we speak, sort of beginning to grow if you will. 

Now that being said, again, the merits of each individual case of the 128, I don't know, but at the end of the day, 128 foreign nationals were denied access to Thailand in the last 10 days because they were suspected of possibly having I guess you could say, ill intentions towards Thailand. Now again, whether or not these were warranted denials, whether or not the underlying facts supported the finding, I can't really get into that because I don't have the information in front of me, and frankly nor would I really want to. I mean that is kind of Immigration's function is to say, "hey we're making a determination this person shouldn't be allowed into Thailand" and frankly there is an argument to be made much like the argument in favour of the Doctrine of Consular Absolutism back in the United States that look, you just have to let people who are on the ground make the call for themselves and then you just live with it and move on. Well that's what we're dealing with here. 

Again, 128 foreigners denied entry here in Thailand in the last 10 days. It remains to be seen if this is going to continue, but we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.