Wat Tham Krabok and its Hmong refugees drew global attention in the late 1980s and mid-1990s, as they became the subject of a major global political debate over their future, and the future of Lao and Hmong refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand. The government of Thailand, with support from the United Nations and the Clinton administration, sought to repatriate the Lao-Hmong at Wat Tham Krabok back to the communist regime in Laos that the Lao-Hmong refugees fled. This effort drew opposition from several human rights groups, and some key Hmong organizations.