A group of Pakistani Christian asylum seekers were arrested Dec. 19 by Thai immigration authorities in an early morning raid on a low-rise condominium in eastern Bangkok. An estimated 36 people, including around 12 women and an equal number of children, were detained after immigration officials showed up at the doors of several low-rent units of asylum seekers.

The immigration officers “came knocking on doors and when the people inside didn’t open up, the officers broke the doors down,” said Joseph, a Pakistani Christian refugee from Karachi, who learned of the details by communicating with arrestees via social media. One 20-year-old Christian man who sought to escape being arrested by jumping out of a window ended up with a broken leg. “The authorities took them all — even the kids and women,” Joseph (not his real name) said.