Radio Free Asia employees face uncertain future following Trump cuts

Margaret Brennan, "Face the Nation" moderator and CBS News' chief foreign affairs correspondent, spoke with the president of RFA as she reports some of the employees fear they could be deported.

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - The latest targets of President Donald Trump's government cutbacks include Radio Free Asia (RFA).

Its stated mission is to provide fair, objective, accurate and uncensored news and information to Asian nations where there are few, if any, free speech protections.

Friday was the last day on the job for hundreds of RFA employees, with some of them fearing they could be deported.

After the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Congress created RFA to broadcast facts into countries where governments are afraid of them.

"The US saw China gunning down its own citizens and then also successfully covering it up afterwards...Congress created us with an eye to giving these people in China and other authoritarian countries around Asia, the ability to have free press, to get access to the truth through an unbiased news service," said Bay Fang, President of RFA.

As of now, Fang put 75% of staff on leave. It's a result of the funding cuts ordered by the U.S. Agency for Global Media's Kari Lake.

At least eight RFA journalists could be forced to leave the U.S. if they lose their work visas.

When Brennan asked Khoa Lai, a Vietnamese journalist, if he will be deported, Lai said, "I believe so, but I hope not. I believe that...if I go back, then the government will snatch me right away."

Five who worked for RFA are already behind bars overseas. RFA funding their families and their defense.

"These are not U.S. citizens, but they are people who are in jail because they worked for a U.S.-funded network," Fang expressed.

When Brennan asked Fang how she will convince Congress that RFA is worth saving if they need Congress to continue with the grants, Fang answered saying, "We're worth saving because we actually bring benefit to the us taxpayer. I think it is in the U.S. national security interest...We are actually one of the lowest cost effective elements of soft power that they could have."

To watch Brennan's full report on this story, click here.