Burma's junta has sent a team of officials to investigate allegations that militia border guards are committing extortion, rape and assault against Burmese people being deported from Thailand.
The Thai government is under heavy criticism over the allegations, which come amid a new crackdown on illegal Burmese workers who are being sent home.
Some deportees say they have faced beatings and even conscription into a Burmese militia army.
At an immigration detention centre on the Thai-Burma border, there is a depressing daily ritual.
"Before we only had one to 200 people per day [being sent home]," immigration police colonel Montree Manjit said.
"But now we have about six or 700 people per day."
Fifteen thousand illegal migrants from Burma went through the centre last month. They were then trucked to the border and deported.
Burmese are the biggest migrant group in Thailand. About 900,000 have legitimate work permits but even they are being sent back.
They are now required to apply for passports and they have to go back home to get them.
Passport brokers help them with the process but they are only accessible to those with money.
Those with letters from bona fide employers who are seeking passports cross at the official border gate.
But labour rights activist Moe Swe says paperless illegal workers with few means are facing extortion and worse when they get to the other side of the river.
"I must say 95 per cent of people are facing that problem. Everybody is extorted at the checkpoint," he said.
The informal checkpoints are run by the Burmese junta's proxy militia, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.
They impose a fee of just over $40 on the deportees before they enter Burma and most do not have it.
One young woman who was working illegally in Thailand was recently released after being caught and deported by Thai authorities.
"I was sleeping in the afternoon when I heard a boy shouting 'police are arresting, police are arresting' and I ran away," she said.
"It was the border police and I got caught by them. They took us away."
After she crossed the border, she says she was held in a cell by the militia until a friend came to pay the fee.
She left others behind who were told they would be conscripted into the militia force if they did not find the money.
Mr Swe says it is a common story.
The crackdown is being criticised by human rights groups after some deportees have reported being beaten and raped.
Despite the risks, the border remains a revolving door for impoverished Burmese who take great risks crossing back and forth to work.
Thai authorities expect to deport 300,000 people in the next three months.
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