OUTAGAMIE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – Recent reports about the proposed deportation of 4,500 Hmong residents are concerning communities around the country, especially in areas with sizeable Hmong populations like Outagamie County.
“I can’t imagine our community without them. These are folks who are law-abiding, model citizens. A lot of them are war heroes,” says County Executive Tom Nelson, “We had an obligation back then to offer them safe haven and protect them. And that obligation remains today.”
“I do know a handful of residents here in Appleton impacted by this. They just gave us that 4,500 number and said 80% were definitely Hmong,” says Kou Vang, President of the Hmong-American Partnership, “We escaped Laos to Thailand and then settled here in the United States as political refugees and we thought we got away from all of that, but now there’s a possibility that some of us in the Hmong community could be sent back and that’s terrifying.”
The proposal is raising a lot of questions as well, especially when it comes to people that may have been in the country for a long period of time – or those who may have come to the country as young children, and only speak English with very little recollection of Laos.
“Why now? Why are they singling out the Hmong-Lao community? It doesn’t make any sense,” Nelson says.
“Some of the ones impacted weren’t even born in Laos, they were born in the camps in Thailand,” Vang explains, “You came from the backwaters into modern society, so it’s a huge shock – poverty and a lack of guidance, that happens.”
The abrupt announcement and confusion lead Nelson to push higher powers to take action. He’s requesting that Senator Ron Johnson, who sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee, call a hearing to get more information about the reasons behind the decision.
“I think the best thing that we can do is bring this issue out into the light of day,” Nelson tells WTAQ News, “You’re going to bring in people from the administration, from the state department, from the White House – and have them have to answer these tough questions.”
While the proposal says it will only deport Hmong residents who may not be legal citizens or have a criminal record. But Nelson remains skeptical, pointing to research done by a leader in the Hmong community in Wausau – which analyzed the information surrounding every Hmong deportation in the country from 1998-2018.
“Around 85% had not committed a crime. So when I look at the data with what we know with what happened in the last 20 years, I think it’s pretty easy to make a conclusion that this is not going to be handled in the way that they say they’re going to do it,” Nelson explains, “They have not made a compelling reason to do this, we don’t know who the 4,500 individuals are, we don’t know what their record is – they’re singling out one community and they really have some serious questions to answer.”
Meanwhile, Communist politics still holding power in Laos are another point of contention for Vang. He says the leadership there does not take kindly to those who left as refugees.
“Laos practices what is called Disappearance. Where if we send someone over who’s a political refugee, odds are you just disappear. You’re never heard from again,” Vang claims.
But until there are potential hearings or further explanation regarding the deportation plans, there will be very few answers or remedies to the questions and concerns raised.
Outagamie County is one of just seven Wisconsin counties with over 2,000 Hmong residents – with their population currently sitting just over 2,500.
