WAUSAU, WI (Wisconsin Radio Network-WSAU) — There are potential negotiations underway to start deporting Hmong Americans back to Laos. Community leaders are calling for those plans to be dropped.
As Hmong leaders and state officials scramble to decipher a possible deportation plan for Hmong Americans, community leaders are calling for clarity and calm. Wausau-based Hmong American Center director Yee Leng Xiong says that there is no home for the Hmong people in Laos any longer. “This is our homeland now. The United States is our home.”
Xiong says the reports are leading to confusion and anxiety. “They should wait for further clarification or information to come out, before making any rash judgement or decisions.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met earlier this year with Lao Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith. The discussions centered on the possible deportation of about 4,800 hmong refugees who are not yet naturalized U.S. citizens and have committed crimes or are subject to deportation orders.
Many first generation Hmong immigrants came to the US as refugees after assisting the US in the Vietnam War and Governor Tony Evers says sending Hmong populations back to Laos opens them up to human rights violations.
