Local Hmong ‘saddened' by deportations

As thousands of Hmong congregate in Fresno to celebrate the new year, locals lament the deportation of more than 4,000 from Thailand into Laos.

Their eviction on Monday will end the Hmong’s three-decade search for asylum after allying with the U.S. during the Vietnam war, and occurred despite strong objections from the United States and human rights groups who said the Hmong will face persecution in Laos.

“I’m saddened,” Porterville resident Lawrence Cha said. “The Hmong refugees don’t have any rights.”

Like so many other Hmong— the ethnic minority from Laos’ rugged mountains—Cha said he was a member of a secret army set up by the CIA in cooperation with the pro-American Lao government to combat communist insurgents during the Vietnam War.

He served for five years before retreating to Thailand after the communist victory in 1975, and then to America a year later, he said via his daughter-in-law Joua Her who translated.

Since the Vietnam War, more than 300,000 Lao, mostly Hmong, are known to have fled to Thailand. For years they have lived in camps aided from international agencies.

Most were sent back to Laos or resettled in third countries, mostly the United States. Smaller numbers found refuge in France, Australia and Canada.

Andrew Xiong, a project specialist with the United States Census Bureau, estimates that there are 25 Hmong families living in Porterville, or approximately 150 individuals.

“Before the bad economy, there were quite a few Hmong [in Porterville,] but they have moved to find jobs,” he said.  

Now Thailand says it plans to close the camp it emptied Monday.

Cha said none of his friends or family will be directly impacted by the deportation, but feels a connection with those who are affected.

“They are our people,” he said.

The relocation happens as tens of thousands of Hmong people gather at the Fresno County Fairgrounds for the 14th Annual Hmong International New Year celebration.

Xiong was at the fairgrounds Tuesday, handing out information about the census.

He said concern for the Hmong oversees was on the lips of many of those attending the celebration.

“They were concerned about the implications of moving people from Thailand to Laos,” he said. “People were talking about it.”

Cha said people who seek harbor across borders often move with the expectation that they will have to return home,  but he was surprised to hear the news while listening to KQEQ Hmong American Broadcasting this week.

“I did not realize so many people would have to move, and that it would happen so suddenly,” he said.

Among those deported were 158 Hmong who had been identified by the United Nations as refugees and were being held separately from the larger group at a detention center near the Lao border.

The Thai government claims most of the Hmong are economic migrants who entered the country illegally and have no claims to refugee status.

After a few days of preparation, approximately 5,000 Thai soldiers and officials entered the camp in Thailand’s central Phetchabun province to bus the Hmong across the Thai border town of Nong Khai, and into Laos’ Paksane district in the central province of Bolikhamsai.

“I expected it could happen, but not like this,” Cha said.

Contact Jenna Chandler at 784-5000, Ext. 1050, or jchandler@portervillerecorder.com.