What happens when a family loses a loved one to deportation? How does someone adapt after being deported to a country they’ve never set foot in? One Hmong family from South St. Paul, Minnesota, is navigating this new normal.

ICE agents detained Zong Yang, 48, at his home on February 5, and deported him to Laos in early May because of a felony burglary conviction from his twenties. His wife Linda, 41, is now raising the couple’s five boys alone, juggling a 3-year-old toddler up to a 17-year-old high school graduate. Meanwhile, Zong is adjusting to life in Laos, where he doesn’t speak the native language.

Join Sahan Journal as we follow the Yang family’s journey as one of the many casualties of Operation Metro Surge. “Taken: A family’s story of deportation” is an occasional series that will publish throughout the year.