A Minnesota lawmaker is asking Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison to grant more pardons to potentially protect some Southeast Asians facing deportation after five Hmong men under federal detention were flown from Minnesota to Louisiana last week.
Minnesota state Rep. Kaohly Vang Her, DFL-St. Paul, said at a rally Sunday that she had spoken to Walz and Ellison, and that said they would consider her request. They also warned, however, that the backlog of requests for pardons would make it challenging, she said.
“It’s been really challenging … There has been roadblock after roadblock and I am to a point now where I’m like ‘This is it,’” Rep. Her said, referring to the legal system, in her speech Sunday. “It’s on all of us. This is the time to stand up for each other.”
Walz could not be immediately reached for comment Monday. Reached Monday afternoon, Ellison’s office said he was unavailable to comment.
Her was among about a hundred people who rallied at the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul Sunday to protest the deportation of Southeast Asian Minnesotans, particularly many Hmong men who were arrested this year under President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
State Rep. Liz Lee, DFL-St. Paul, encouraged people to unite and organize more events like Sunday’s rally.
“I feel like we are maybe at a dead end,” Lee said, referring to the immigration system. “The most important thing we have is our people power, because change will not happen without people being courageous, like all of you.”
Other speakers at the rally called for supporters to unite and pressure elected officials to take action.
MN8, a local Southeast Asian immigrant-led advocacy and anti-deportation organization, organized Sunday’s rally and news conference. The organization’s executive director, Montha Chum, said that 32 U.S. deportees were sent to Laos last Wednesday. The five Hmong men from Minnesota were initially expected to be on that flight, but missed it, Chum said, and are awaiting the next flight to Laos.
The arrest and deportation of Hmong residents has made headlines beyond Minnesota. A Hmong woman from Wisconsin, Ma Yang, was deported in March, making waves in Hmong communities across the country. Fifteen Hmong and Lao men detained in Michigan in late July were deported to Laos last week, according to The Detroit News. Around 200 people attended a rally at the Michigan State Capitol on Aug. 8 to support the detainees’ families. Several elected officials submitted letters to Detroit’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office calling for their immediate release.
In early June, at least 15 Hmong Minnesotans with criminal convictions were arrested by federal immigration officers for deportation. Some of them had serious convictions from their teens for sexually abusing minors.
“We cannot stay silent when our communities are being torn apart and our neighbors are being kidnapped – that’s what they want,” Chum said Sunday. “Minnesota is home to one of the largest populations of Southeast Asian refugees, we must stand up and fight back.”
Most of the Hmong deportees were born in refugee camps before immigrating to the United States as children. Their families fled the “Secret War” in Laos, a CIA-backed military operation during the Vietnam War to fight the spread of communism.
Some speakers at Sunday’s event voiced concerns about mothers and fathers being separated from their children.
“We have to unite, so that everyone else out there knows that we’re not just giving up,” said Mai Neng Moua, an immigration attorney who has worked on recent deportation cases.
One of the five Minnesotans detained in Louisiana, Thong Lao, said he’s concerned about his health, and being separated from his family. Lao spoke with Sahan Journal on Aug. 8 while he was in custody at the Freeborn County jail, which contracts with the federal government to house ICE detainees.
“I’m so worried about that,” Lao told Sahan Journal. “I’m just so sad that I cannot be there to help out my kids.”
Organizations such as MN8 and Collective Freedom are working to support new deportees in Laos. Collective Freedom members in Laos are planning to drop off care packages to deportees in the country, said Dr. Thao Ha, the organization’s founder.
“They’re in this new facility now,” Ha said, referring to how deportees are housed in Laos when they first arrive. “They’re still not free.”
Three women from California, Florida and Texas, whose husbands and relatives were deported to Southeast Asia started another organization, Returning Laos Deportees, earlier this year. Texas resident Ally Chan, one of the founders, said Laos rarely accepted U.S. deportees in the past, but that many deportees are arriving there in recent months.
With the rise of U.S. deportees arriving in Laos, immigration advocates say they’re working together to create a support system for them to rebuild their lives in Laos.
“It’s very hard for us to lay some type of protocols with no help, no funding in Laos,” Chan said.
Transforming Generations, a local nonprofit serving Southeast Asians facing gender-based violence, is hosting a workshop Wednesday to educate families on how to prepare for potential deportation. Attendees will learn how to find an immigration attorney and request immigration files, and how to obtain a written document that gives power of attorney to a relative who can then oversee legal and financial matters for another person.
“It’s not a matter of if, it’s when,” said Xay Yang, executive director at Transforming Generations. “We want to get resources out there to the families from providers who are working with impacted people.”
CORRECTION: The story has been updated to clarify Rep. Liz Lee’s comments and fix Xay Yang’s title.
