Laotian & Hmong Refugees

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Like Vietnam and Cambodia, Laos was once part of the French colony known as Indochina. Although Laos is a small country, it is ethnically diverse by any standard: of its fifty or so distinct ethnic groups, many Hmong, Mien, Khmu, Thai Dam, and Lao (sometimes called "Lowland Lao") arrived in the United States as refugees. Of those, the Hmong and Lao have the largest populations in this country.

Laos was a pawn in the murky politics of Southeast Asia after the defeat of the French on the Lao-Vietnamese border in 1953. The West supported a monarchy, while the communist world backed an insurgent group called the Pathet Lao. A civil war raged, and the U.S. in particular provided both economic and military support to Hmong fighters in the north in what has since been called the "Secret War." In 1975, when communists took control of both Vietnam and Cambodia, the Pathet Lao took control of the country and established a Marxist government.

Some Hmong remained to continue the fight, however, and it was not until 1978 that the back of their resistance was broken by government troops. The government set up "reeducation camps" that were generally regarded as even more severe than those of the Vietnamese. During the same period, the country experienced a devastating series of famines and floods, which compounded the wartime devastation.

Thousands of Lao and Hmong crossed the Mekong River into Thailand, where refugee camps were set up. The case for Hmong was especially compelling because the U.S. had reportedly promised that if Laos were lost to the communists, this country would provide them with any assistance they would need. This migration into Thailand continued steadily for many years, despite protests by the host country, Thailand, that many were "economic migrants" and not true refugees. Initially, U.S. acceptance of the Lao and Hmong as refugees was substantial, but in recent years the numbers have dwindled.

Where do they live?: Today, approximately 186,000 Hmong and 198,000 Lao live in the U.S. The largest numbers of Hmong refugees are living in the Central Valley of California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. Large numbers of Lao are in the San Diego and the San Francisco Bay areas of California.