Hmong dismayed by national security status
- From: "ລາວພວນ ລາວຮັກຊາດ" <phetyai@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:02:29 -0800 (PST)
Some one must telling him the truth, South Vietnam was
American allies fight against North Vietnam.
Hmong were CIA helper "in Laos" call secret Army, collect info
of VC's movement and guarding the communication equipment.
The most importance is war ended 32 years agos, American
did take good care of all refugee very well after war.
in present, In Thailand if Hmong keep saying they were
CIA allies and fight against communist government, they
might considered a terror.
Please end these soap opera and live together in peace...
Federal changes drop some security roadblocks facing U.S. military
allies
By Ed Lowe
for The Northwestern
TOWN OF MENASHA -- Faida Thao is still trying to figure out how the
U.S. government would classify the Hmong, American allies during the
Vietnam War era, as threats to national security.
Thao, 43, a store owner and president of the Hmong-American
Partnership of the Fox Valley, said Hmong leaders throughout the
country are asking the same question since learning some Hmong were
denied citizenship or asylum because of old family loyalties -- to the
U.S.
"Since Sept. 11, they had classified the Hmong as, you know, bad
people because during the Vietnam War the Hmong had helped the U.S.
Army -- that is, the CIA -- greatly," he said.
That was during covert U.S. actions in Laos, then and now a Communist
state. The Hmong left behind after America's withdrawal from the
region were either killed or persecuted. Those resettled in America
arrived without an official explanation of their people's role in
America's war effort. Because of that, they were viewed, wrongly, as
economic refugees.
A decision last month by a pair of federal agencies recognized that
some Hmong refugees were wronged by immigration and naturalization
laws passed as national security measures. The departments of State
and Homeland Security announced discretionary exemptions to federal
laws that defined the Hmong as supporters of terrorism.
Last week, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., praised the federal waiver
as a partial remedy to unfair immigration policies.
"We will forever be indebted to the Hmong who fought alongside and
supported the U.S. during the Vietnam War," Feingold said Tuesday in a
written response to The Post-Crescent.
National security measures had classified some Hmong applicants as
supporters of terrorism for "material support" of pre-2005 efforts to
overthrow the government of Laos. The change allows the normal advance
of citizenship applications by Hmong in the U.S.
It also allows Hmong living outside the U.S. to enter the country,
provided they meet all other requirements.
Feingold noted the waiver applies to the families of the Hmong who
fought in support of the U.S., but not the Hmong fighters themselves.
Many have lived as refugees in Thailand since the war's end.
"While applying this waiver is a good first step, Congress needs to do
more to ensure that other legitimate refugees who do not threaten our
national security are not stuck battling lengthy and unnecessary
delays in seeking to apply for resettlement in the United States," he
said.
Feingold, addressing the Senate Judiciary Committee in February,
argued immigration law requirements of the Real ID Act of 2005
"defined the term 'terrorist activity' so broadly that it basically
covers anyone who has ever used a firearm."
Because of the 2005 law, Hmong applicants for U.S. asylum or
citizenship faced denials or delays because their relatives supported
U.S. military interests during the Vietnam War.
Thao, who arrived in the U.S. in 1987, said he has no close relatives
directly affected by the restrictions imposed on the Hmong seeking
residency or asylum. However, he said Hmong people living in Asia were
blocked from temporary visits to the U.S. in recent years.
"We have been trying to get the government to explain, what did we do
that you classify us as a terrorist?" Thao said. "As Hmong people,
we're not very happy to take that name."
There are about 200,000 Hmong, an ethnic minority group from Laos, in
the U.S. Wisconsin is home to the nation's third largest Hmong
population, after California and Minnesota. The State Department said
it has no plans to initiate a resettlement program for Hmong refugees
living in Thailand.
U.S. Rep. Tom Petri, R-Fond du Lac, is a co-sponsor of legislation
that would address immigration and naturalization issues still facing
the former Hmong fighters.
"The Hmong people of Laos were our vital allies who saved numerous
downed American pilots," Petri said. "We owe them a lot."
Ed Lowe writes for the Appleton Post-Crescnet. Ellyn Ferguson of
Gannett News Service contributed to this report.
.
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