Members of the Laotian diaspora in the United States, many of whom arrived as refugees after surviving a CIA-led “secret war,” are now facing a fresh crisis—detention and deportation with little warning, according to a recent report by the South China Morning Post.
Decades after resettling in America, Laotian migrants and their families are now living in fear as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers carry out aggressive operations across the country. Advocates say these detentions often occur without due process, legal representation, or any chance for individuals to fight for their right to stay.
“ICE’s tactics have become more aggressive, unethical, and inhumane,” Chanida Phaengdara Potter, founder of the Southeast Asian Diaspora Project, told This Week in Asia, a publication of the South China Morning Post.
The community’s plight has largely gone underreported amid national focus on deportations involving other groups, despite the fact that an estimated 250,000 people of Laotian descent were granted the right to stay in the U.S. during the 1980s. Many among them, particularly the Hmong minority, were recruited to assist U.S. efforts in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War era.
While immigration fears had eased somewhat during President Joe Biden’s early years, the return of Donald Trump to the White House has revived hardline immigration policies, leading to a resurgence of ICE activity against Laotian and other Southeast Asian communities.
In Michigan, which hosts a large Laotian and Hmong-American population, community leaders report growing fear and confusion. “It’s happening quietly and quickly, and it’s traumatizing entire families,” said Thanphanh Phommavong, a Laotian-American leader in the state.
One especially devastating case involved Ma Yang, an ethnic Hmong mother of five, who was deported in March despite being a U.S. green-card holder. Born in a Thai refugee camp and brought to the U.S. as a baby, Yang was removed after serving time for a cannabis-related offense. Stranded in Laos, a country she had never visited before, Yang now faces a precarious future, her partner said on a fundraising page.
According to advocates cited by the South China Morning Post, ICE operations have become increasingly indiscriminate. In one case, an elderly man was allegedly tricked into ICE custody from an old-age home under the pretense of a document check.
Deportees often face grim conditions upon arrival in Laos, a country where many have no family ties or support networks. Some are reportedly held in semi-detention facilities, adding to their trauma.
Despite isolated reports of Laotian-American involvement in crime, such as gang-related activities, community leaders stress that the majority of affected individuals have long since served their sentences and rebuilt their lives. Advocates argue that deportation in such cases amounts to a “double punishment.”
“What we’re seeing is a lot of quiet fear,” Luna Xiong, executive director of the Council of Asian Pacific Americans, told the SCMP.
