HMONG REFUGEES FIND ADJUSTMENT TO U.S. PAINFUL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-00418R000100150032-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 15, 2012
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: July 25, 1988
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

ST Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/15: CIA-RDP99-00418ROO0100150032-1
Hmong Refugees Find Adjustment
to U.S. Painful
The Washington Post
The New York Times A 12-
The Washington Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Christian Science Monitor
New York Daily News
USA Today
The Chicago Tribune
Date -
By DIRK JOHNSON
Special to The14'ew York Times
ST. PAUL - Under the tutelage of
her American cousins, 8`-year-old Kia
Lor is learning about soap operas,
baseball, hair styles and even this odd
custom, she confided, of painting one's
fingernails.
But behind her infectious smile and
dancing black eyes, this little Hmong
refugee has horrible memories of the
jungles of Laos. Kia was shot eight
months ago by Communists after her
family had tried to escape into Thai-
land. She survived by pretending that
she was dead as the gunmen kicked her
bleeding body. Her mother did not have
to pretend, and neither did four of her
brothers and sisters.
"I want to be with my mother," said
Kia, who came here last month to live
with her uncle Yao Lo. "I should have
died, too."
"Please," Mr. Lo has pleaded, "don't
say that anymore."
More Hmong Coming to U.S.
She is among an estimated 9,000
Hmong who arrived in the United
States this year, the largest number
since 1980. The numbers have in-
creased as the tribal people have lost
much of the hope of ever returning to
the mountains of Loas and as condi-
tions in Thai refugee camps have wors-
ened under a resentful Government
there.
After California, Minnesota and Wis-
consin have attracted the largest num-
bers of Hmong, immigration officials
said. More than 13,000 Hmong refugees
live in Minnesota, including 2,000 who
arrived this year, and perhaps as an
equal number are in Wisconsin. The
two states appear an unlikely destina-
tion for the mountain tribespeople
from Laos, given the states' cold win-
ters and overwhelmingly white popula-
tion.
But the Lutheran social service
agencies here, along with other church-
affiliated relief organizations, and the
socially progressive tradition of these
states, have fostered a generally hospi-
table environment for refugees. A sig-
nificant number of the Hmong have
moved here from other parts of the
United States, including a migration
from from Philadelphia a few years
ago, where some of the Hmong were
subjected to robbery and beatings that
appeared to be motivated by bias.
Still, the transition to American
urban life here for the Hmong who had
no written language until recent times,
has been more difficult than for other
Southeast Asian refugees. A majority
of the Hmong here live in public hous-
ing projects, and social service agen-
cies express fear that much of the com-
munity risks becoming trapped in a
cycle of-poverty.
"We're concerned about the poten-
tial development of - an underclass,"
said John Petraborg, assistant com-
missioner of the Minnesota Human
Services Department. "We're having
talks with leaders of the Hmong com-
munity to encourage the idea of self-
sufficiency."
Kia's uncle, Mr. Lo, works for the Lo
Family agency here, a private group
that helps Hmong, Laotian and Cambo-
dian refugees adjust to American life.
About 6,000 refugees who belong to the
group pay dues of 50 cents a month.
For Kia, who lives in a two-story
frame house with her uncle and his
family, the standard of living is better
than for most Hmong. Her uncle came
to St. Paul in 1975, when many of the
refugees were the better-educated
Hmong who had worked for the United
States in the Vietnam War.
In Danger In Laos
The alignment with United States
forces left the Hmong despised and en-
dangered by the Pathet Lao regime
now ruling Laos. William Colby, for-
mer Director of t e entra Intelli-
gence enc testified in Congress
after t o Vietnam War Fat the Hmong
had fought so IoXafly they should ac-
corded veteran's benefits unaer the
G.I. Bill.
Some 40,000 Hmong, who have es-
caped into Thailand, are living in the
Ban Vinai and Chieng Kham refugee
camps.
It was to one of those refugee camps
that Kai's family, along with more than
two dozen other Hmong, tried to es-
cape. In the darkness, the refugees
crossed the Mekong River into Thai-
land on a raft, but were sent back to
Laos apparently by Thai authorities. It
was unclear why they were turned
back. United States officials speculated
that they had been unable to pay a
bribe or that the Thai authorities had
become reluctant to admit more refu-
gees.
In any case, the bodies were found
riddled with bullets. Kia stayed by her
mother's body for perhaps three days,
until Thai fishermen found her wander-
ing along the banks of the Mekong,
dazed and filthy. Bugs had festered in
the wounds on her arms and neck.
After Kia was taken to a hospital in
Thailand, she told workers that her 18-
year-old brother, Toua, was at the Pan
Vinai camp. The brother, who had left
Laos earlier, was found, and hospital
workers helped-him contact their uncle
in Minnesota. Late last month, with the
help of Senator Rudy Boschwitz and
the State Department, Kia and Toua
were flown here.
Largely because so many refugees
have settled in Minnesota, Mr. Bosch-
witz toured the camps in Thailand in
January. He tried to visit with Kia,
whose plight had been called to his at-
tention by the Lo Family, but when she
saw Thai guards coming to get her, she
became frightened and ran off.
"There were many nightmsres,u Mr.
Lo said of his niece. "But'che's going to
be okay."
When she arrived here, Kia was so
frightened that she could not look at
anyone, even her newfound family. But
her nine-year-old cousin, Julie Lo, soon
became a trusted pal. Kia now wears a
pixieish hair style, a dime store's ring
and a pink shirt emblazoned with the
logo, "Cutest."
The girls play baseball with some
American neighbors and watch Julie's
favorite soap opera, "Another World."
They speak in the Hmong language,
and Julie has taught Kia to write her
name in English. In the fall, Kia will en-
roll in the public school here, studying
English as a second language.
Kia smiles much more easily now.
And she told her family she feels safe
now because, "no one will kill me."
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/15: CIA-RDP99-00418ROO0100150032-1