The United States has offered to take up to 15,000 Hmong refugees who fled the 1975 communist takeover in Laos and are living in a camp in Thailand.

US ambassador to Bangkok, Darryl Johnson, said Washington felt a "special responsibility" to the Hmong people of Laos.

During the Vietnam War large numbers of ethnic Hmong sided with the US army as the conflict spread into neighbouring Laos, and played an important support role.

But at the end of the war, the US Government stopped its support for the Hmong. When a communist movement ousted the US-backed Lao royal family in 1975, as many as a third of the Hmong population are thought to have fled.

Mr Johnson said everyone who passed medical examinations and background checks, and was registered with the Wat Tham Krabok camp as of August 2003, could be resettled in the US. The process will begin in February next year.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3330605.stm

1975 was the communist takeover in Laos, it has been
32 years since then that the Hmong people were suffering

at last they are now being repatriated.

(relief)
Twenty-nine year old Lor Chue, a member of South East Asia's Hmong minority, is one of America's newest immigrants.
Having spent nearly his whole life in refugee camps in Thailand, he has recently been given the chance of a new life in the USA.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3652070.stm

Linsi and others

I think that the U.S. took a long time to help the Hmong refugies in Thailand camps. They have to remember that they were the ones who gave weapons to the Hmong to help them tribes to fight the communist Pathet Lao.

My first assignment in Asia was Laos and I have been the godfather of a small hmong girl. In 1977 I have been in charge to suggest a suitable place for the Hmong in French Guiana

Here is an interesting article by Roger Warner the author of "Shooting in the moon : the story of America's clandestine war in Laos"
http://www.asianewsnet.net/columnist.php?aid=10637

"Shooting in the moon" refers to the custom of Lao people firing to the sky when there is an solar eclipse. They are afraid that the moon eat the sun

an article for Hmong fighters

Hmong defense team to seek bail
Jun 26 00:14

By JULIET WILLIAMS

Associated Press Writer

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) -- A federal judge consolidated the cases of 11 people accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Laos and set a date for their attorneys to again try to have their clients released on bail.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. ordered the defendants to appear before another judge on July 12. Their attorneys are expected to argue that their clients do not pose a threat to the community and should be allowed to wait out the legal process with their families.

Prosecutors accuse the defendants of trying to raise millions of dollars to buy machine guns, anti-aircraft missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, mines and other weapons in a plot to overthrow the communist government of Laos.

Judges have refused to set bail during previous hearings, saying the defendants could be a flight risk or pose a danger to society.

John Keker, an attorney for Vang Pao, a former Laotian military leader who many Hmong-Americans consider a spiritual leader, said he will request that an undercover agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms testify at the hearing. Evidence the agent acquired while posing as an arms broker is expected to be at the heart of the case.

Keker said he wants to question the agent about “what we believe was his role in making much larger what we believe is essentially a fantasy.”

Pao, 77, was hospitalized late last week after suffering chest pains. He was pushed into the courtroom in a wheelchair.

Keker asked the judge to schedule the bail hearing as quickly as possible.

“We are frankly worried about the health of General Vang Pao and not getting to trial,” he said.

Several Hmong observers bowed toward Pao or cupped their hands together in prayer as they entered the courtroom. Others cried and held up small children, while some of the defendants used the sleeves of their jumpsuits to wipe tears from their eyes.

Prosecutors said they would release about 2,300 pages of evidence to defense attorneys.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Twiss said he would file a motion seeking to have the case declared complex, allowing some of the provisions requiring a speedy trial to be waived.

As with previous court appearances involving the case, hundreds of Hmong supporters rallied outside the courthouse Monday, listening to speeches, chanting and carrying placards.

In addition to Vang Pao, the other defendants are Hue Vang, 39, Dang Vang, 48, Chong Yang Thao, 53, and Seng Vue, 68, all of Fresno; Lo Thao, 53, of Sacramento; Lo Cha Thao, 34, of Clovis; Youa True Vang, 60, of Sanger; Chue Lo, 59, of Stockton; Nhia Kao Vang, 48, of Rancho Cordova; and Harrison Jack of Woodland, north of Sacramento.

A 60-year-old former Army Ranger, Jack led covert operations and worked with Hmong fighters during the Vietnam War. The federal indictment describes him as the middle man between the Hmong defendants and the presumed arms dealer.

The defendants are charged with conspiring to violate the Neutrality Act against a nation with which the United States is at peace; conspiracy to kill, kidnap and maim; conspiracy to possess firearms and destructive devices; and conspiracy to export munitions without a license from the U.S. State
Department.

http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Asian/Daily_News.asp#5

How can the US put on jail and try people they used before for their political or strategic purpose ?

hi jacques,
here is an excerpts of the article, let me quote:

On June 4, about 200 law-enforcement agents in California launched what initially appeared to be a spectacular raid, arresting nine in an alleged plot to overthrow the government of Laos. Eight of those arrested originally came from Laos.


my personal opinion is this.

since Laos now stands as independent recognized nation,
The US won't allow any one who will overthrow a certain
government by aggression specially when people has been
adapted as their citizen.

i think the US seeks legal change of governments as
a policy similar to the cross straight channel were
it does not promote aggression from china against taiwan
and vice versa.

the same principle is then applied to all nations.

am i right? imagine these Hmong people now are hmong-americans, and if they wanted to overthrow a legitimate
government outside, wouldn't it be wrong?

Hi Linsi,

You are right on the principle, but for their war in Indochina they din't hesitate to use unlaw means.

The US used the Hmong for their political purpose in Laos, so it was their task to take them after the Pathet Lao won the power in Vientiane.

For the General Van Pao who their main puppet in Laos, and now a very old refugee, I think it was possible for the US qecurity to block his unthinkable project, with no noise or puting him on trial

Jacques wrote:

QUOTE:
Hi Linsi,

You are right on the principle, but for their war in Indochina they din't hesitate to use unlaw means.

The US used the Hmong for their political purpose in Laos, so it was their task to take them after the Pathet Lao won the power in Vientiane.

For the General Van Pao who their main puppet in Laos, and now a very old refugee, I think it was possible for the US qecurity to block his unthinkable project, with no noise or puting him on trial

hi jacques,
you have a point but then the charges are strong:

The defendants are charged with conspiring to violate the Neutrality Act against a nation with which the United States is at peace; conspiracy to kill, kidnap and maim; conspiracy to possess firearms and destructive devices; and conspiracy to export munitions without a license from the U.S. State
Department.
General Vang Pao and his lawyer should have known, i just don't know-

On 5 August 2007, 13 US lawmakers have written a letter to the Thailand king asking him to intervene to stop a forced repatriation of some 8,000 ethnic Homong to Laos
http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?aid=11435