Hmong Americans

The Vietnam War and Immigration

The political and ideological turmoil leading to the Vietnam War affected the Hmong in various ways. Although certain Hmong groups supported the communist force Pathet Lao, others were directly recruited and deployed by CIA-paid special forces or served as U.S. allies in the Royal Lao Army. After the Pathet Lao gained power in 1975, however, thousands of Hmong sought refuge in neighboring Thailand in fear of retaliation.

The first group of 3,466 Hmong arrived in the United States in December 1975 within the framework of the Indochinese Parole Program. [Page 1098]The same year, the Indochinese Migration and Refugee Act was signed into law, and it provided the Hmong access to financial assistance as well as health, employment, and education services. With the enactment of the Refugee Act in 1980, Hmong immigration reached its peak when an estimated 27,242 Hmong were admitted into the country. In the following years, the numbers decreased until 1987 to 1994, when more than 56,000 Hmong were resettled. With the official closure of the last Thai refugee camps in 1994, the resettlement process was terminated.

During the resettlement process, Hmong were dispersed across 50 U.S. states via Refugee Resettlement Voluntary Agencies that were affiliated with the U.S. Department of State. This policy of dispersal was believed to enhance assimilation and reduce costs for receiving states, yet it severely undermined traditional clan and family networks. Beginning in the late 1980s, many Hmong left their assigned place of settlement and moved closer to their kin. Accordingly, the Central Valley in California emerged as the largest Hmong settlement with Fresno as its capital. A few years later, in the mid-1990s, a tertiary movement toward the midwest, Texas, and South Carolina took place. Prospects of better-paid employment and a higher living standard led more than 20,000 Hmong to move to Minnesota in 1998.

The first group of Hmong refugees predominantly comprised the followers of the Hmong military leader, General Vang Pao, and were accustomed to elements of an American lifestyle and technology. The majority of the latter immigrant groups, however, were illiterate, lacked English-language skills, and any professional qualifications that were transferable to the American labor market. As the majority of Hmong arrived during a time of economic stagnation and dwindling empathy for southeast Asian refugees, they faced discrimination and open rejection and were considered competition for low-skilled jobs, scarce public resources, and welfare payments. Additionally, many Hmong were traumatized by war, displacement, and the prolonged stay in Thai refugee camps, and thus suffered from psychological stress. Accordingly, adjustment to an urban postindustrialized environment proved difficult and affected the traditional patriarchic gender order as well as relationships between generations.

Culture

The Hmong language is a tonal language consisting of eight tones. Until the mid-1950s, when Western missionaries developed the Romanized Popular Alphabet in Laos, the language relied on oral traditions rather than a written system.

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