Hmong Deportation or Delusion?
Since the beginning of the year, there’s been three outstanding political/social issues featured on my Newsfeed. One being the bombing of the Iranian General, two being Hmong Deportation, and three, the COVID-19. Of these issues, I want to focus on the topic of Hmong Deportation. It is so easy to jump to conclusions because of subjective comments, statements, and articles. I think it is so crucial for the Hmong community to be aware of government laws and facts so they will not be easily swayed by everything thrown at them.
Fear Monger Based on Assumptions
The fear of deportation began early 2020 when U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum’s letter to Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, was made public. The letter was written on February 3rd and discussed her “strong opposition to any such repatriation agreement between U.S and Laos (Letter).”
The agreement the congresswoman complains of only impacts roughly 4,700 people who have lost their legal deportation battle to remain in the United States. (“Halt Hmong deportation plans,” editorial). However, McCollum’s letter did not distinguish these deportable noncitizens from the law-abiding ones. It was reckless and irresponsible for McCollum to release her letter for that reason. This has caused unnecessary fear and anguish within the Hmong community (Counterpoint).
In addition to McCollum’s letter, Governor Tony Evers sent a letter to Pompeo on February 13th to follow the pursuit of adding to the fear of Hmong people—saying “The Trump Administration’s veiled negotiations are sowing fear into Hmong communities across Wisconsin.” When in actuality, these letters based on assumptions and whispers are the root of causing the fear among the Hmong population in the U.S.
Let me put this on the table, these letters were written from the assumption that the Trump Administration is seeking the deportation of primarily Hmong people based off Pompeo’s meeting with Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith. There has been no release of any sort to affirm a wave of deportation against the Hmong and Lao. The reality is this, for decades, there have been Hmong and Lao deportees; nothing has changed except for the fact that Laos is finally working with the U.S. on a return migration (reintegration) plan to make the process smoother.
It does not help when the media begins to play the game with the assumptions and lack of leads/proof. NBC News stated, “Laotian and Hmong refugees are preparing to face a possible increase in deportations…” Most, if not all, articles I read were very subjective and on a “he said/she said” basis—with no actual statements from officials about new criteria regarding the deportation of Hmong and Lao residents. I am deeply frustrated with how the mainstream media continues to market and exaggerate leads they’re biased and doubtful towards. There’s no such thing as objective mainstream media news anymore.
When the Justice Department announced their new unit responsible for denaturalizing citizens, the mainstream and social media went crazy. When you read news articles against the statements and policies published by the Justice Department, it logically does not make sense. The media is leaving out so many important facts to grab the emotions of their readers. Talk about fear mongering! I saw how a few of my fellow Facebook Hmong friends try to tie the initiatives of “denaturalization” and “deportation” together to prove a point of how Hmong people will not only be deported, but possibly become denaturalized if they’re legal citizens as well. That is absolute folly. The Justice Department’s denaturalization process is in a different camp than that of the Hmong Deportation topic. I can write another blog about this at a later time, but just be informed that though the essence seems similar—they are different procedures occurring in isolated government entities.
Law is Law
Every country in the world has an immigration policy, it’s not just the U.S. In concern to international legal obligations, all countries must have repatriation and reintegration procedures to accept their nationals.
The U.S. government’s position remains that every country has an international legal obligation to accept all its nationals that another country seeks to legally remove, expel, or deport. The essence of this legal position has been consistent across multiple administrations (U.S. Department of State).”
The reason why the conversation of “repatriation” came to light in Pompeo’s meeting with Kommasith was because Laos refused to take back their citizens who had a deportation order against them. All foreign governments are subject “to abide by their international obligation to accept the return of their nationals that are subject to a final order of removal/deportation U.S. Department of State.” Hence, the tactic of the U.S. suspending visas from Laos in 2018 (US Suspends). It was only when the U.S. suspended the visas, that Laos decided to cooperate.
One Hmong leader stated, “If the plans of the U.S. government is to send (Hmong residents) back, basically they’ll be persecuted, imprisoned or killed (Hmong Leaders).” The U.S. government will never send U.S residents who are legal citizens back to their national country, ever. Why? Because they’re legal citizens of the U.S. The fact is, any person of any ethnicity who is not a citizen can be sent back because that is the law of the land, and it has been since 1891 (An Act to Regulate Immigration).
In 2019, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed/deported 267,258 illegal citizens; this number reflects those who voluntarily returned to their country as well. Of the 267,258, only 5 people were deported back to Laos on criminal charges (ICE Fiscal Year 2019).
What we are seeing in the media today is that about 4,500 Hmong people could be deported. An immigration attorney, Lo, gave great insight into the blind spots the Hmong community is not seeing.
Under immigration law, certain criminal acts committed by a non-citizen will render them deportable. The grounds for deportability can be found in the Immigration and Nationality Act Section 237. Additionally, any non-citizen who is convicted of an aggravated felony at any time after admission is deportable. As an immigration attorney, I know this is what is currently going on with Hmong and Lao nationals who are facing deportation. More important, deportation proceedings have long been going on against Hmong and Laotian people who have committed deportable crimes and have lost their immigration-court battles against removal.
According to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), since the congresswoman (McCollum) was first elected in 2001, 3,753 people have been deported to Laos. Of that total, 1,426 deportations occurred during President Barack Obama’s tenure and only 275 during the current administration (Counterpoint).
On that note, why did McCollum not fight for the Hmong in the past? As of late, many of her voters are leaning to the right due to her extreme progressive views. Is it possible that McCollum began inquiring about Pompeo’s initiative with Kommasith because she desired the votes of thousands of Hmong people in Minnesota for the 2020 U.S. House of Representative election [in November]?
All in all, no matter how terrible people may think the U.S. immigration laws are, the U.S. still has one the most lenient immigration policies; it is among the top 22 in the world for leniency in immigration and openness to migrants and refugees. Before May 1988, more than 3 million people were granted legal status in the United States due to President Reagan’s Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986 (Immigration Policy). Since 2012, The U.S. has received over 19 million immigrants (Immigration by Country). As of 2019, there were 33.8 million legal U.S. residents/citizens (U.S. Immigration 2019). The U.S. is far from hating immigrants; they/we desire to bring in and keep immigrants by following the correct procedures like any/every other country in the world.
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CY