AAPI Month Speaker – Mai Na Lee: “Subverting the Blood Sacrifice Narrative: How the Hmong Arrived in the Midwest and Became Targets of ICE Arrest and Deportation”

The Hmong began arriving in large numbers into the Midwestern states in 1976 as refugees of the first and second Indochina Wars. For decades, the first generation of Hmong elders awaited the return to their mountainous homes in Laos. Because they saw themselves as sojourners and not permanent immigrants, many never prepared for obtaining citizenship for themselves or their children. This refusal for permanent resettlement complicated their lives and the lives of their children at multiple junctures of history. This talk provides the background for U.S. empire activities in Southeast Asia that displaced the Hmong into the United States with emphasis on their resettlement in the Midwest. It will also set the grounds for examining why the Hmong have become targets of the Trump administration’s ICE Arrest and Deportation efforts in Minnesota during the last year.