Herb Kohl: “In December, 2003, the U.S. government unexpectedly announced plans to resettle up to 15,000 Hmong refugees from Laos…”

“In December, 2003, the U.S. government unexpectedly announced plans to resettle up to 15,000 Hmong refugees from Laos currently living in Thailand. These refugees will be reunited with some 200,000 Hmong family members who were resettled here in the years after the Vietnam War, some as recently as the 1990s. Many of these Hmong fought with the CIA in Laos during the Vietnam War, providing critical assistance to U.S. forces. After the fall of Saigon, thousands of Hmong fled Laos and its communist Pathet Lao government. The United States remains indebted to these courageous individuals and their families. While we work with the Department of Health and Human Services to identify funds to help these new refugees resettle, it is extremely important that we act to help those refugees and asylees already living in the United States. In addition to the Hmong, America has served as a shelter for Jews and Baptists fleeing religious persecution in the former Soviet Union; and for Iraqis and Cubans escaping tyrannical dictatorships. Our policy toward refugees and asylees embodies the best of our country--compassion, opportunity, and freedom. I am proud of the example our policies set with respect to the treatment of those seeking refuge. But I am disappointed in our decision to allow these people to enter the country and then deny them the means to live. Thousands of people who fled religious and political persecution to seek freedom in the U.S.…”