This week, three PICO Hmong leaders from Sacramento, CA traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with representatives from the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) and the Thai and Lao desk officers to urge them to take greater action to resolve the Hmong humanitarian crisis in Southeast Asia.

More than three decades after Hmong tribesmen of Laos were recruited and trained by the CIA to fight a U.S.-led Secret War against the communist government of Vietnam, the Hmong are still being persecuted for their alliance with the U.S. There are approximately 5,000 Hmong in a detention-style refugee camp in the Thai province of Petchabun who are facing forced repatriations back to Laos by the Thai government. There are several thousand Hmong hiding in the jungles of Laos where they face frequent attacks by the Lao military. The majority of these survivors hiding in the jungles are women and children who pose no threats to the Lao government.

Without international intervention on this matter, the Hmong in Thailand will be forcibly repatriated back to Laos where they will face further persecution and the Hmong hiding in the jungles of Laos will continue to be hunted.

In June, PICO Hmong leaders waged a campaign to pressure the State Department to intervene in the crisis.  In a sign of response, Secretary Hillary Clinton visited Thailand in July and raised concerns about the Hmong in the Thai refugee camps. After her visit she asked Principal Assistant Secretary for PRM Samuel Witten to personally visit the Hmong refugee camps. 

Witten led a U.S. delegation to visit the camps where he met with Hmong representatives in the camp and Thai officials. Before he left Thailand, Witten issued a press statement saying that the U.S. does not have plans for a large-scale resettlement program for the Hmong, but that the U.S. will consider the Hmong on a case by case basis.

While these visits are a good sign that the U.S. is paying attention to the Hmong refugees, they do little to solve the Hmong humanitarian crisis in Thailand.  PICO Hmong leaders are urging the State Department to take a more active leadership role on this issue.

For more information about this issue, visit www.HmongAction.org or watch the video below.