The Making of Asian America: A History

Starting from 1975, over a million Southeast Asians immigrated to the United States and “transformed America’s involvement in refugee issues around the world” (334). Among them was more than 250,000 Hmong fleeing Laos. In the US, they had to adjust to the cold climates of the Midwest and northeastern states, changes in gender roles, and new technology.

The policy of spreading refugees throughout the US “meant that the first arrivals found themselves scattered across the states with few support networks” (335). By 1990, 65% of Hmong in the US were unemployed, while gang activity was on the rise. The media portrayed the Hmong “in stereotypical and demeaning ways” presenting them as “primitive and backward peoples” (337). As a result, some Hmong faced racially-inspired violence, such as having Molotov cocktails thrown at their public housing.

The goal of the 1980 Refugee Act was to solve some of the problems that refugees faced. However, it “restricted the number of refugees admitted into the country and imposed new regulations on where they would be resettled” (341). Despite its professed humanitarianism, such legislation “actually slowed the admission of Southeast Asian refugees” (341). At the same time, the act allowed asylum seekers already in the US to obtain permanent residence.