HMONG MIGRATION TO WISCONSIN


In what may be the final major Hmong immigration to America, 15,000 refugees living on the grounds of a Buddhist temple in Thailand left in 2004 as part of a U.S. resettlement program. Not all of the Hmong living there made it onto the registration list. Neither did thousands of Hmong living as illegal immigrants elsewhere in Thailand. Many of them are former soldiers or relatives of soldiers who fought for the U.S. in the CIA's secret war in Laos. They are terrified of being sent back to a land where they are considered enemies.

Two Hmong women use umbrellas to shield themselves from the sweltering heat while walking past a barren farm field in the Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Saraburi, Thailand June 29, 2004. The field is used to grow corn to feed the animals.
A Hmong boy stands by the razor-wire fences which confine more than 15,000 Hmong refugees in the camp at Wat Tham Krabok, in Thailand's Saraburi province. The Thai government says the fences are there to protect the Hmong from outside dangers.
Four-year-old Thue Chang at his family's home in the Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Saraburi, Thailand June 30, 2004. He and his family will be headed to Appleton as part of the refugee resettlement program.
Whittled down to little more than skin over bones from a stomach illness worsened by an intestinal surgery gone wrong, Hue Chang, 17, spends his days and nights in bed on a worn-out mat made of thin plastic straw.
Chong Sue Thao, right, makes knives outside his home in Wat Tham Krabok June 2004. Thao and his family are among the poorest at Tham Krabok and arrived in the United States on July 13, 2004.
Hmong children play "follow the leader" in Wat Tham Krabok in Saraburi, Thailand in June 2004. With little possessions, the children have come up with creative games to occupy their time.
A young Hmong girl in formal dress attire near her home at Wat Tham Krabok in July 2004.
A woman collapses from heat exhaustion on a mountain trail while carrying food on her back to her family who works in the field above. She makes the arduous daily hike from the Wat Tham Krabok camp below.
Hmong children play the popular "toss the sandal game" in Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Saraburi, Thailand in July 2004.
A Hmong boy uses a soccer ball as a foot rest while working on a lesson at the Thanthongdang school located outside the Wat Tham Krabok camp, in the nearby village of Phra Phuttabhat. The school is one of two formal schools for children.
Hmong children work on a reading lesson at the Hmong Education School in the Wat Tham Krabok refugee village. The three-story multi-room building provides the very basic of education, moslty reading and writing in English.
Eight-year-old Keang Lor holds her sister, Mai Yeang Lor, 2, at their home in Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Saraburi, Thailand. At a very young age children are taught responsibility in caring for their younger siblings.
A girl runs up a road in a Chiang Rai Province village in northern Thailand in July 2004. Refugees there are considered illegal immigrants.
Hmong villagers travel efficiently and cram as many family members on a motorbike as possible while traveling through the narrow and congested streets of Wat Tham Krabok in Saraburi, Thailand in July 2004.
Friends and relatives keep vigil over the body of Yer Chang, age 60's, who died early July 2004 at Wat Tham Krabok for Hmong refugees in Saraburi, Thailand.
A mother does laundry and bathes her child at her hillside home in a Hmong village in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai Province in July 2004. The village is home to 1,000 Hmong-Lao.
Youa Pao Xiong, 58, lives in a village in northern Thailand, Chiang Rai Province, which is home to 1,000 Hmong-Lao in July 2004.
Teng Cha, (center right) Chai Yee Cha (left) join other former Hmong CIA soldiers in discussing their plight after Wat Tham Krabok is closed. They live in a village in Chiang Rai Province, northern Thailand July 2004.
The bulletin board near the IOM office and Thai military guard house where family members check to see when they and their loved ones will depart for the United States. It's become the epicenter of Wat Tham Krabok.
Kaying Kha (center) clutches her baby as she makes her way to the bus while saying goodbye to friends and family members at Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Saraburi, Thailand Tuesday, July 6, 2004. She boarded a plane in Bangkok for the United States.
Vang Xue Yang, 32, and 3-year-old daughter, Choua Yang, wave goodbye to afamily member a bus with other Hmong refugees at Wat Tham Krabok in Saraburi, Thailand June 28, 2004.
A Hmong refugee boy stares out the window of the airplane that is taking him from Bangkok, Thailand to the United States with his family July 9, 2004.
Unfamiliar with modern-day technology in the Narita, Japan airport, the group of Hmong refugees opt for the stairs instead of an escalator during a stop over en route from Bangkok to the United States July 9, 2004.
Fatigue and air sickness set in for many Hmong refugees on their first airplane ride from Bangkok to the United States July 9, 2004.
Yeng Vang, right, hugs her granddaughter, Mischouko Thao, 8, for the first time after arriving at the Outagamie County Regional Airport Tuesday evening, July 13, 2004. Vang, her husband Chong Sue Thao and two daughters flew in from Thailand after living i
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