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BlueWaveNeverEnd

(12,934 posts) Sat Jan 10, 2026, 03:57 PM Saturday

Vang: One Minnesota woman's deportation story She came to Minnesota as a child refugee in the 1980s.

https://www.startribune.com/human-cost-of-deportation-trump-immigration-enforcement-ice/601559723

She arrived in America in the early 1980s, part of the wave of Hmong refugees resettled here after the Secret War. Minnesota became her home. She grew up here and lived most her life here. Her family is here. And yet, last year, she was deported to Laos.

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I am telling her story because Minnesotans deserve to understand what deportation actually does to a human life — what happens after the headlines fade, after the handcuffs are removed, after someone is forced to leave the only home they remember.

“I feel betrayed by America,” she told me. Though she never became a citizen, she was a lawful permanent resident with the right to work and reside in the U.S.

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When she landed in Laos, she was told she needed a local sponsor to leave the detention center, which was also a military base, but which she said felt like a prison. She had no one in Laos to help her. She waited. There was food, she said. A bed.

After a few weeks, her father, who is still in the U.S., found someone willing to sponsor her release after being paid. She told me some deportees choose to stay in the detention center for fear of being homeless, exploited, trafficked or worse.

Outside the gates, there was nothing waiting. No social services. No resettlement agency. No plan.

“This country is not like America,” she told me. “There is no law and order.”

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Vang: One Minnesota woman's deportation story She came to Minnesota as a child refugee in the 1980s. (Original Post) BlueWaveNeverEnd Saturday OP

I have taught many Hmong students in central California, cksmithy Saturday #1

when and if we take power again lapfog_1 Saturday #2

cksmithy

(427 posts)

1. I have taught many Hmong students in central California,

Reply to BlueWaveNeverEnd (Original post)

Sat Jan 10, 2026, 04:25 PM

Saturday

one of the areas, where many Hmong families were sent after the VietNam war. A high percentage of the original families, here in the Central Valley, traveled to Minnesota for better employment opportunities. A fully California credentialed teacher with Hmong heritage, I worked with, his family was sent all over the world, he landed here, others were in Minnesota and other were sent to France. Their parents just signed all the paper work to get everybody out. I am nauseous to think one of my students have been sent back. It is disgusting.

lapfog_1

(31,681 posts)

2. when and if we take power again

Reply to BlueWaveNeverEnd (Original post)

Sat Jan 10, 2026, 04:52 PM

Saturday

we need to do the big giant "undo" button...

1. rescind all executive orders by Trump.
2. Defund ICE and reduce CBP
3. restore the White House... the rose garden the East Wing, and whatever the fuck else happens
4. welcome back all deported green card, permanent residents, student visa holders, tourists. And compensate many of them with 10s of thousands of dollars. Apologize to them and their families. For those no longer alive because of ICE and BP ( including those deported but died due to lack of medicine or food or just killed in countries they left years ago... millions to their families ).
5 rejoin the UN, NATO, Climate Science and restore NOAA.
6. End the tariffs except the ones actually needed to protect against unfair trade practice ( the actual intent of tariffs )
7. Support Ukraine with massive military aid. Support NATO with massive deployments of US troops and military equipment.
8. Fire anyone hired during the Trump administration, especially at the CDC and HHS. Re-instate sane vaccine policies.
9. Change the name of the Kennedy Center back to The Kennedy Center.
10. Erase Trump from history except as a cautionary tale
11. Arrest everyone in Trump's cabinet. Some for War Crimes, some for Crimes against Humanity, some for aiding and abetting... some for whatever the fuck we can think of. Mortgage fraud, voter fraud, Insider trading, whatever.
12. Create a new police force to attack rural America... knock on every farmhouse door, confront every farmer and dimwit MF flying a Trump or MAGA flag... for no reason... really just retribution for what they did to us for the last 4 years.
13. Defund all red states. Again, just for retribution. Because we can.
14. Remake the Supreme Court either legally or illegally. Legality doesn't matter.
15. Deport all Trump relatives someplace... Sorry Tiffany, you got to go. Jared, I think there is a bombed out hovel in Gaza waiting for you. Oh, none of you get to keep any of the money you grifted.
16. Arrest and seize the assets of Trump supporting billionaires. Can't sell those assets as that would crater the market, but they would held and managed in a US Treasury Trust. That won't erase the debt, but could put a nice dent in it.
17. Create Medicare for All. Just do it. And Universal Basic Income. Basic housing, food, and health should be a right.

Of course, I only really have a hope for a small number of these items... but still, one can hope.

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