[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 139 (Tuesday, October 1, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1884-E1885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  COMMEMORATING FREEDOM FOR THE HMONG REFUGEES IN THAILAND AND THEIR 
                       EXODUS FROM BAN NAPHO CAMP

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STEVE GUNDERSON

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 30, 1996

  Mr. GUNDERSON. Mr. Speaker, I am proud that after a long and arduous 
process, the summary forced repatriation policy against Lao and Hmong 
refugees in Thailand was reversed this year. We are very fortunate that 
a small dedicated group of individuals persisted in their effort to end 
this policy.
  Mr. Speaker, many of the Lao and Hmong refugees being forced back to 
the Communist regime in Lao they fled were former combat veterans. They 
fought as staunch allies alongside the U.S. military and Central 
Intelligence Agency during the Vietnam war.
  Thousands of Lao and Hmong veterans and their families in the Ban 
Napho camp in Thailand have now been given political asylum in the 
United States. Some will join relatives in my congressional district in 
Wisconsin. Critical to the success of the policy battle were a number 
of key individuals who played a leadership role in the enormous and 
intense struggle to free the Lao Hmong refugees. In particular, I would 
like to cite the efforts of Maj. Gen. Vang Pao, Dr. Shur Vangyl, 
Stephen Vang, Pang Blia Vang, Nhla Long Xiong, Pia Vang, and Kue Xiong 
of the Lao Veterans of America which has its Wisconsin chapter 
headquartered in my district. Likewise, Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt and 
Philip Smith helped spearhead the difficult battle in Washington, DC, 
and in Congress, to save the Lao and Hmong refugees. They worked very 
closely with my office to provide information and implement strategy.
  In May 1995, I attended a human rights forum, at the University of 
Wisconsin-Stout. The forum was organized by Stephen Vang and Pobzeb 
Vang at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and was attended by many from 
Wisconsin and across the United States. It was essential in developing 
support for this important initiative.
  Mr. Speaker, in tribute to the Lao and Hmong people, and their 
elaborate history, I request that my remarks from the University of 
Wisconsin-Stout conference be placed into the Congressional Record:

       You have before you many experts, more expert and certainly 
     much more heroic than me to deal with this cause. Mr. Philip 
     Smith and Dr. Jane Hamilton-Merritt can talk to you at length 
     about the situation as it exists today and the reasons that 
     we sent the congressional staff to the area over Christmas 
     and New Years as well as the forced repatriation and other 
     events that have occurred since that time. The purpose of the 
     trip was not successful by its end result; the trip was 
     successful by facts which I think it has established and the 
     truth which I believe it has exposed. We will do our best to 
     try and articulate those facts and the truth as we see it 
     this week on the floor of the United States

[[Page E1885]]

     Congress. I do not enjoy standing up and saying to my 
     Government that you are not telling the truth. But if that is 
     what is necessary to defend truth and justice, I will do that 
     this week.
       As I said, I originally intended to go through all the 
     details of that trip and what we felt we learned--and what 
     our report suggests. I am going to allow that to be done by 
     Mr. Smith and others in their remarks. What I want to do is 
     follow-up an assignment that I received yesterday from Dr. 
     Merritt on the airplane from Minneapolis to Eau Claire when 
     she said: ``It was essential that I give you a call to action 
     and that I articulate specific steps which I believe that you 
     must take and we must take in the next few days.''
       Many of you are aware that we will consider a U.S. State 
     Department reorganization bill before the U.S. Congress on 
     Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, of this next week. Thanks 
     to the Human Rights Subcommittee Chairman, Congressman 
     Christopher Smith of New Jersey, that bill will sequester, or 
     prevent the expenditure of, thirty million dollars in UNHCR 
     money for Fiscal Year 1996. It then will reserve that thirty 
     million for the admission and resettlement of Southeast Asian 
     refugees, including the Hmong and Lao refugees.
       The sequestration language prohibits the use of any of this 
     money for repatriation unless the President certifies to the 
     Congress: (1) that all refugees have been offered 
     resettlement outside the country of origin, and (2) that all 
     unscreened camp residents and non-refugees have had access to 
     a fair screening process similar to that used by the 
     Immigration and Naturalization Service here in the United 
     States, or have been offered resettlement. The purpose is 
     obvious. The purpose is to make the State Department, the 
     UNHCR (which receives most of the money) and the host 
     countries more accountable for actions taken with U.S. 
     financial assistance. The purpose is also to send a clear 
     and convincing message from the Congress that the present 
     action of our Government is simply unacceptable. The 
     standards which the State Department is responsible for 
     enforcing are simply no different than those the 
     Immigration and Naturalization Service enforces here at 
     home.
       You must know, however, that there will be opposition to 
     this provision, and that there will be attempts to remove 
     this provision from the legislation. Congressman Doug 
     Bereuter, a member of the International Affairs Committee and 
     a Congressman from Nebraska, is expected to offer an 
     amendment on the Floor of the Congress during debate to 
     strike this provision arguing that the State Department could 
     use this money for other kinds of refugees. We must do what 
     we can to defeat that amendment. This then would be my call 
     to action for each and every one of you as suggested by Dr. 
     Jane to me yesterday in her instructions:
       First of all, each and every one of you must, between now 
     and Tuesday, contact your Congressman and your Senators from 
     your state (and any state you have friends or relatives in) 
     explaining to them the urgency of their awareness, their 
     involvement, and their support for maintaining the language 
     in the Committee bill--and, in other words, defeating the 
     Bereuter amendment.
       Number two, it is essential that you begin immediately to 
     create similar support and awareness in the United States 
     Senate. Certainly, John Medinger can discuss and talk to that 
     issue later this morning.
       Fourth, and perhaps most important to our success, each and 
     every one of you individually, and as an organization, must 
     urgently and diligently work with the American press (some of 
     them are here today) to publicize the tragic, dramatic 
     circumstances that we now face unless something is done.
       The American people are a good people. But, the American 
     people can not take action unless first they are educated as 
     to the problem. They must know and understand the 
     circumstances. I have no doubt when they do, they will rally 
     with you in your cause. But, we must first get the message to 
     the American people.
       Finally, many of you have come to know that we in America, 
     at the end of May every year, set aside a day and a time to 
     remember those veterans who have served our country and its 
     cause. A week from Monday, we will do this again. You use 
     Memorial Day as your opportunity to communicate with all 
     Americans everywhere that when we remember those veterans who 
     served our government and its policies that we don't forget 
     those veterans in refugee camps today who are at risk.
       Thank you very much.

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