August 1, 2003 - As peacekeeping troops wait to enter Liberia, there's another, less visible group, waiting in the wings in the United States. As MPR’s Rob Schmitz reports, many young Liberians are in school receiving training, and developing skills that they hope they can use to rebuild their homeland.
October 21, 2003 - In the days after Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone's death in 2002’, politicians from across the political spectrum said they would help build a memorial to him at a St. Paul community center. Congress appropriated nearly nine-million dollars to build the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building on the site of Neighborhood House on St. Paul's West Side.
December 18, 2003 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer interviews Mee Moua, a Minnesota state senator, about the potential of new Hmong refugees to the Twin Cities. The U.S. State Department has reached an agreement with the government of Thailand which could bring thousands of new Hmong refugees to the United States. 14,000 Hmong people are living in the last refugee camp of its kind in Thailand.
January 21, 2004 - MPR’s Toni Randolph reports that local and state officials, refugee agencies, and Hmong community organizations have been trying to figure out how many refugees could end up in the Twin Cities. The Thai government says more than 15,000 refugees are living in the camp surrounding a Buddhist temple. They'll be eligible for the resettlement program, which is scheduled to begin screening refugees in mid-March of 2004.
March 2, 2004 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with Fred de Sam Lazaro, of Twin Cities Public Television, about his experience with a Minnesota delegation in Thailand. The group is visiting a resettlement camp where 15,000 Hmong refugees are currently living. Because of the large Hmong population here, the Twin Ciites is expected to attract many of the refugees.
March 5, 2004 - St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly returned from Thailand where he visited Hmong refugees awaiting relocation to St. Paul and other U.S. cities. The State Department recently declared about 15,000 Hmong refugees eligible to apply for relocation to the U.S., with between 4,000-10,000 Hmong refugees arriving in Minnesota as early as June 2004. Fred de Sam Lazaro, correspondent for PBS's Newshour with Jim Lehrer based at Twin Cities Public Television, traveled with Kelly to Thailand and prepared this report.
April 28, 2004 - Morning Edition’s Cathy Wurzer talks with MayKao Hung about her recent visit to a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand. Hung oversees adult services for Ramsey County and led the assessment team in Thailand.
April 29, 2004 - MPR’s Marisa Helms reports on Ramsey County and St. Paul city officials beginning an education campaign they hope will prepare residents to welcome the newest Minnesotans…1000 to 5000 Hmong refugees that will resettle in the county in the next few months.
June 3, 2004 - By the end of the 2004, the Twin Cities will have nearly 5000 new Hmong residents as they arrive from Thailand. They'll join the more than 20,000 Hmong who began arriving here in the 1970s. While this new wave of refugees will have some obstacles to overcome when they arrive, they'll have some advantages their predecessors never did.
June 21, 2004 - A family of eleven Hmong refugees arrives in Minnesota this evening -- the first of thousands expected to arrive in the next weeks and months. About a third of the 15,000 refugees leaving the Wat Tham Krabok refugee camp in Thailand plan to settle in Minnesota. Another 2,000 will go to Wisconsin. John Borden is associate director of the International Institute -- one of several Twin Cities organizations charged with helping the families settle into their new home. He described for us the world they are leaving.