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CATHY WURZER: Today at Bethel College's Benson Hall, about 730 Hmong veterans and widows from Laos will become US citizens. Most of them are getting citizenship under a law passed last year called the Hmong Veterans Naturalization Act. The new law allowed many of those being sworn in today to take the citizenship test in their own language or with an interpreter. But advocates say the law, which expires in November, needs to be extended.

Joining us on the phone right now, Michael Yang, director of the Immigrant and Refugee Policy Coalition of Minnesota. His parents emigrated from Southeast Asia back in 1979. And Yang will deliver a speech at the ceremony today. Good morning.

MICHAEL YANG: Good morning, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: What does this day mean for these 730 veterans and widows?

MICHAEL YANG: I think today, it's a brand new day for a lot of these people who have been expecting this new day for a long, long time. I think, to many of them, the day they took arms in support in fighting the war alongside the US government, they were US citizens back there.

But then I think it's a process of these people recognizing that here in America, it's a different way of doing things. And here, I think it's a brand new day for them to start a new life where they will have input and suggestions to their new life in America here. And I think it gives them a sense of integrity and a sense of recognitions for the services and contribution that they have given the government of the United States and this great country 30-40 years ago during the Vietnam War.

CATHY WURZER: Tell us a little bit about the common life experience of most of these new citizens.

MICHAEL YANG: They seen the war from the start, learning how to shoot the guns, engaging in guerrilla war tactics, seeing their relatives, their friends, their family members getting killed in the war, going through the jungles, living on whatever they could put their fingers on just to survive because of their support and contribution in fighting communists in support of the US national interests and democracy-- democratic values.

They have gone through refugee camps, traveling through the Menchum Rivers, where a lot of the Hmong people died. Living in the camp in very, very bad conditions and waiting for the opportunity to go to a third world country, which is to us, we look at first world. But to these people from the refugee camps, these are third world countries where they don't even know where they're going.

For instance, my parents and I, when we arrived in Minnesota 20 years ago, we didn't know what America was about. We know that we're going to America, that was it. But I think that the experience for them is extremely difficult for them, especially as a mother and a father and as a veteran who's taking their family across the sea without knowing where they're going.

CATHY WURZER: Now this law, as you know, is passed under the leadership of former Congressman Bruce Vento, who is no longer with us. And the law expires in November. Why does it need to be extended?

MICHAEL YANG: A couple of months ago, I was at law family talking with a group of people. And in the auditorium, there was full of veterans and their widows learning the process. And I was saying to myself that if this is happening in Minnesota, it must be happening elsewhere too.

And to me, learning the English language was so difficult that even today, I'm still practicing on it. And I think that a lot of these people, four to 11 months is not sufficient for them to really learn the process and understand the full meaning of becoming a US citizen. And especially these people who have no formal education or training, four to 11 months is just not enough.

And especially when this legislation has no fiscal notes, including it too, it also makes it more difficult for these people to get the assistance necessary for them to learn the process and to be ready by 11 or four months for their citizenship. And it's just impossible for them to go through it and be ready for the citizenship test.

CATHY WURZER: Even though you can take the citizenship test in Hmong, that still is not enough?

MICHAEL YANG: I don't think it's enough because you're talking about-- we're talking about people who has no formal education or training. And they're going to learn the whole new system. They're going to have to learn what is a US citizen-- like what is the constitution and some of the questions that are even difficult for people like myself when I was learning the language. Or even to learn-- understand the language to communicate is extremely difficult.