For their support. however. the Hmong were to pay a heavy price. When the Pathet Lao moved into the vacuum created by United States withdrawal in 1975. they vowed to put to death all officers of the Americanbacked Laotian forces. An exodus of Hmong refugees to Thailand soon followed. but was ouickly set upon by the Pathet Lao. An estimated 40.000 were killed in the flight to Thailand. The survivors had to contend with the squalid and diseaseridden camps. Many of these refugees have now been resettled in the United States. My own State of Rhode Island has served as a haven to 2.000 of them. and Providence has become host to one of the largest Hmong communities in the country. Like the Italian and Portuguese communities which preceded them. the Hmong will. I am sure. enrich the cultural and economic life of Rhode Island. With the sizable immigrant population. though. has come a magnification of the problems facing the newcomer to our land. Mr. President.
Keywords matched
immigrant refugees