- Ma Yang has lived in the United States since she was 8 months old.
- While safe in a rooming house, Yang's future in Laos remains uncertain.
- Yang's partner, Michael Bub, is raising funds to support their children and potentially hire a lawyer.
The partner of a Hmong American mother of five deported to Laos said Tuesday she is trying to figure out where to go, and what to do, in the country, even though she has never been there and doesn't know the language.
Michael Bub said the military official overseeing Ma Yang's stay at a rooming house sent her to a hospital over the weekend for an evaluation. Yang, 37, needed more high blood pressure medication, insulin for her diabetes, and treatment for an ear infection.
Bub, in South Milwaukee, and Yang, in Vientiane, have been sleeping minimally since she was deported there, he said, sometimes just one hour a night.
Still, Yang wants to start contributing to society in Laos and become comfortable with the Lao language and culture, Bub said. For now, she has a hard time communicating with officials about what her options are. They continue to hold her identification documents.
However, Bub said it was important to note that she is safe in the rooming house where she is staying. She was allowed to purchase a cell phone, can pay for food and has a place to sleep.
The couple also finds themselves somewhat overwhelmed by the reaction to their story. Among the many people who've reached out, it's been hard to tell who is genuinely offering help and who is using it to boost their own audience on social media.
But they understand why it's struck a chord with so many, especially those in the Hmong American community who have built lives in the U.S. and could not imagine returning to Laos. Her case was almost unheard-of, Bub said, since so few people have been deported to Laos in recent years.
Yang's story has drawn the attention of readers from across the world. A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article about Yang last week went viral, as did posts on Facebook, X and Reddit, among other sites, as readers reacted to the stunning and complex circumstances that led to her deportation.
Much remains uncertain. She and Bub, her partner of 16 years, feel the tension.
Bub recently launched a GoFundMe page. He is seeking funds to care for the family's children as well as potentially hire an attorney to reopen her criminal case. Yang pleaded guilty in 2020 to taking part in a marijuana trafficking operation — counting and packaging cash that was mailed to suppliers of the drug — and served 2 1/2 years in prison.
She said her attorney incorrectly told her the plea deal would not affect her immigration status as a green card holder. But her legal permanent residency was revoked. She hopes if the conviction were thrown out on the grounds she had bad representation, she could one day return to the U.S.
Yang was born in Thailand to Hmong refugee parents who helped the U.S. military in the Vietnam War. Then, along with many other Hmong, they had to flee the country. She believes she was a citizen of Laos because her parents were born there.
But she does not know if she still retains that citizenship. Under Lao law, citizens who have been outside the country for extended periods of time are no longer considered citizens, according to the U.S. State Department.
Her family resettled in Milwaukee when she was 8 months old, and she received a green card at age 7.
Now, decades later, she finds herself on long phone calls with Bub, alternately telling him she'll try to get settled in Laos, and saying she'll only be home when she's "wherever my children are."
The family is seeking donations at gofundme.com/f/support-ma-yangs-return-to-her-kids.
Sophie Carson is a general assignment reporter who reports on religion and faith, immigrants and refugees and more. Contact her atscarson@gannett.comor 920-323-5758.
