Milwaukee-area woman deported to Laos though she's never been there, doesn't speak the language

• Ma Yang, a mother of five, said she does not speak the Lao language, has no family or friends in the country and the military is holding all her documents.
• She says she is stranded in a rooming house surrounded by military guards and doesn't know where to go.
• Yang was among 26 people indicted in a federal marijuana trafficking case in 2020.

A Hmong American woman who has lived in the Milwaukee area since she was 8 months old was deported last week to Laos, a country she has never visited, and says she is stranded in a rooming house surrounded by military guards.

Ma Yang, 37, a mother of five, said she does not speak the Lao language, has no family or friends in the country and that the military is holding all her documents. She was born in Thailand, the daughter of Hmong refugees after the Vietnam War, and she was a legal permanent U.S. resident until she pleaded guilty to taking part in a marijuana trafficking operation.

"The United States sent me back to die," she said. "I don't even know where to go. I don't even know what to do."

As President Donald Trump pushes the mass deportation of immigrants, Yang believes she is one of the first Hmong Americans to be deported to Laos in recent years. As of November, the U.S. considered Laos an "uncooperative" country that accepted few, if any, deportees. Zero people were deported to Laos in the last fiscal year, according to federal data.

Once she arrived in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on March 6, she said she was questioned by military authorities then sent to a rooming house, where guards did not allow her to leave or contact anyone for five days. She paced in circles around the compound and ate food the guards gave her.

A few days ago, she was taken to buy a cellphone and withdraw cash. She could finally reach out to her partner of 16 years, Michael Bub of South Milwaukee, a U.S. citizen. The military official in charge of her situation — she does not know his rank or title — then said she could leave if she wanted. But she is scared to venture out.

"How do I rent, or buy, or anything, with no papers?" Yang said. "I'm a nobody right now."

Yang has no insulin for her diabetes and dwindling supplies of high blood pressure medication, she said. She is the only deportee in the house, she said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, did not provide comment Thursday on Yang's case.

Criminal conviction laid groundwork for deportation order

A longtime Milwaukee resident, Yang worked as a nail technician and a receptionist at nail salons before the COVID-19 pandemic. She was earning a living for her children, who range in age from 6 to 22. Her partner, Bub, is disabled: he has had two brain surgeries, is partially paralyzed and suffers from memory loss.

During the pandemic, the family moved into a house that prosecutors say was part of a marijuana trafficking operation.

Yang was among 26 people indicted in a sweeping federal case in 2020. It alleged Yang helped count and package cash that was mailed to marijuana suppliers in California. Prosecutors found bags of cash taped between pages of magazines, according to a complaint.

She took a plea deal 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.

Yang would've traded a shorter prison sentence for a longer one if she could have kept her green card, she said. She needs to be home with her kids.

"I made a mistake, and I know that it was wrong," Yang said. "But I served the time for it already."

At the end of her sentence, Yang was transferred to an ICE detention facility in Minnesota. There, at the advice of another attorney, she signed a document agreeing that a deportation order would be entered against her in exchange for being released from detention.

Despite agreeing to be deported, she and her attorney believed it wouldn't happen, since only a small handful of people are deported to Laos each year, if any, and Laos typically has refused to accept U.S. deportees. Nearly 5,000 citizens of Laos with final deportation orders remained in the U.S. as of November, according to an ICE report.

Yang also expected the second attorney to reopen her criminal case and get the conviction thrown out on the grounds she had poor legal representation the first time. If it were thrown out, she reasoned, the deportation order would become irrelevant. But the new attorney did not reopen her case, she said.

"I just keep getting screwed in this system," Yang said.

Check-in appointment leads to jail in Indiana, flights to Laos

After being released from detention, Yang and Bub bought a house in South Milwaukee, and she was attending regular check-ins with ICE. In mid-February, she got a call from ICE asking her to go to their downtown Milwaukee office for a check-in. It was nine months before her scheduled date, but she went.

There, officers detained her, then sent her to a jail in Brazil, Indiana. Someone there told her she'd likely sit in the jail for a few months, then get released, since Laos wouldn't take her back. But after two weeks in Indiana, she was sent to a holding facility in Chicago, and then to the airport. She really was being deported, she realized.

Yang says an officer forced her to provide her fingerprints on a document stating she would not return to the U.S.

And then she was off on commercial flights: Chicago to Atlanta to South Korea to Laos.

On its website, ICE said it asks foreign governments to confirm the citizenship of deportees, issue travel documents and accept them from commercial flights.

It appears that ICE has been deporting citizens of countries that will not accept them. Over 100 people from such countries were being held earlier this month in a remote jungle camp after being flown to Panama, the New York Times reported.

At a loss for what to do next, deportee searches for answers

Yang's had trouble getting answers to questions from the Laos military officials about her living situation and what she's supposed to do next.

Bub and Yang's children have taken her deportation hard, they said. Bub hasn't been sleeping and has struggled to care for the children as a single dad.

Beyond her own situation, Yang sees the return of Hmong refugees to Laos as a betrayal by the U.S. Recruited by the CIA, Hmong soldiers helped the American military in the Vietnam War, then faced persecution and violence for their role.

"How do you send us back when we fought for you guys?" Yang said. "How is this OK?"

Yang's mother, who had two strokes and needs daily care, moved in with the family after Yang got out of prison. Her mother called Yang on Wednesday.

"I miss you," her mother said. "Nobody takes care of me like you do. What am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know. What am I supposed to do?" Yang replied, desperate. "I can't even take care of myself. Everything is unknown."

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 at scarson@gannett.com or 920-323-5758.