In South St. Paul, Linda Yang and her five children are bracing for a sudden upheaval as federal authorities move to deport her husband, Zong Yang, to Laos. The family says Zong, who was born in a Hmong refugee camp in Thailand and grew up in the United States, has never set foot in Laos and does not speak the language. His removal, expected in the coming days, would leave the family on a single income and push Linda into a crash course on childcare logistics, bills, and the legal maze around whether he could ever return. The case is unfolding amid stepped-up enforcement sweeps that advocates say are hitting Southeast Asian families in the Upper Midwest especially hard.
Detention, Past Conviction, And The Family's Account
According to the Yang family, 48-year-old Zong was taken into federal custody in early February and later transferred to a detention facility in Texas after agents enforced immigration orders tied to a decades-old felony. He is slated, they say, to be deported to Laos within the next week. Linda told reporters that the conviction traces back to a late-1990s break-in in Wisconsin and that federal agents arrived at their home during the final days of what officials called Operation Metro Surge. "He's never seen Laos," she said in an interview reported by FOX 9.
Part Of A Broader Enforcement Wave
Advocates and community leaders say Zong's situation mirrors a wider trend in which longtime U.S. residents with old criminal records are suddenly pulled into removal proceedings after years of steady work and family life. The Minnesota Star Tribune reported that the Lao Embassy, which in the past accepted only a small number of repatriation cases each year, issued travel documents for 145 people this year. Organizers say that the shift has helped clear the way for recent deportation flights. In response, local nonprofits and coalitions have been scrambling to set up rapid-response workshops, emergency funds, and legal assistance for affected families, according to reporting by the Star Tribune.
Legal Stakes And Limited Remedies
Immigration attorneys caution that state pardons and public campaigns can raise a case's profile, but they do not automatically erase federal removal orders or restore immigration status. That leaves many families with very few short-term legal tools. National coverage has highlighted similar cases across the Midwest in which men with decades-old convictions are being sent to countries where they have little or no connection. The Washington Post has detailed how changes in travel-document approvals, combined with intensified enforcement, have contributed to a rise in deportations to Laos, complicating attempts to stop removals once they are in motion.
Community Response And The Yang Family's Next Steps
Linda Yang says she plans to stay in Minnesota with their children while she searches for legal help and leans on relatives and local organizations to get through the next stretch. She told reporters she hopes to visit her husband "once he gets settled" in Laos, even as she worries about language barriers and how he will find work in a country that is unfamiliar to him. For now, the family is focused on paperwork, day-to-day childcare, and keeping the lights on, while immigrant-rights groups pull together resource lists and offer consultations to families in similar situations, according to MPR News.
