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A New Home: Many refugees came to U.S.

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By Richard Gould | Hickory Daily Record and Monte Mitchell | Journal Reporter

Published: May 17, 2009

After four members of a Southeast Asian family were murdered in Catawba County, investigators said they faced a steep learning curve in trying to understand the culture of those involved.

Brian Tzeo and his family were Iu Mien. People in the community thought of Chiew Chan Saevang as Mien, although he was of Thai and Chinese ancestry and had been adopted by the Mien.

Saevang's girlfriend, Yer Yang, was Hmong.

The Iu Mien and the Hmong are both minority groups that migrated long ago from China to the mountain regions of Laos and other Southeast Asia areas. They lived in the mountains as farmers and hunters.

The Mien and the Hmong are allies. A member of one tribe looking at a member of another walking down the street would likely not be able to tell the difference, although they don't speak the same language. Many Mien and Hmong in the United States communicate with each other in English.

In Laos, the Mien lived in large extended-family households. The father and first-born son were the most powerful people in the family. Married sons would continue to live with their parents and raise the families. As many as 10 percent of Mien children were adopted, partly to help with the hard work of their lives.

Respect and politeness were highly valued. Ancestor spirits were thought to protect and help the family.

Like other immigrants before them, in the U.S., Mien people would struggle with how much to fit in and how much to hold on to the old traditions.

Investigators who worked with Brian Tzeo noted his politeness and cooperation. But it took a while for them to understand how best to communicate with him. They found that he wouldn't volunteer information, but would answer any question they asked.

Though local and state officials estimate that there are 10,000 to 15,000 Hmong in North Carolina -- mostly in the Morganton-Hickory area -- there are far fewer Mien, perhaps 20 or so families in the Hickory area. There are also small Hmong or Mien communities in Iredell, Mecklenburg, Caldwell, Alexander, Rowan, Stanly and Anson counties, among other places.

The Hmongs' arrival in North Carolina started when a Catholic church quietly brought a Hmong refugee family to McDowell County in 1976, and other churches did the same.

In the 1950s, the Hmong in Laos had fought with the French against Communist insurgents from North Vietnam. After the French defeat, the Hmong, Mien and other hill tribes joined with the U.S. forces in the secret war in Laos.

In the 1960s, the Central Intelligence Agency recruited the hill tribes in Laos to help block the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the Communists' main north-south supply route. The hill tribes staged guerilla attacks and provided intelligence. They guarded radar sites. They rescued downed American pilots. About 12,000 Hmong died, sometimes alongside Americans or trying to help Americans.

After Laos fell to the Communists in 1975, the hill tribes were so badly persecuted -- men tortured, women raped and whole villages killed -- that tens of thousands of people fled. Sometimes babies died when their parents gave them opium to keep them quiet as they hid from the Communists. Some died trying to cross the Mekong River into Thailand. Thousands made it across on bamboo rafts they fashioned on the riverbank.

The ones lucky enough to make it across the river settled into squalid, teeming refugee camps in Thailand.

Brian Tzeo made his way to the United States from a refugee camp in Thailand, as did Lisa Phan. They met at a New Year's Eve celebration in 1988, were married a year later and lived in California before moving to Catawba County about 10 years ago.

Chiew Chan Saevang was married in Thailand and came to the United States with his family on Dec. 15, 1990. He and his wife later divorced.

The latest Census figures, released last fall, show that California has the nation's largest population of Hmong at 78,309, followed by Minnesota at 52,202, Wisconsin at 34,741 and North Carolina at 8,905. (Census numbers and local estimates vary, reflecting the difficulty of counting a specific group within the larger Asian group.)

Sacramento, Calif., has about 6,000 Mien, the largest Mien population in the United States. There are an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 Mien in the United States.

Much of the Hmong population in the Hickory-Morganton area traces its roots back to a decision by former Hmong soldiers and leaders to settle there in 1980. They thought it was too cold and dirty in major northern cities such as Philadelphia, where they'd come upon arriving in the United States.

In the Blue Ridge Mountains and the foothills, they found work in textile mills and furniture factories. The climate and hills reminded them somewhat of home. Extended families came to join them, and waves of refugees continued to arrive in the 1980s and 1990s.

They worked and worshipped. Some farmed and planted bamboo and rice.

Their sons and daughters would learn English, wear blue jeans and baseball caps, hang out at Valley Hills Mall, and go to college.

■ Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com. Richard Gould can be reached in Hickory at 828-304-6916 or rgould@hickoryrecord.com.