The Nation - News from April 25, 1986

U.S. Sen. Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.) has asked the State Department that Hmong refugees not be settled in Minnesota unless they have family ties among the 10,000 already settled there, according to a published report. A letter written to the department by Durenberger last month was obtained by the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, which quoted it as saying that Hmong refugees “have proved economically difficult to assimilate.” The Hmong, originally tribesmen from Laos, aided U.S. forces during the Vietnam War and fled when Communists took over the country.