Lynne:

Most of the Hmong adults over a certain age would be considered
refugees. When you come to the U.S. as a refugee, at least as an
adult or older teen, I think social scientists would generally
consider these people as refugees no matter how many years have
passed. Persons who do flee persecution and arrive in countries with
few resources (the U.N. definition of a refugee) are disadvantaged
compared to most immigrants. This is especially the case for persons
who fled as adults.

From 2004-2006, more than 15,000 Hmong refugees were resettled in the
U.S. from Thailand. So there is a recent cohort of Hmong refugees now
in the U.S.

There is also a large cohort of Hmong now who were born in the U.S.
to refugees, these persons have grown up entirely in the U.S., while
they are of Hmong ethnicity, they are not refugees or immigrants but
have always been U.S. Citizens.

In addition, there is a very small group of Hmong immigrants from
China and Laos and Thailand who have been married by Hmong living in
the U.S. These persons are immigrants in the more traditional sense
of the term.

Hope this helps, I would also encourage others to answer if they have
things to add.

Mark Pfeifer



--- In hmongstudies@yahoogroups.com, "lynnebreed" <lynnebreed@...>
wrote:
>
> I am an MLIS student at UNC-Greensboro in North Carolina working on
a
> paper/project for a class on information services for diverse
clients.
> The Hmong are the group that my team have chosen to study. My
professor
> asked me if the Hmong are considered refugees or immigrants today.
I
> believe that they would still be classified refugees according to
the
> United Nations definition, but cannot find any information
confirming
> this. Also, would the second generation Hmong that were born in the
> United States be considered refugees on immigrants? Thank you for
any
> insight that any of you can provide for me. I am working with a
team of
> two other students and we want our project to be accurate.
>
> Lynne Bolick Reed
> UNC-G MLIS student
> LIS 662: Information Services for Diverse Clients
>