Vietnam 50 Years Later: Minnesota welcomes war refugees with open arms

CBS News

01-05-2025

The Vietnam War started in 1955, nearly 8,000 miles away from the U.S. in the dense and remote jungles of South Vietnam. While the U.S. slowly deployed into Vietnam in the 1950s, the full deployment of combat units began in 1965.
Fighting would soon spread to Laos and Cambodia, with the CIA recruiting and training thousands of Hmong people to fight on behalf of Americans during a clandestine operation in Laos known as the "Secret War."
But the effort to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia failed on April 30, 1975 with the fall of Saigon, when U.S. troops evacuated the country. According to the National Archive, more than 58,220 Americans were killed in the war.
As many as 3.5 million Vietnamese people were killed, including soldiers on both sides of the conflict and civilians.
More than 80,000 Hmong soldiers and refugees also died, as did 20,000 Laotians.
Gov. Anderson's resettlement plans
Minnesota has a rich history of welcoming refugees to the state, and were among the top 10 states across the country to do so following the war's end.
In October 1975, Minnesota had received the highest number of Southeast Asian refugees in the Midwest, according to then-Gov. Wendell Anderson.
But the governor was thinking, long-term, how would these refugees get the services they needed in the state? What kind of help would they need in the future? And how would they adapt and succeed in a place with a completely different culture and language?
The Teng Lo family arrives at MSP Airport to the emotional welcome of their relative on May 1, 1981. The Hmong family had been in the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand before flying to Minnesota.
Stormi Greener/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images
In December 1975, Anderson established the Indochinese Resettlement Office, which later became the Refugee Programs Office in 1981. The office worked with groups like Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and the American Red Cross, along with local families, church groups and community organizations to sponsor refugee families and helped them settle into their new homes.
Anderson also created the Indochinese Refugee Task Force to advise his office, which included representatives from social service organizations, the Vietnamese-American Association, the Cambodian refugee community, the departments of welfare, employment services and education, and the private sector.
The task force had two main jobs: Collect data about Southeast Asian households in the state and provide information about classes, programs and recent laws to the refugee community.
The task force would also later make efforts to address racial discrimination, hiring bias and language barriers that refugees faced when arriving in Minnesota.
Best estimates show that today in Minnesota, there are more than 16,000 Laotian immigrants; more than 33,000 Vietnamese immigrants; and nearly 12,000 Cambodian immigrants.
And with nearly 95,000 Hmong immigrants, Minnesota is home to the largest concentration of Hmong in America.
Join WCCO on Wednesday, May 7 at 5 p.m. for a special screening of "Vietnam 50 Years Later: Reflections on a War that Changed Minnesota" at Concordia College in St. Paul — hosted by the Center for Hmong Studies:
Buenger Education Center (BEC)
1282 Concordia Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55104.
Attendees are encouraged to park in Lot A, Carroll Street or Syndicate Street