MSU School of Journalism Bias Busters team celebrates freedom of Lue Yang as part of honoring the Hmong 50th Anniversary
.
By JOE GRIMM
Founder of the Michigan State University School of Journalism’s Bias Busters series.
In an unexpected Christmas gift, Lue Yang, 47, is planning to spend the holidays with his wife and six children.
ICE agents arrested Yang, a 47-year-old engineer, after work one July day at a GM parts supplier near Lansing, Michigan. Sixteen Hmong and Laotian refugees in Michigan were detained at that time. All but Yang have been deported. Since July, Yang spent four and a half months being shuttled among prisons.
On December 3, Yang finally was released from the North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan. It is a large immigrant detention facility that The GEO Group operates for U.S. Immigration and Customs.
According to the Marshall Project, the number of immigrants held in a network of 200 private and publicly run detention centers hit a record of 65,000 in November. Yang told the Detroit Free Press the Baldwin center “wasn’t as bad as the facilities where they moved me around down South, between the states of Louisiana, Arizona, Texas. Those states, they’re rough.”
The 50th Anniversary of Welcoming Our Hmong Allies
Fifty years ago in 1975, the United States began evacuating Hmong people and their families to protect them from persecution for their role as fighters in the CIA-backed “Secret War” in Southeast Asia.
Hmong people have largely settled in Wisconsin, Minnesota, California and Michigan. Hmong people have no homeland to safely return to and most have become U.S. citizens.
Yang, whose father fought for the United States, was evacuated from a refugee camp as a 1-year-old. Yang said the recent months are “almost like you were just traveling down the dark tunnel and not seeing the light at the end of it. The good thing was, I had a lot of support from the outside. They were the strength to me when I was inside there. So if it wasn’t for them, I think I’d be broken by now.”
In 2001, Yang pleaded guilty as an accessory to a home invasion in 2001. He served 10 months. Michigan State Rep. Mai Xiong, a Hmong-American state lawmaker, D-Warren, said Yang’s defense was hampered by a language barrier and poor legal representation. His conviction was expunged in 2018.
On Oct. 22, 2025, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a pardon for Yang. She called him a devoted family man and respected community leader. He is president of the Hmong Family Association of Lansing. According to MLive, Yang said the pardon almost did not save him. He said he was put on a plane bound for Laos but that the plane was turned around halfway across the ocean. The 15 detained when he was picked up were deported within two weeks.
U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, told the Free Press, “Lue is not and never has been an illegal immigrant, and does not present a threat to our community.”
Yang’s wife, Ancy Vue, told the Free Press after his release, “The kids are ecstatic. I just can’t wait to get him home, just so he can shower and come out of the same outfit that he’s been wearing since July 15, and it feels good that he’s going to be home right in time for the holidays, to be with the babies, our kids.”
Yang still has issues to work through. There is a motion pending to reopen his case.Though the pardon clears his criminal record, immigration authorities can still reference those records when considering his legal status.
Care to learn more?
Front Edge Publishing Marketing Director Susan Stitt, a longtime supporter of the MSU Bias Busters project, emphasized the importance of this milestone to our team—and to all Americans who care about many allies through the years. Susan wrote:
As 2025 draws to a close, so do many of the celebrations marking 50 years since Hmong people began immigrating to the United States at the end of the Vietnam War. These resilient survivors have become vital contributors to communities across the country. The Hmong community has enriched American society through their entrepreneurial spirit, cultural traditions, and strong emphasis on family and education. Their presence has strengthened local economies, diversified our cultural landscape, and serves as a powerful reminder of America’s role as a refuge for those who fought alongside us during the Vietnam War.
Hmong Americans are one of more than 20 groups you can learn about in the Bias Busters series of guides. The books are reported and written by students from Michigan State University’s School of Journalism. Then, blue-ribbon panels of experts help to review the guides.
This fall, a class has worked on a Bias Buster about men and women who have been incarcerated.
.
.
.
.
.