Milwaukee mom deported to Laos without language or connections (2025)

A 37-year-old Hmong American mother-of-five from Milwaukee, was deported to Laos in earlier this month - despite never having been to the country before. Born in a refugee camp in Thailand, she came to the U.S. before her first birthday with her Hmong refugee parents.

Ma Yang, 37, was removed from the country in early March as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration deporting criminals born outside of the country. In 2020, Yang pleaded guilty to her role in a federal drug case related to marijuana. It alleged she helped count and package cash that was mailed to marijuana suppliers in California.

She took a plea deal and served 2 ½ years in prison - believing she had repaid her debt back to society. But poor advice she claimed she received now sees her in a foreign nation with no support network - in what has become a desperate situation for the woman More concerning is that she has no insulin for her diabetes and her high blood pressure medication is also being depleted.

Yang claims she took a plea deal based on incorrect legal advice that it wouldn't affect her residency status but this proved to be incorrect. She had her status revoked due to the drug-related conviction.

At the end of her sentence, Yang was transferred to an ICE detention facility, where at the advice of another attorney, she agreed to a document stating that a deportation order would be entered against her in exchange for being released. It was a calculated risk because while agreeing to be deported - she and her attorney did not believe it would happen.

Yang said: "The United States sent me back to die, I don't even know where to go. I don't even know what to do."

Only a small handful of people are deported to Laos each year as the country typically refuses to accept U.S. deportees. According to an to an ICE report, no deportees were sent to Laos in the last fiscal year. And nearly 5,000 citizens of Laos with final deportation orders remained in the U.S. as of November.

Yang's deportation occurred after she reported for a routine check-in with ICE officials in February 2025. She was detained, moved between facilities, and eventually placed on flights to Laos reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Yang, a nail technician who has lived in Wisconsin since she was a baby, was apprehended at a check-in appointment with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in mid-February and flown to Laos where she arrived March 6, according to the paper.

Yang said she was initally questioned by military authorities in Laos before being moved to a rooming house in the capital, where she was not permitted to leave or contact anyone for five days. A few days ago, she was taken by guards to buy a phone and withdraw cash - allowing her to finally reach out to her partner of 16 years, Michael Bub, a US citizen. The military official in charge then told Yang she could leave if she wanted.

But she is scared to venture out and has no friends or family in Laos. Yang also does not speak the Lao language and she said the officials took all her documentation.

Her five children that were left behind in the United States range in age from four to 22. Meanwhile, Bub - who has had two brain surgeries and is partially paralyzed - has been struggling to care for their children as a single father reported the Daily Mail. Yang said she feels betrayed by the United States - pointing out that Hmong soldiers recruited by the CIA assisted the American military in the Vietnam War, then faced persecution and violence for their role.