Free Seng Xiong

At the beginning of the Vietnam War, many Hmong in Laos were secretly recruited by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), to help deter the North Vietnamese communist government, as well as to cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail which supplied aides to its forces at the front line.

As the US withdrew from the war in 1975, the new Lao communist government took over Laos. Many Hmong especially men were immediately detained and sent to retention camps for hard labors, tortures and then executed. As the tension escalated, tens of thousands of Hmong were either fled their homeland into Thailand, or fled their beloved villages into the jungles. Furthermore, the new Lao government constantly sent out troops to the jungles to exterminate and hunt down the defenseless and innocent Hmong civilians like animals regardless of their age or sex. Thousands of innocent Hmong people including children in the jungles were poisoned, tortured and killed from 1975 until today. Many children were brutally raped and then killed with their private ripped apart. Tens of thousands of Hmong were being hunted and killed by the Lao Communist government, as these Hmong were trying to cross the Mekong River into the refugee camps in Thailand after 1975. The US and United Nations knew about the existence of these Human Rights violation issues and did little about it. As a result, Seng Xiong was among a handful of people who voluntarily stepped up to advocate these violations to the outside world and hopefully bring these issues to justice.

Mr. Seng Xiong has been advocating these Human Rights issues since 2004. He has recently stressed the importance of the United Nations' Agenda 2015-2030 (Transforming our world), and tailored his vision toward that agenda. To reach his goals, Mr. Xiong had to raise money so he could continue to advocate these Human Rights violation issues. He received praises and financial supports from many Hmong by checks or direct deposits. However, there were few opposition groups who wished to derail his vision and set him up by depositing small amount of funds into his bank account and immediately reported it to authorities and claimed Mr. Xiong had defrauded Hmong elders. In fact, at the time that Mr. Xiong was detained in late March 2016, more than 90 percent of the money raised was still in his account, while he never owned anything other than a laptop and two cell phones.

While on his way to Thailand on March 24, 2016 with the intent to work on two important projects on his agenda, Mr. Xiong was detained at the airport in Los Angeles, CA because authorities feared he was running away. He was then transferred to Minnesota and had a trial there in late January 2017, where he was convicted for wire- and mail-fraud charges but did not receive a sentence.

Mr. Seng Xiong has been detained for more than a year now, and we want him to continue his advocacy for the innocent Hmong people back in Asia, while demanding a fair case for him, which is to free Mr. Seng Xiong.