All posts tagged: Lao

A win for incoming Ohio senator Tina Maharath is a win for the Lao American community

Published by littlelaosontheprairie

Photo credit to tinamaharath.com Coming from an unexpected win as senator for Ohio’s 3rd district, Democrat Tina Maharath is relishing her success as she travels throughout southeast Asia to reconnect with family. Many are calling Maharath an underdog as she won despite unlikely circumstances. Unofficial Nov. 8 midterm election votes showed Maharath’s opponent, veteran Republican lawmaker Anne Gonzales, in the lead by just a few hundred votes and it seemed as if the race was headed toward a recount. But after Franklin County election officials counted provisional and late absentee ballots more than two weeks later, Maharath took home the win by about 705 votes. “It doesn’t feel real right now,” Maharath said in a Facebook video announcement from Bangkok, Thailand. “I couldn’t have done this without everyone’s support. Thank you for all the contributions from all over the world, everyone who voted for me, everyone who helped raise me, everyone who was there for me when I wanted to give up…” Maharath, a 27-year-old financial analyst from Canal Winchester, pulled ahead when the odds were stacked …

Little Laos Rejects DHS visa sanction against Laos in exchange for accepting deportees

Published by littlelaosontheprairie

Little Laos Editorial Board and its mother org, The SEAD Project, condemns the latest level of aggression from the Trump administration against Laos and refugees and immigrants from Laos. On Tuesday, July 10th, DHS (Department of Homeland Security) officially issued its first set of visa sanctions on Laos, stating its reason that the Lao government refuses to take back its nationals with deportation orders, also known as final orders of removal. This is the beginning of its sanctions, which targets Lao government officials and their immediate families. The US Embassy in Vientiane has stopped issuing B1, B2, and B1/B2 nonimmigrant visas. While this impacts Lao governmental officials who may be traveling to the US, the announcement incites unnecessary fear and completely fails to inform communities that this policy implication will impact Lao, Hmong and other ethnic groups from Laos who came as refugees with permanent status and had criminal convictions that they’ve already served time for and that this can also include those who are undocumented or simply have expired green cards that they were …