Hmong American legislator says her family immigrated ‘illegally,’ then clarifies she’s a U.S. citizen

Minnesota House Rep. Kaohly Her said Monday her family “broke the law” to come to the U.S. from Laos following the Vietnam War, though she later said in a statement they came “legally as refugees.”

Her, DFL-St. Paul, spoke on the House floor against legislation that will revoke health coverage for undocumented immigrants. Fighting back tears, she attempted to persuade her colleagues to empathize with undocumented immigrants and “put a face” to the action they were taking.

“When you think about those people, think about me,” she said. “My family broke the law to come here. I never knew that.”

She said her family was simply “smarter in how we illegally came here.”

Her, a Hmong American, came to the U.S. from Laos at age 4.She said her grandfather worked for the CIA during the Vietnam War, and her family left the nation as refugees. But she said her parents didn’t qualify, and her father claimed qualifications in paperwork to get her family into the U.S.

For decades, Her said, they couldn’t return to Laos, but her parents went to Thailand in 1989.

“They sat on the side of Thailand and looked across the Mekong River into Laos,” she said, “and they cried because they missed their homeland so much that — even in a country where you have all of these benefits and all of these privileges and all the opportunities that you never want to leave your country.”

When lawmakers call people “illegal” or say they’re “undeserving” of health care, Her said, “I am that person; my parents are those people.”

Her’s speech took off online in the hours that followed with at least one of her colleagues, Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, saying on social media the situation needs investigation.

In a statement released later Monday evening, Her said her words were “twisted into anti-immigrant clickbait” and that she and her parents are U.S. citizens “regardless of how MAGA extremists see me.”

“This clickbait directly contradicts the empathy and understanding I sought to foster and instead fueled anti-immigrant narratives with falsehoods,” she said.

In her statement, Her said her grandfather was a colonel in the “Secret War” in Laos.

“All refugees and immigrants, documented or not, have the right to seek a better life, to have safety for their family, and to fulfill their greatest potential — like all immigrants who came before them," she said.

Her said her immigration status “would not change all of the adversities I have overcome, the accomplishments I have achieved and the contributions I have made.”

“It has not been lost on me that when my status was not in question, I was a model citizen who has been held up as the example for all other immigrants and refugees to aspire to,” she said. “The second my status came into question, the vile comments on my worthiness came out, and those comments are telling.”

Her declined an interview request. She was elected to the House in 2018 and is the co-chair of the Commerce Finance and Policy committee.

Walker Orenstein of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.