‘To Follow the New Rule or Way’: The Religious Dimensions of Hmong Refugee Resettlement in Minnesota, 1976-1990

Melissa Borja, Department of History, Columbia University

Expanding public capacity by delegating work to “faith-based” social service organizations is an established strategy of governance in the United States, although the consequences of these public-private efforts are not fully known. Close study of the antecedents to these arrangements offers a useful perspective on how, in past situations, various actors have negotiated questions about separation of church and state and accommodation of religious difference.   In my dissertation, I focus on one historical case: the involvement of Christian churches and voluntary agencies in the assistance of Hmong refugees who, after fleeing Laos at the end of the Secret War, were first resettled in the United States in 1976.  Focusing on the resettlement efforts in the Twin Cities, I ask the following questions: How did the United States government, religious voluntary agencies, and local congregations work together to assist refugees?  In what ways did new circumstances—increased religious diversity and growing ideological commitments to religious pluralism, multiculturalism, and human rights—shape how their partnership operated?  Finally, what were the consequences of these arrangements, particularly in the domain of religious life? A study of the religious dimensions of Hmong resettlement reveals the powerful ways in which emerging ideals of pluralism and shifting demographics transformed the practice of Christian service, the government’s collaboration with religious institutions, and the governing of American religious life in the late twentieth century.

With the help of a research grant from the Institute of Religion, Culture, and Public Life, I have been able to complete nearly all of the archival research necessary for my project. Throughout the spring and summer, I visited several libraries across the country to research a wide array of primary source collections that document the resettlement experiences of government institutions, voluntary agencies, congregations, and Hmong community organizations.  These libraries include the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American Archive in Elk Grove, Illinois, where I examined the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services records; the Gerald Ford Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I examined the Interagency Refugee Task Force records; and the UCLA Ethnomusicology Library in Los Angeles, where I listened to recordings of Hmong Catholic services.  Most significantly, I spent two months in Saint Paul and Minneapolis, the primary site of my research, to examine archival collections at the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Hmong Nationality Archive, and the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota.  At the Immigration History Research Center, I was able to see the most interesting collection yet: the refugee case files of about 5,000 Hmong refugees resettled by the International Institute, a local affiliate of the American Council of Nationalities Service, one of the major voluntary agencies to operate in the Twin Cities.

This summer, I was also able to conduct several oral history interviews, which comprise another major primary source base for my research.   I have conducted life history interviews with several individuals who were intimately involved in Hmong resettlement:  the project director of the first Twin Cities church to sponsor a Hmong a family; a former Catholic priest who organized a parish sponsorship project and later ran a Catholic Charities employment program; a former Minnesota state refugee coordinator; and a Minnesota state refugee health coordinator.  I also have begun interviews with Hmong religious leaders and Hmong individuals who were sponsored by local congregations.