A Milwaukee woman who has lived in the United States since she was a baby was deported to Laos last month — despite having no ties to the country, no ability to speak the language, and no clear path forward.
Ma Yang – 37 and a mother of five – says she now finds herself stranded without essential medications, without her family, and with no idea of what comes next.
A Sudden Deportation
Yang, who was born in a Thai refugee camp to Hmong parents after the Vietnam War, was brought to the United States when she was just eight months old, The Independent reports.
She spent nearly her entire life in Milwaukee, building a family and community. However, on March 6, she was placed on a series of commercial flights from Chicago to Atlanta to South Korea before finally arriving in Laos, per the Daily Mail.
Her deportation followed a past conviction on marijuana-related charges, for which she had already served a 30-month prison sentence.
As a result, the deportation itself came as a shock — both to Yang and those familiar with the case.
Yang and Bub. Credit: Facebook
“The United States sent me back to die,” Yang told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I don’t even know where to go. I don’t even know what to do.”
Upon arrival in Vientiane, Laos’ capital, Yang was reportedly detained by military authorities and placed in a rooming house where guards refused to let her leave or contact anyone for five days.
She described pacing in circles in isolation, unable to communicate or make arrangements for herself.
When she was finally permitted to withdraw cash and purchase a cellphone, she was able to call her longtime partner, Michael Bub, back in the US.
Yet even after being released from custody, her problems remain. The Laotian military is reportedly holding her papers, making it impossible for her to find stable housing or employment.
“How do I rent, or buy, or anything with no papers?” Yang asked. “I’m a nobody right now.”
Yang was deported to Laos – a country she’s never been to. Credit: Phoonsab Thevongsa/Getty
Meanwhile, she has been left without insulin for her diabetes and has only a dwindling supply of blood pressure medication, per The Mail.
A Family in Crisis
Back in Milwaukee, Bub — a US citizen who has undergone two brain surgeries and is partially paralyzed — has been left to care for their children alone. Their oldest daughter, 22-year-old Azia, has stepped in to help care for her younger siblings, the youngest of whom is just six years old.
“I think I screamed in the car for like half an hour,” Bub told TMJ4 News, describing the moment he realized Yang had been taken away.
“I’m so scared because there’s a lot of unknown questions,” Yang told the outlet. “I would love to come back. I have five children. I’m praying. I pray every day to come back.”
Yang’s deportation has been especially shocking because Laos has historically refused to accept deportees from the United States. Records show that in the last fiscal year, zero people were deported there. Yang believed this precedent meant she would be allowed to stay in the U.S. after serving her time.
Even her former defense attorney, Matt Ricci, said the possibility of deportation never seemed real.
“We knew that Laos didn’t take people from the US,” Ricci told The Independent. “She was doing her time, and when she got out of prison, she would presumably stay in the U.S. But there was no guarantee… There were no deportations to Laos, [the idea of it] never crossed anybody’s mind.”
A Case of Legal Missteps?
Yang claims she was misled by multiple attorneys regarding the immigration consequences of her conviction. She originally took a plea deal in her marijuana trafficking case, believing it would not affect her immigration status. But as a legal permanent resident, her green card was revoked due to the conviction.
After completing her prison sentence, Yang was transferred to an ICE detention center in Minnesota, where she signed a document agreeing to a deportation order in exchange for release. She says she did this under the belief that her second attorney would later reopen her criminal case and have her conviction overturned — thereby nullifying the deportation order. That never happened.
“I just keep getting screwed in this system,” Yang said.
Yang says she keeps getting “screwed by the system”. Credit: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images
Ricci, who defended her in the original case, admitted that Yang’s circumstances — having been born in a refugee camp rather than in the US — put her at an unfair disadvantage.
“Nobody with any compassion would think that’s any compelling reason” to separate Yang from her family, Ricci said.
A Controversial Deportation Policy
Yang’s deportation is part of a broader crackdown on undocumented and legal permanent residents with criminal convictions.
The Independent reports how, under the Trump administration, efforts to deport immigrants with past offenses were ramped up, even in cases where deportation had not previously been enforced.
On Saturday, former President Donald Trump invoked the rarely-used Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – a law typically reserved for wartime – to justify broader deportations. Yang’s removal came amid these heightened immigration enforcement policies.
For Yang, the ordeal is a betrayal—both personal and historical. The Hmong community in the US consists largely of refugees who fought alongside American forces during the Vietnam War, only to face persecution in Southeast Asia afterward. Many of these families, including Yang’s, were relocated to the US under humanitarian programs.
“How did you send us back when we fought for you guys?” she asked. “How is that OK?”
Yang now finds herself stuck in a country she has never lived in, without legal documentation, resources, or support. She remains unable to secure answers from Laotian authorities about her future.
Meanwhile, her children in Milwaukee are struggling with the sudden absence of their mother, and her partner, still battling his own health issues, is left trying to hold the family together.
For now, Yang’s fate remains unclear.
