until recent decades and that many Hmong were recruited to be guerrillas at the age of 12–14 and hence did not attend school. . (7) Scholars argue that the U.S. insufficiently resettled refugees from Laos leaving many ill-prepared for immediate work, unacculturated, and suffering psychosocial trauma resulting in cycles of poverty. In 2016, 37.8 percent of Hmong and 18.5 percent of Lao in the U.S. were living in poverty. (8) There are currently over 4,700 long-time U.S. residents of Hmong, Lao, Khmu, and Mien or Yao descent with Final Orders for Removal who were born in the Lao P.D.R., fled persecution in Laos, were resettled in the U.S. as refugees, and now face deportation to Laos due to past criminal convictions. (9) Individuals with Final Orders for Removal who could be deported to the Lao P.D.R. often do not speak the Lao language, lack familial connections, and are at risk of being a target for human rights abuses as a result of historic support for U.S. anti-communist policies. (10) A 2018 Department of State Laos Human Rights Report acknowledges the long record of human rights abuses in the Lao P.D.R. The report states, The government neither prosecuted nor punished officials who committed abuses, and police and security forces committed human rights abuses with impunity. . (11) The Lao P.D.R. is a communist state that does not currently have an official deportation agreement with the U.S. and there is no extradition treaty between Laos and the U.S. (12) Many of the over 4,700 persons with Final Orders of Removal who are at risk of deportation to the Lao P.D.R. have not been able to seek adequate immigration relief based on the complexity of the required legal filings and the backlogs in immigration courts. It can take several years for an individual to seek to reopen their immigration case and have their eligibility for immigration relief decided on the merits. 3. Sense of Congress It is the sense of the Congress that— (1) individuals of Hmong, Lao, Khmu, and Mien or Yao descent who arrived in the U.S.