It is one of the largest ethnic Lao- and Hmong-American veterans organizations representing tens of thousands of Lao Hmong veterans who served in the Vietnam War in the Royal Kingdom of Laos as well as their refugee families who were resettled in the United States after the conflict.
[7] Dr. Wangyee Vang has raised concerns, and made appeals to officials in Washington, and the U.S. Congress, about the humanitarian plight of ethnic minority Laotian and Hmong political refugees, and asylum seekers, in Thailand and Laos fleeing human rights violations, religious freedom violations and political persecution.
On a number of occasions, they have sent high-level letters of appeal to the Royal Thai Government, White House, U.S. Congress and U.S. Department of State in opposition to the persecution and forced repatriation of Hmong refugees in Southeast Asia[9] Wangyee Vang has been invited to provide testimony and speak in the U.S. Congress at various policy events, including the U.S. Congressional Forum on Laos, regarding human rights and refugee issues in Southeast Asia[10] On May 14–15, 2015, Colonel Wangyee Vang and the Lao Veterans of America Institute were honored at special veterans' memorial ceremonies held in the U.S. Congress, Arlington National Cemetery and the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., marking the 40th Anniversary of the fall of the Royal Kingdom of Laos and Long Tieng to invading forces of the People's Army of Vietnam and North Vietnamese Army as well as communist Pathet Lao guerrillas in 1975.
Tens of the thousands of Lao and Hmong-America veterans, and their widows, were granted honorary citizenship as a result of the legislation's passage.
[15][16][17][18] According to news reports, in February 2014, Wangyee Vang, President of the Lao Veterans of America Institute stated: ""We are strongly urging the U.S. Congress, as soon as possible, to pass and help implement crucial legislation to help those Lao- and Hmong veterans still surviving from the Vietnam War, along with their families in the United States.