Patriot Act

KD13 · June 2004

Does anyone know if there is an actual Patriot Act check? Recently a customer of ours stated their new safety procedures mandated that anyone coming into their facilities must have completed a Patriot Act check along with other background checks. I can find plenty on the Patriot Act but I find nothing on any checks. Calls to the company have gone unreturned. Can someone please enlighten me to whether there is a check or not?

POPEYE · June 2004

The only thing I can recall from memory is that there were certain checks (screenings) required by all financial institutions for current customers and new customers. I also thought I saw or heard something the other day that said unless congress ammends, the act will become dead at the end of 2004. Again, this is only from my memory bank which is not what it used to be.
(No age jokes please)

KD13 · June 2004

Thanks. The "check" may be a combination of all background checks but that is not how the sent letters read. There is one good thing: they don't ask me to sign off saying the Patriot Act check was checked.

LarryC · June 2004

Our background checks include checking our applicants' names against a United States and European Union Restricted Parties database. The database includes terrorists, gun runners, drug trafficers, and other undesireable, mean and nasty people.

Don D · June 2004

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-23-04 AT 04:15PM (CST)[/font][br][br]What sort of business are you in, why do you do that and how do you do that? Sounds like what Pork meant when he said checking on bad attitudes. I see you are in MN and assume, then, that you must import your workers from out of state.

LarryC · June 2004

We're actually three different companies: a service company, a manufacturing company, and a wholesale company all owned by the same family. We are in four (soon to be five) buildings all on the same campus, so to speak. All of our employees are local residents and our work force is diverse, including Bosnian and Hmong, although that's not the reason we use the "Global Watch Alert". It's a rather inexpensive addition to the normal checks we do through a background check service. The Global Watch Alert can work two ways. If an applicant shows up on "the list" we would withdraw the job offer and notify authorities as to the applicant's whereabouts. No takers so far though.

Don D · June 2004

Maybe I'm geographically challenged. Who are the Hmong?

LarryC · June 2004

Laosian and Cambodian people, and families of same, who fought for and with the U.S. during the Vietnam War. Their persecution began with the Pol Pot and continues in Laos today where they are still hunted down and killed. The lucky ones are currently refugeed in Thailand. The even luckier ones get to relocate in America, normally settling in Minneapolis/St.Paul or Eau Claire, WI. St.Paul is currently in the process of assimilating 14,000 more Hmong from Thailand.

As a people, they are very family oriented, often whole clans living together under one roof and supporting one another. Churches and local communities have helped them find housing. Local farmers have helped train the Hmong farmers to grow American produce. They've become rather good at it I might add. Some have farm implements and others simply work the fields by hand, if they must. When I go the local farmer's market, I always look for the Vang family truck and that's where I buy my goods. Mr. Vang is my age and he can recall hiding and running in the jungles of Cambodia with his family for years. Recently, some Minnesota senators and representatives have successfully lobbied for recognition of the Hmong for their war efforts on our behalf.

In Minnesota, there are probably 40,000 to 50,000 Hmong. Outside this area and the Eau Claire area, the Hmong are pretty much unheard of. My sister in Michigan and my brother in Nevada had never heard of them.

Now you know.

sonny · June 2004

And I, for one, thank you for the education.

AnneHa · June 2004

Right on, Larry. A large number of Hmong are also located in the Fresno, CA area.

Anne in Ohio

Kiwi · June 2004

The Hmong population throughout Wisconsin is growing rapidly. We have several Hmong employees in the Milwaukee area and are starting to see them in the Fox Valley area too. Excellent workers. I was unaware of their full history, thank you for providing it.

marc · June 2004

Who says HR people are one dimensional? Great story, thanks for the education.

LarryC · June 2004

We've found them to be excellent workers also. In our area (Minneapolis / St.Paul) many have gone onto higher education and top professions. One is even a state representaive.

I have to relate one story here of 7 Hmong children orphaned by their parents' tragic deaths. The 18 year old daughter is keeping the family together with help from the community so they don't have to be split up. It is a real life "Party of Five" situation as they still maintain thier household.

Also, here's a little Hmong trivia passed on to me by one of our employees: There are only 19 Hmong last names.

Kiwi · June 2004

Huh! One of our Hmong employees changed her last name a little while ago. She said her name was so common it was becoming a problem.

MrCreosote · June 2004

They may be referring to the Dept of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Controls list of Specially Designated Nationals and blocked persons. The Patriot Act requires financial institutions to check those wishing to open accounts against this list, to prevent money laundering and the funding of evil. A check just means checking that a person's name isn't in the list. It's at [url]http://www.treas.gov/offices/eotffc/ofac/sdn/index.html[/url]
I would check with your customer, though, because I'm just guessing that this is what they want. If your customer is financial or govt they probably have precise guidelines on what they mean.

KD13 · June 2004

I checked out the website. Thanks. Right now I am still not sure if this is what they mean but the website is a good check. And free to boot! I guess I'll just continue to call until I get an answer. The customer is in neither the financial nor governmental nor transportation industry.

Patriot Act

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