I was one of many reporters across the country to write about a startling immigration trend outlined in a recent report by the Pew Research Center: Asians had surpassed Hispanics as the No. 1 group of recent immigrants to the United States.

The study went on to say, "Asian-Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the U.S." To bolster their conclusions, researchers cited facts such as these:

• Asians make up about three-quarters of the new H-1B visa holders in the country. And people from one country, in particular -- India -- make up 56 percent of those who are here on H-1B visas. (H-1B visas are temporary work visas issued to people from other countries who have special skills.)

• More than 60 percent of adults between the ages of 25 and 64 who have recently come from Asia hold a bachelor's degree or higher. That's double the share among recent arrivals from elsewhere, making the new Asian immigrants the most highly educated group of immigrants in U.S. history.

Soon after the report came out, there was backlash from some Asian-American groups. They criticized Pew for playing into a "model minority myth" by painting a glowing picture of all Asian immigrants and their children based on data from select feeder countries.

That critique means something in Minnesota, where the Hmong represent the largest Asian group.

Consider this stat from the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans: The unemployment rate is much higher for Minnesota's Hmong population (12.6 percent) than it is for all Minnesota Asians (10 percent) and for white Minnesotans (6.6 percent).

In their report, Pew researchers focused on the six largest Asian subgroups in the United States: Chinese, Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese.

By overlooking the struggles of immigrants from countries such as Cambodia and Laos, critics say, the study did not tell the whole story of how Asian Americans are faring.

Allie Shah • 612-673-4488