Cambodian deportees having a tough time adjusting to their new home

Friends and family of the Cambodians detained by ICE.

BUNREAS PIN, or Boomer, a rapper from Stockton, Calif., doesn't have any memories of Cambodia. Until being deported to Cambodia, he spent his whole life in United States – except for three months as a toddler in a Thai refugee camp.

After four years in a country he never knew, he still hasn't adjusted to his new home. “America is home. We don’t belong here,” he told The New York Times.

Last week, the growing community of Cambodian/Americans in Phnom Pehn was joined by 43 more Cambodians who grew up in the U.S. after efforts to prevent their deportation fell short. They were part of the 50 Cambodians rounded up by ICE whose deportation was delayed because afederal judge said they should be given time to present a defense. Only a few were successful in the immigration courts.

The new arrivals were whisked away in police vans to an immigration department, a senior immigration official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

After being interviewed by immigration officials, most were taken to a non-governmental organization (NGO) that helps provide housing and job support for deportees, known in Cambodia as "Khmericans."

The group, which is the largest to arrive in one batch in 15 years, were flown in from the US in shackles, said Bill Herod, an American who works in Cambodia with the Khmer Vulnerability Aid Organisation (KVAO).

"It's been an unbelievably difficult experience (for the group)," he told AFP, slamming the repatriation policy as "unjust and unfair".

"These people don't have any real connection to Cambodia. Their parents are from Cambodia but they are Americans socially, they eat American food, they listen to American music."

Most of the Khmericans were newborns and toddlers when their families fled the Khmer Rouge, which killed or starved to death nearly a quarter of Cambodia's population in the late 1970s.

Cambodia has long been considered among so-called "recalcitrant" nations that do not fully cooperate with U.S. officials in accepting back deported nationals. While Cambodians have been deported over the years, U.S. officials have had problems getting that country's officials to issue travel documents, which are needed to repatriate deportees.

In September last year, the Trump administration announced visa sanctions against Cambodia, Eritra, Guinea, and Sierra Leone "due to lack of cooperation in accepting their nationals ordered removed from the United States." Temporary visitor and students visas for  Cambodians were discontinued as a result.

Under those pressures, Cambodia buckled and decided to accept the deportees. 

Congress greatly expanded the grounds for deportation in 1996. Suddenly, any foreign national who had committed one of a broad range of offenses, even nonviolent crimes, was deportable, without an appeal or hearing before an immigration judge who might take rehabilitation or family ties into account. In other words, for refugees and many other immigrants, there would be no second chances.

Deportation applies to legal permanent residents who commit an aggravated felony in the United States. Such crimes include spraying graffiti, failing to appear in court or filing a false tax return, as well as more serious offenses. Deportees are barred from returning to the United States.

The Cambodians, who are legal permanent residents and have legal green cards, are refugees who have already been traumatized after fleeing the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime. If they broke the law in the U.S, served their time, getting deported is a form of double jeopardy, say critics.

Most have jobs and live fruitful, reformed lives. Then, they are suddenly ripped from their American famlies. Because of their record, they will not be allowed to apply to immigrate back to the U.S.

More deportations of Cambodians are expected.

Going forward, advocates want answers. SEARAC, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC and VietLead filed a Freedom of Information Act request to ICE for records related to the enforcement, detention and deportation of immigrants from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. The groups say that with this information, they’ll be better equipped to help communities disproportionately affected by these immigration enforcement activities. What’s more, over 60 civil society and community services organizations have signed on in support of the FOIA request.

Boomer's experience inspired his recent rap album: “Straight Refugeez.” The refrain of the title song sums up the status of the Khmericans: “We’re America’s nightmare.”

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