California governor pardons three men threatened with deportation

Saman Pho, 2nd from left, and his family.

Three Southeast Asian American men who separately committed crimes when they were each 19 years old received pardons Friday (Nov. 15) from California's Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The three men receiving pardons are Saman Pho, 44, of Alameda County, and Santa Clara County residents Quyen Mai, 36, and Dat Vu, 36.

The governor's office said the pardons recognized that the men had transformed their lives, and that the clemency actions would “remove barriers to employment and public service, restore civic rights and responsibilities, prevent unjust collateral consequences of conviction, and encourage those still in the criminal justice system to find their pathway out.”

A pardon may remove counterproductive barriers to employment and public service, restore civic rights and responsibilities, and prevent unjust collateral consequences of conviction, such as deportation and permanent family separation. A pardon does not expunge or erase a conviction, according to the Governor's Office.

The Trump Administration has drastically increased the deportations of Cambodian and Vietnamese Americans, in particular. Between 2017 and 2018, removals of Cambodians increased by 279 percent and Vietnamese removals increased by 58 percent.

Since 1998, more than 17,000 Southeast Asian refugees have been issued a final order of removal, but due to the unique relationship between the United States and Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, many are detained for prolonged periods of time as the US government tries to deport them. 

Southeast Asian refugees represent the largest refugee community ever to be resettled in the United States, after being forcefully displaced by U.S. war and its aftermath in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in the 1970s. 

Refugees were often resettled in urban centers of concentrated poverty with few social or economic supports. Families struggled to help their children navigate failing schools and racialized bullying. 

Southeast Asian American young people were disproportionately swept into gangs and violence. As a result, today Southeast Asian refugees are at least three times more likely to be deported on the basis of an old criminal conviction, compared to other immigrants.

Saman Pho, who was the subject of a series of demonstrations asking for his pardon in Sacramento, is an example of what the refugees experienced as youngsters.

Saman is a father and Cambodian refugee faced deportation due to a conviction from over two decades ago. Before arriving to the U.S. at the age of six, Saman spent three years with his family in concentration camps under the Khmer Rouge. Saman and his family experienced many atrocities, including the loss of his brother who starved to death. Following their captivity, they stayed at several refugee camps before coming to the United States in 1982.

Saman’s family settled in an impoverished neighborhood in Oakland during a time when many cities experienced tough-on-crime laws. Saman’s parents worked multiple jobs, and spent long hours away from home.

Saman did his best to focus on school despite an unstable environment and leaned on friends in the neighborhood for support. In 1995, while at a party with the “wrong” crowd, a group of young men attacked Saman and his friend. While under the influence of alcohol, he fired a weapon towards his attackers. Saman was arrested and immediately accepted responsibility for his actions and charged with attempted murder. With full remorse, he accepted a 12 year prison sentence.

While in prison, Saman completed his GED, received a painting certificate, attended other educational trainings, and was a member of the Men’s Advisory Committee.

After serving 11 years in prison Saman was immediately arrested by immigration officers on prison grounds and spent 4 months in ICE detention fighting deportation. Inexperienced, vulnerable, and without legal representation, Saman signed an immigration document attesting to his removal from the United States. He was released under conditional status.

Upon his release, Saman worked multiple jobs, eventually receiving honors through the Cypress Mandela apprenticeship program, which gives job opportunities to disadvantaged men. In 2014, he was offered a position with McGuire and Hester Construction where he continues to work as a respected employee. Shortly after, the Northern California Cement Masons Apprenticeship Program accepted Saman, and he became a member of the OPCMIA International Organization of Local 300.

Today, Saman has built a life with his wife, Maribel, and four children, Saman is not fluent in Khmer, and has no ties to family in Cambodia. If Saman were removed from this country, Saman and his family would face immense emotional pain, financial instability, and other severe consequences from being forcibly separated.

At a Congressional hearing Tuesday, Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, said: “These are men and women with deep roots in their communities who have lived in the United States for decades as lawful permanent residents."

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Deportation of Cambodian parolees protested around the nation

TWITTER

Demonstrators brought their message under the dome of the California capitol building.

Hundreds of people rallied Friday (Nov. 1) in behalf of Cambodian refugees threatened with deportation under the Trump administrations crackdown on immigrants and refugees.
About 120 people gathered in Sacramento to protest the practice of handing Cambodians released from prison into the hands of immigration authorities and to ask California Gov. Gavin Newsom to pardon the Cambodians who had already served their time in detention. Similar rallies occurred in San Francisco, Massachusetts, Washington, Boston and Rhode Island

Data shows the number of deportations of Cambodians over the past two fiscal years has seen a 279 percent increase.

Immigrant rights groups called for Newsom to end policies they say ease the transfer of prison inmates to federal authorities despite California's efforts to provide a sanctuary to those who are in the country illegally.

The groups asked Newsom to stop prison officials from holding parolees until they can be picked up by federal immigration officials. And they criticized him for vetoing legislation that would have barred private security companies from coming onto prison grounds to pick up immigrants for deportation.

California passed a law in 2017 barring local and state agencies from cooperating with federal immigration authorities over those who have committed certain crimes, mostly misdemeanors, but critics said the law doesn't apply to the state prison system.

The number of Cambodian nationals deported over the past two fiscal years has seen a 279 percent increase, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data 

Southeast Asian refugees represent the largest refugee community ever to be resettled in the United States, after being forcefully displaced by U.S. war and its aftermath in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam in the 1970s. 

Refugees were often resettled in urban centers of concentrated poverty with few social or economic supports. Families struggled to help their children navigate failing schools and racialized bullying. Southeast Asian American young people were disproportionately swept into gangs and violence. 

As a result, today Southeast Asian refugees are at least three times more likely to be deported on the basis of an old criminal conviction, compared to other immigrants.

Because of the collaboration between the Dept. of California Rehabilitation and Corrections with ICE, after serving years in state prison, instead of returning to their families, immigrants who are found suitable for parole are directly transferred into ICE jails that are fraught with inhumane abuse and with little access to legal representation.

“The Trump Administration and its ICE cronies continue to terrorize our communities,” Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco told the Sacramento Bee. “It is cruel to target those who have lived in this country for many years, who have families that depend on them, and who have paid their debt to society. We must come together to protect our friends and loved ones.”

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ICE begin their detention of Cambodian refugees

Protests were mounted against the detention and deportation of Cambodian refugees.

ASAM NEWS

At least nine Cambodian refugees have been detained this week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers nationwide, even as protestors gathered in at least a half dozen cities.

“We have had ICE home raids targeting Cambodians in California and across the country this week,” Anoop Prasad of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, ALC told AsAmNews.

ICE agents made additional arrests when Cambodian refugees reported for their regular check in.

The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) tells us that two have already been detained in San Francisco, one in Fresno, CA, one in Tacoma, WA, one in Rhode Island and one other in Northern California. Two others were detained in Burlington, MA. More detentions are expected in the coming days and weeks.

“Lawful permanent residents with orders of removal for “criminal” convictions are subject to mandatory detention and deportation,” said Katrina Dizon Mariategue of Southeast Asia Resource Action Center in Washington, DC. “No due process rights, unfortunately unless they are able to get a motion to reopen their case which is very difficult– this is a policy that SEARAC has been advocating to change,” Mariategue said to AsAmNews.

In Sacramento, some 120 protestors gathered yesterday in front of the State Capital building and ICE offices. Similar protests were held in Oakland; Boston; Warwick, RI; Tacoma, WA and Burlington, MA.

A coalition of Asian American groups have joined forces to fight the increase of deportations under Trump. Those groups include Asian Americans Advancing Justice | ALC, Asian Prisoner Support Committee, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, Southeast Asian Freedom Network, and Vietnamese Anti-Deportation Network.

Demonstrators gathered at California's capitol in Sacramento, Calif.

According to those groups, there are nearly 16,000 Asian Americans living in the United States with final deportation orders. 2,100 are Cambodian Americans. The deportations of Cambodian Americans have increased 279% under Trump between 2017 and 2018. Overall, there have been a total of 900 Cambodians deported.

“For too long, Cambodian families have endured state-sponsored violence at every level of our resettlement in the United States,” said Nathaniel Tan, lead anti-deportation organizer with Asian Prisoner Support Committee. “From the carceral system to the immigration system, our community has been given no grace. We are saying not one more and keep our families together. End deportations.”

Detentions and deportations are unjust and inhumane, said Montha Chum, national co-director of SEAFN and co-director of ReleaseMN8. “My brother was detained for a year while ICE tried to deport him. It devastated my family. US foreign intervention into Cambodia was partially responsible for the rise of the Khmer Rouge, one of the worst genocides in global history. And yet, the United States continues to detain and deport Cambodian and Southeast Asian America refugees to countries that many of us have escaped from and that some have never known.”

ICE continues to maintain that no one is targeted because of their ethnicity.

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Deportations have Cambodian American community on edge

A Cambodian refugee is led to a plane that will fly him back to Cambodia.

The Cambodian American community is on edge this week as another round of deportations is expected to commence.

Dozens of Cambodian refugees who came to the US legally as children and who served time behind bars for crimes committed as youth are being ordered to report to federal officials next week for removal.

“Many of these people have served their time and rebuilt their lives,” said Kevin Lam, an organizer with the Asian American Resource Workshop in Boston. “They have families, careers and contribute to their communities.”

At least 20 people in California have been served notices to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin the deportation process, according to Ny Nourn, a San Francisco-based community advocate with the Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus. The state is home to the largest population of Cambodians in the U.S.

In Massachusetts, the state with the nation’s second largest Cambodian community, at least 10 residents have received the notices, said Bethany Li, director of Greater Boston Legal Services’ Asian Outreach Unit.

Other Cambodian Americans living in Minnesota, Texas, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin have also been issued the orders, said Elaine Sanchez Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center in Washington, D.C.

Asian American activists argue that many of those facing deportation already served criminal sentences years and in some cases decades ago, when they were troubled young refugees struggling to adjust to a new country after their families fled Cambodia’s brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

As refugees, the families were placed in low-income neighborhoods and were forced to join gangs for survival in the rough environment.

This fiscal year alone, 80 refugees have been deportedd. There are nearly 1,800 Cambodians with final removal orders living in the country. As former incarcerated individuals, they are usually under court ordered supervision.

“I have kids that are American, and a wife that is an American citizen. But just because of the past, they can pick you up and deport you at any moment. That’s just insane to me,” said one man who requested to remain anonymous.

If he’s forced to go back to Cambodia, he said he’d be leaving his family and a nearly two-decade career serving at risk youths to live in a country he’s never known.

 “I consider myself an American,” he said. 

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Expect massive ICE raids after July 4th, says Trump; deportations of Cambodians already started

USCIS

Thousands of immigrants became Americans citizens this July 4th. This naturalization ceremony took place Southport, North Carolina.

This July 4th, as the United States celebrates it's Independence Day, and as thousands of new American citizens are sworn in on aircraft carriers, auditoriums, in courtrooms,museums, gyms and sporting events around the country, the Trump administration is readying a massive effort to deport thousands of other immigrants, refugees and visitors.

Donald Trump, stung by his quest to include a citizenship question on the Census form and the increasing pressure to improve conditions at detention centers near the Mexican border, swore that there will be a hike in ICE raids to deport "millions" of people after the July 4th holiday.

“We will be removing large numbers of people… starting sometime after July 4,” Trump said, having earlier noted that the deportations would begin “unless we do something pretty miraculous.”

U.S.  Immigration authorities, under orders from Trump, had earlier announced plans to launch a sweeping effort to deport recently arrived undocumented families.

“Even among the legal Asian immigrant population, anxiety levels are going up,” Karthick Ramakrishnan, chair of California’s Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs (APIA), told Public Radio International last month. “You have policies that are targeting even legal permanent residents now.”

For many Asian American immigrants, the deportation drive has already begun.

Indeed, as to signal the insincerity of the administration's intentions, A planeload of Cambodian American deportees landed in Pnnom Penh, Cambodia's capitol, as the US began Independence Day festivities.

Thirty-eight Cambodian refugees were deported back to Cambodia on July 3. Most of them were brought to this country by their families who sought asylum in the United States decades ago, fleeing the Khmer Rouge or because they fought for the U.S. in the Vietnam War.

The Acting Director of ICE, Mark Morgan, said the agency would target for deportation families that have received a removal order from a US immigration court.

Morgan said ICE wanted to deport undocumented families who had recently arrived in the U.S. to discourage more Central Americans from arriving. 

Trump had tweeted, before the formal kickoff of his 2020 re-election campaign, that ICE would begin removing “the millions” of undocumented immigrants in the US. 

The Cambodian Americans were easy pickings for Homeland Security. Most of them had been in detention since March.

All but two off the deportees had long ago served time for criminal convictions in the United States. They are part of a crackdown by the Trump administration to curb immigration to the United States from mostly non-White nations.

“It’s very detrimental to the community. It perpetuates this cycle of displacement and this cycle of breaking up families that has been going on since the Vietnam War and the conflicts (in Southeast Asia) that had U.S. involvement throughout the 1960s and 70s,” Bunthay Cheam, a Cambodian refugee affiliated with the Khmer Anti-Deportation Advocacy Group, said to The News Tribune.

“The barriers to reopening a case after deportation are high,” Kevin Lo of the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco told the News Tribune.

1,900 Cambodians in the United States are facing the same fate. ICE says 1,400 have broken the law and have served their time. Many of the convictions were minor offenses, such as possession of small amounts of drugs, being part of a criminal gang as youngsters, or driving under the influence.

The number of deported Cambodian immigrants has increased 279 percent from 2017 to 2018.

Khmer veterans protest the deportation of fellow refugees.

According to Reuters, Trump sees his immigration crackdown as a cornerstone of his reelection bid.

Although the mainstream perception of people subject to deportation are from south of the border, the fastest growing group of undocumented immigrants come from Asian countries, according to the Pew Research Center.

More than tripling in 15 years, Asians make up for the fastest-growing undocumented group in the United States. Mexicans, in comparison, grew by only 21% in the same period.

To put that figure into perspective, undocumented Asians make 16% of all illegal aliens in the country. Additionally, this means one of every seven Asian immigrants is undocumented, according to AAPI Data.

The operation is expected to target up to 2,000 families facing deportation orders in as many as 10 U.S. cities, including Houston, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to a media report.

A spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) declined to comment, saying: “Due to law-enforcement sensitivities and the safety and security of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, the agency will not offer specific details related to enforcement operations before the conclusion of those actions.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the country’s top Democrat, responded, saying, “The president’s new threat of a mass deportation dragnet is an act of utter malice and bigotry, designed solely to inject fear in our communities.”

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Cambodian Americans petition California governor for pardons to prevent deportations

SCREEN CAPTURE / AL JAZEERA

Cambodian Americans protest deportations in Minneapolis.

A petition has been launched to have California Gov. Gavin Newsom grant pardons to Cambodian Americans who have committed crimes in their youth, served their time in prison or jail and who are not being targeted by the Trump administration for deportation.

Most of the Cambodian Americans, like Khmer Americans and Vietnamese Americans, came to this country as kids, as refugees, fleeing the violence in their war-torn home countries or escaping arrests for their support of the U.S. during the Vietnam War. 

“We have been struggling to survive for our entire lives,” said Borey “PJ” Ai, a Southeast Asian refugee with a pending pardon application. “We thought we had escaped persecution when our families fled their homes. We have experienced so much tragedy already, both abroad and in the US, and we fear that our lives and communities will now be destroyed by ICE." 

Many of the detainees are the children or grandchildren of the Khmer, Vietnamese and Cambodians who fought for the U.S. during the war and sought refugee status in this country to escape persecution. As second-generation immigrants, some of them have never visited  Cambodia nor speak the language.

The petition is sponsored by Asian Prisoner Support Committee, the Asian Law Caucus and the Daily Kos.

In the last few years, Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have been conducting raids in Cambodian, Khmer and Vietnamese communities to send them to detention centers prior to deportation.

Under the Trump administration, the raids and arrests have increased dramatically. The ICE raids are the latest effort to bully the Cambodian government. The results have been devastating to children and families across the board. Some have spent several years out of prison and transformed their lives, buying homes, joining the workforce, starting businesses, and supporting families. Most of the Cambodian American detainees have served their time for their crime. The threat of deportation years later is an inhumane form of double punishment.

Besides California, raids and arrests have occurred in Cambodian and Khmer communities in Minneapolis, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington.

By granting pardons to those who face imminent deportation to Cambodia, California's Gov. Newsom can ensure they will be protected. Earlier this year a letter from the Cambodian American community and Asian Law Caucus asked the governor to support the community efforts.

Gov. Jerry Brown, Newsom's predecessor, gave pardons to some Cambodian Americans under ICE detention and prevented their deportation.

Asian Law Caucus successfully argued that the crimes committed by two Cambodian Americans men were not violent crimes as defined by a new ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, thus allowing Phorn Tem and Veasna Meth to return to their families in Sacramento.

This Wednesday, March 13, many of them are scheduled for ICE check-ins. In the last few years, these appointments have been used to inform them about their pending deportation. Many of them are detained on the spot, torn from their families without any notice.

Sign the petition: Demand Governor Newsom grant pardons to Cambodian Americans in need to stop the deportations.

Our Message to Governor Gavin Newsom : 

We urge you to help keep Cambodian detainees home with their loved ones in California where they belong. Pardon and protect our community members who face imminent deportation, especially individuals like Amlorn Siratana, Hay Hov, and Roeun Pich and others who only know California to be their home.

READ the entire article at the Daily Kos. 

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Judge temporarily halts surprise arrests of Cambodian refugees

 Southeast Asian Resource Center

Cambodian Americans and their supporters brought their plight to the White House last year.

By Louis Chan, 

ASAM NEWS

UP TO 2,000 Cambodian refugees for now won’t have to live in fear that an officer with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement is hiding in the bushes, waiting to arrest them for deportation.

Judge Cormac Carney from the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California granted a temporary restraining order requiring 14 days notice before ICE can detain a Cambodian with a deportation order. 

Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus filed the case with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Los Angeles and Sidley Austin LLP  

The judge temporarily blocked ICE’s practice of rounding up Cambodian refugees without notice. ICE must provide written notice 14 days before re-detaining a Cambodian with a deportation order. 

“The judge has stopped ICE’s practice of ambushing Cambodian refugees who have supported their families and contributed to their communities for years,” Jenny Zhao, an attorney for the Asian Law Caucus, said to AsAmNews. 

“Now people will have at least some opportunity to talk to a lawyer and make child care plans before being re-detained. This is not just a legal issue, but a matter of basic decency.” 

The Temporary Restraining Order remains in place only until January 28. A hearing must still be held to determine what happens after that. 

Those impacted are those who have already served their time for crimes committed, but now live under the threat of deportation under a crackdown pushed by the Trump administration. 

Those who think they may be impacted by the decision can find more information in this tweet from Asian Law Caucus.

AAAJ answers questions about the restraining order and its impact:

Am I included in the temporary restraining order?
This class action lawsuit (Chhoeun) includes all Cambodians in the United States with final orders of deportation or removal who were released from immigration detention and have not subsequently been convicted of a crime or failed to check in with ICE.

If you are not sure if you are included in the temporary restraining order and you have a check-in in January 2019, call us at 415-952-0413.

What does the temporary restraining order do and what does it not do?
The temporary restraining order does not prevent ICE from arresting people. It does prevent ICE from arresting people included in the class action unless they first provide written notice 14 days in advance that they plan to arrest someone and provide them copies of their immigration court charging documents, removal order, and criminal conviction records (so that they can consult with an immigration lawyer about whether they might be able to reopen their case and cancel their removal order).

The temporary restraining order also does not prevent ICE from deporting people, even if they were redetained without notice. Cambodian refugees in detention must act quickly to pursue immigration relief to avoid deportation.

What should I do if I have an upcoming check-in with ICE?
Call the raid hotline at 415-952-0413 to speak to an attorney.___________________________________________________________________________________

Christmas Eve pardons include six Cambodians detained by ICE

Supporters created this flyer to keep Sear Un (shown with his wife) from being deported.

ON CHRISTMAS EVE, six Cambodian refugees slated for deportation were pardoned by California Gov. Jerry Brown.

In the waning days of his final term in office, Brown pardoned 131 individuals including six Cambodian refugees including one who was on a flight was to Texas last week to join other detained Cambodians for deportation to Cambodia.

Because of Brown's action, Sear Un was able to spend Christmas with his family. Sear immigrated to the United States from Cambodia in 1984, fleeing genocide at the age of 7. 

In 1998, Sear was convicted for a residential burglary that netted him a total of $120. In the two decades since, Sear never committed another crime and instead dedicated himself to his family and community.

The past year has been devastating for Southeast Asian refugee communities as ICE carried out the largest raids on the Cambodian and Vietnamese communities in U.S. history. 

Last week ICE was flying Sear and 35 other Cambodians to Texas, where another flight was scheduled to deport them to Cambodia. During the flight, Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus attorneys learned of Brown’s pardon. That pardon pulled Sear off of this deportation flight and allows him time to reopen his case in immigration court.

“I have a lot of gratitude for my family and community for standing up for me,” said Sear Un. “I hope that future California governors will continue to recognize the injustice afflicting our communities today and act to end the suffering that continues to tear our families apart.”

“We are profoundly grateful that Sear is home for the holidays and that he was released from ICE custody in time for his daughter’s 4th birthday,” said Kevin Lo, Staff Attorney at Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus. 

“While we applaud Governor Brown for pardoning Sear, ICE continues to raid the Cambodian community every four months. We hope Governor-Elect (Gavin) Newsom will continue using pardons to prevent these unjust deportations.”

The deportations are part of Donald Trump's immigration policy of deporting individuals with criminal records even if they had served their sentences. About 2000 Cambodian Americans, many who had never set foot in Cambodia, are on ICE's list to deport.

Brown's pardons don't automatically stop deportation proceedings, but they eliminate the state convictions on which federal authorities might base deportation decisions. That gives the men's lawyers strong legal arguments before immigration judges to try to prevent their removal from the country.

"I would say that it is absolutely certain that there are other people on board who could have reopened their removal orders," Lo added in an email to Voice of America.

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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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Judge blocks deportation of Cambodians

Former Cambodian veterans protest deportation of their fellow refugees.

ASAM NEWS

A U.S. DISTRICT Judge in California has blocked the deportation of 92 Cambodian refugees, reports the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney ruled the detainees “were denied due process by the government when it detained them and threatened to deport them without adequate notice and an opportunity to be heard.”

They were arrested in October during raids which have been described as the largest raids in the history of the Southeast Asian American community. Most had escaped the Khmer Rouge in the 70’s.

“ICE’s campaign of detention and deportation ignores the reality that Cambodian refugees with deportation orders continue making vital contributions to our communities,” said Jenny Zhao, Immigrant Rights Staff Attorney at Advancing Justice – ALC. “As this decision affirms, the government’s actions here offend our basic desire for justice and the Constitution.”

RELATED: Judge delays deportation of Cambodians

According to Reuters, three other judges have issued similar rulings blocking the government from quickly deporting immigrants who have lived a long time in the country.

“The court had the same understandable reaction as federal judges in Detroit, Boston and Miami have recently had, pointedly asking why the administration was intent on abruptly removing long term residents without even giving them a chance to show they were entitled to remain here.”

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Judge delays deportations of Cambodians

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

Cambodian activists protest the US’s repatriation policy outside the White House in Washington.

NINE MORE Cambodians have been deported from the United States and arrived in Phnom Penh Wednesday (Dec. 20) morning. They join the 78 other Cambodians who have been deported since a Donald Trump directive in September.
Another group of about 50 Cambodians were due to be sent back this month but get to spend the New Years in the U.S. after a district judge in California blocked their deportation. Their hearings are scheduled for Jan. 11.

Last week Judge Cormac J. Carney granted a temporary restraining order against the removal of the 50 Cambodians, most of whom are refugees.

“Given the speed with which the Government intends to remove Petitioners,” Carney wrote, “the Court finds that a temporary restraining order is necessary to stay removal until the Court can give proper consideration to the complex issues presented in this action.”

The additional time also will allow families of detainees to put together support letters or further documentation that may help them stay in the country.

Mavis Polyngam's husband Narun was detained by ICE only four months after they buried their 15-year-old son, who had been shot 27 times in the street, a bystander to gang violence in their hometown of Stockton, Calif. Polyngam, who battles depression, stated, "I don't know how I can go on living after losing both my son and my husband, my rock."

The government won't confirm the number but as many as 100 to 200 Cambodians nationwide may have been detained, according to community advocates. Most of them fled Cambodia as children with their families during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

Officials said the roundup of Cambodians is part of an ongoing effort to repatriate Cambodian nationals who have committed crimes.

“The United States continues to work with the Government of Cambodia to establish a reliable processes for the issuance of travel documents and their acceptance of the prompt, lawful return of Cambodian nationals who are subject to removal from the United States," ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said in an email.

Staff with Asian Americans Advancing Justice in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and Sidley Austin LLP last month filed a national class action lawsuit challenging the detention of Cambodian immigrants by ICE, saying they are unlawful.

During the Obama administration, immigration officials were given great discretion to pursue options other than deportation. The priority went to cases of importance to national security and public safety.

Under the Trump administration, things changed. Essentially, anyone who is undocumented is a priority for removal or deportation. 

“There has been a lot of fear in the community because there have been so many people rounded up, over a hundred," said Katrina Dizon, immigration policy manager with the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, an advocacy group with offices in Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

Dizon said her group has fielded calls over a couple of weeks about Cambodian immigrants arrested nationwide, mostly in California.

"I have folks from Fresno, Monterey Park, Anaheim, Stockton, Orange, Long Beach, Oakland," Dizon said.

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, 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 visas for traveling Cambodians were discontinued as a result.

Jenny Zhao, a staff attorney for Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, said many of the immigrants who were detained were lawful permanent residents with valid visas but were subject to deportation because of past criminal convictions. ICE was previously forced to release them because their home countries didn’t honor U.S. removal orders, she said.

The released Cambodians had to check in annually with authorities.

Since being given a second chance, most of them have lived normal American lives, attending school, going to work and supporting their families.

ICE spokeswoman Mack said the U.S. has more than 500 travel document requests pending with the Cambodian government, some dating back nearly a decade. She said there are more than 1,900 Cambodian nationals in the U.S. who have final deportation orders, and that the majority of these have criminal convictions committed when they were young.

The majority of the individuals facing deportation to Cambodia are people who came to the U.S. as refugee children, and who came into contact with the criminal justice system before their families were able to naturalize. All of them finished serving their sentences, and some had returned to their families and communities years ago, living transformed lives and supporting their loved ones.

"This is one of the largest round-ups the Southeast Asian American community has seen," said Quyen Dinh, executive director of SEARAC. "We call on both the U.S. and Cambodian governments to do the right thing by stopping the deportation of refugees. Our families have suffered enough for one lifetime. Enough is enough."

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Lawsuit filed to stop deportation of Cambodian refugees

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

A lawsuit was filed to prevent the deportation of refugees from Cambodia.

CAMBODIAN REFUGEES detained in recent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have filed a nationwide class action lawsuit Friday, Nov. 3, challenging their unlawful arrests. 

Since early October, ICE has rounded up over a hundred Cambodian refugees with deportation orders, making these the largest raids ever to target the Cambodian community. Nearly 2000 Cambodian refugees are at risk of being unlawfully arrested.

“A bedrock principle in our Constitution and laws is that the government may not detain individuals whenever it pleases,” said Christopher Lapinig, Skadden Fellow at Advancing Justice - Los Angeles. “With these actions targeting the Cambodian American community, the administration is yet again running roughshod over the Constitution and will do anything, with utter disregard for the rule of law, to advance its xenophobic, anti-immigrant agenda.”

The lawsuit was filed by civil rights organizations Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus (Advancing Justice - ALC), Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles (Advancing Justice - LA), and Sidley Austin LLP.

The people detained in the raids arrived in the United States as refugee children fleeing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Many of them were born in refugee camps and have never set foot in Cambodia. They made the United States their home and became lawful permanent residents.
“In the 22 years since my conviction, I have worked hard to support my family and give back to the community,“ said Mony Neth of Modesto, California, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “To be suddenly torn away from my wife, daughter, and elderly parents is devastating to all of us.”

In the U.S., Cambodian refugee families struggled with trauma and poverty in violence-ridden neighborhoods. Some refugees made mistakes in their youth, which led to criminal convictions and ultimately deportation orders. But because Cambodia has refused to accept them for deportation, ICE had to release Cambodian detainees instead of keeping them indefinitely and unconstitutionally detained. But ICE was forced to release them because Cambodia refused to accept them for deportation. 

Since their release, in some cases decades ago, these refugees have returned to their communities and rebuilt their lives. Many have U.S. citizen spouses, children, siblings, and relatives who rely on them for support. For decades, they have cared for their families and led peaceful and productive lives in their communities. 

“I came to the United States when I was six years old as a refugee from the war. This is the only place I’ve ever known as home,” said Nak Kim “Rickie” Chhoeun, another plaintiff in the lawsuit. 

“When I was detained two weeks ago, I felt betrayed and confused. My family and entire livelihood was taken from me without any reason or explanation.” 

As requested by ICE, Chhoeun reported to the immigration office on Oct. 20, 2017. He was unexpectedly arrested by ICE officers and transported to the Theo Lacy detention facility in Orange. Chhoeun lives in Long Beach, Calif. where he has worked as a satellite technician for AT&T for the past fifteen years.

The recent raids appear to be a tactic by ICE to coerce Cambodia into cooperating with a U.S. deportation policy that breaks families apart.

Immigration advocates believe ICE apparently is using these legal, documented refugee immigrants as pawns during a time of strained U.S. relations with Cambodia. In mid-September, the Trump administration announced the implementation of visa sanctions on Cambodia (as well as three other countries) due to lack of cooperation in accepting deportees from the United States. The "series of raids" on Cambodians abruptly began about two-and-a-half weeks after DHS had issued the sanctions memo on approximately Oct. 1, according to the lawsuit. 

ASAM NEWS contributed to this report._______________________________________________________________________________