Cambodian American sues US for his deportation

Thy Chea with one of his children.

A Cambodian American -- whose lawyers contend their client was improperly deported from the US -- is suing the federal government so he could return to defend himself in court.

Thy Chea, 50, was a lawful permanent resident at the time he was deported in 2018. In June of 2019, an immigration judge ruled that he should be allowed to return, while court proceedings continue. 

In a complaint filed before Christmas in federal court, Chea's lawyers said that immigration officials have "unlawfully" refused to facilitate Chea's return.

Chea has a wife and two kids, one- and two-years-old, who live in Lowell, Massachusetts, where about 15% of its residents are of Cambodian descent. Since his deportation, his family has faced economic hardships.

His lawyers from the Greater Boston Legal Services say he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, likely stemming from the trauma of escaping the Killing Fields in Cambodia. His condition has worsened since his deportation, they wrote.

Chea has been in immigration limbo for 20 years. In 1999, he was sentenced to a year in jail for threatening to commit a crime.

The Boston immigration court ordered him deported in 2000, but legal proceedings delayed his deportation in 2004. Apparently, with the low-priority given to his case during the Bush and Obama administrations, he got a job, raised and supported his family, avoided any legal problems, and periodically reported to immigration authorities as he was required.

However, under the immigration crackdown implemented by the Trump administration, in April, 2018, as Chea checked in with immigration,  he was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. He was deported in August of that year because a judge found that Chea's year-long sentence for threatening to commit a crime sentence was grounds enough for deportation.

According to Chea's latest legal complaint, in the following year, a state court corrected Chea's 1999 sentence for threatening to commit a crime, which carries a maximum sentence of only six months. If he was given the correct shorter sentence, Chea's crime was no longer a deportable offense.

In June, 2019, the "Board of Immigration Appeals" sustained an appeal by Chea, reopened his case, and sent it back down to an immigration judge. The immigration judge said that the board's decision meant Chea was a lawful permanent resident.

"He's still (a lawful permanent resident) until these proceedings are completed," the judge ruled in the complaint.

In September, immigration officials amended their "Notice To Appear," which initially referred to the assault and battery and threatening charges, to allege a controlled substance abuse.

"Mr. Chea disputes that this defense is his," the lawyers wrote.

As a child in Cambodia, Chea was imprisoned in a Khmer Rouge labor camp where he witnessed deaths of children and adults alike. After fleeing Cambodia, Chea who was 12 years old, his parents, and his five siblings arrived in the United States as refugees in1981. 

Like many Southeast Asian refugees displaced by war, Chea’s family faced economic, linguistic, and social struggles. Despite his own difficulties, Chea helped elderly Cambodians with their paperwork and errands in his childhood communities of New Orleans and Modesto, California. His siblings universally describe him as a protector – someone who does not tolerate cruelty or bullying, and who would jump in and help with no hesitation.

When Chea moved to Lowell, Massachusetts in search of a job as a young adult, he made mistakes and served his sentence for threatening to commit a crime. As he served his sentence, Chea was transferred to immigration custody and ordered deported to Cambodia. Chea was released from immigration detention in 2001 while his attorneys appealed the deportation order. 

In summary, Chea's lawyers wrote in the new complaint: "Despite offenses that were no longer removable on his (Notice to Appear]) Mr. Chea was deported and has been forced to remain outside of the United States for over one year. Mr. Chea missed the birth of his son and recent celebration of his son's one-year old birthday."

"Despite regaining his lawful permanent residence status in June 2019 and many attempts to return to the United States, Mr. Chea remains separated from his family and has been unable to return home to Lowell, Massachusetts," his attorneys concluded in the complaint.

AAPI advocates protest deportation of Southeast Asians

searac

The Feb. 27 press conference protesting the deportations took place on the Capitol steps.

A coalition of Asian American agencies and immigrant organizations in collaboration with the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus denounced Donald Trump’s deportation of refugees and long-term lawful permanent residents who resettled in the U.S. after fleeing conflict in Southeast Asia.

Currently, more than 14,000 Southeast Asian Americans have been given an order of removal since 1998. The majority of these individuals resettled in the United States as refugees after the Vietnam War. 

“As this Administration continues to terrorize immigrant and refugee communities, it is crucial that our elected leaders not only speak out against the Administration’s sweeping anti-immigrant agenda but also do everything in their power to put in place real protections for our communities," said Phi Nguyen, litigation director at Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Atlanta.

RELATED: Senators seek end of deportations

The organizations taking part in a press conference Tuesday (Feb. 27) in Washington D.C., included Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, Southeast Asian Freedom Network, and the Vietnamese Anti-Deportation Network representing refugees from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

Some of these refugees became involved in criminal activity after being relocated into struggling neighborhoods. After two decades, many have already served their sentences, started families, and rejoined society before Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began trying to deport these individuals. 

These immigrant and refugees are facing a large increase in ICE’s detention and deportation efforts, including the agency’s continued overspending to detain more individuals than annually appropriated.

Since the start of Trump’s Administration, deportations of Southeast Asian Americans have drastically increased. Deportations of Cambodian Americans increased by 279% between 2017 and 2018, and Vietnamese Americans saw a 68% increase in the same timeframe.

Additionally, the Administration has unilaterally reinterpreted the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and Vietnam to allow the US to deport pre-95 Vietnamese Americans, a clear deviation from previous interpretations of the MOU. The Administration has also placed visa sanctions on Laos to pressure the country to accept individuals awaiting removal.

“Southeast Asian communities have been devastated by the relentless attacks and rampant ICE arrests within our neighborhoods," said Sina Sam, community organizer with Khmer Anti-deportation Advocacy Group and the Southeast Asian Freedom Network

"The recent death of Mr. Sophorn San after his deportation to Cambodia in December, along with ICE’s intent to deport another 200 Cambodian Americans this year, have placed our communities in an extreme state of duress.

______________________________________________________________________

Senators seek to stem deportation of Southeast Asian refugees

Senators Kamala Harris, left, and Mazie Hirono.

SENATORS Mazie K. Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Kamala Harris, D-Calif., on Jan. 4 led a group of  senators in urging Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen to re-examine her department’s “arbitrary detention and deportation” of many long-term U.S. residents from Southeast Asia, including those who fled war and genocide.

Sen.Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, the third Asian American senator. was also among the 15 signers.

Hirono and Harris, both members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, noted with particular concern that the Trump Administration’s targeting of Vietnamese refugees who arrived in the country prior to the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam in 1995 violates a 2008 repatriation agreement between the two countries. The agreement provided legal protection for hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees who fled to the U.S. following the Vietnam War.

“In Fiscal Year 2018, there was an increase in deportations of Southeast Asian immigrants with more than 350 Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese immigrants who were ordered to be deported,” the senators wrote. “Those processed for deportation by the Trump Administration’s recent, aggressive deportation efforts include legal permanent residents who have lived in the United States for decades after fleeing violence and genocide in their home countries.

“We urge you to reexamine policies on the arbitrary detention and deportation of Southeast Asian immigrants who prove no threat to public safety, are interwoven into our communities, and support United States citizen families.”

Several leading justice and advocacy groups have spoken out against the administration’s actions, including the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, Vietnamese Anti-Deportation Network, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), AAJC Atlanta, and AAJC Chicago. Hawaii is home to more than 140,000 foreign-born residents from Southeast Asia.

Also signing the letters were Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Jack Reed, D- R.I., Ed Markey, D-Mass), Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Mark Warner, D-Va., and Tim Kaine, D-Va.

The full text of the letter follows:

“We write to express our deep concern about recent reports that the Trump Administration is pursuing the deportation of many long-term U.S. residents who emigrated from Southeast Asian countries, including lawful permanent residents from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

“We are particularly troubled by the administration’s reported efforts to deport Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in the country before the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam on July 12, 1995, in clear violation of the 2008 repatriation agreement between the countries.

“In Fiscal Year 2018, there was an increase in deportations of Southeast Asian immigrants with more than 350 Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese immigrants who were ordered to be deported. Those processed for deportation by the Trump Administration’s recent, aggressive deportation efforts include legal permanent residents who have lived in the United States for decades after fleeing violence and genocide in their home countries.

“Upon arriving in the United States, many found themselves in struggling neighborhoods. While most made the best of their new circumstances, a small subset made mistakes and entered the criminal justice system. Some of these mistakes date back to when they were teenagers and young adults. They have served their time and have been out of the criminal justice system for decades.

“The detention and deportation of these lawful permanent residents effectively re-punishes them and ignores ways they may have transformed their lives to become productive community members, business owners, and loving parents supporting their families.

“As noted, the administration’s efforts to deport pre-July 1995 Vietnamese immigrants is particularly troubling. The United States and Vietnam entered into a repatriation agreement in 2008. The agreement takes into account the long and complex history between the two countries and provides a level of protection for the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese immigrants who fled their home country to seek refuge in the United States in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

“Many of those who fled were South Vietnamese citizens who had fought alongside or otherwise supported the United States during this conflict. Accordingly, the agreement makes clear that Vietnamese immigrants ‘are not subject to return to Vietnam under this Agreement if they arrived in the United States before July 12, 1995, the date of which diplomatic relations were re-established between the U.S. government and the Vietnamese government.’

“Recent reports suggest that the Trump Administration unilaterally interpreted the 2008 agreement in the spring of 2017 to enable it to deport certain Vietnamese refugees who arrived in the United States before July 1995 — despite the agreement’s clear terms. We understand that the Department of Homeland Security is again relying on this faulty interpretation to detain Vietnamese immigrants who arrived prior to July 1995 and process them for removal.

“It is troubling to see Southeast Asian families being targeted in this way. We urge you to re-examine policies on the arbitrary detention and deportation of Southeast Asian immigrants who prove no threat to public safety, are interwoven into our communities, and support United States citizen families. Your agency’s finite resources should not be wasted to tear families apart and deport individuals who have transformed their lives after serving their sentences.

“We further urge you to restore the protections provided by the 2008 U.S.-Vietnam repatriation agreement and stop the deportation of Vietnamese refugees who arrived in the country prior to July 12, 1995.”
________________________________________________________________________________