Wrongly deported Cambodian American refugee returns to the US

Supporters celebrate Thy Chea’s return to the US. He’s seen here with his wife Victoria Un holding their children.

By Felix Poon
ASAM NEWS

Dozens of people Wednesday night held “Unjustly Deported” and “Welcome Home” signs at Boston Logan Airport  as they waited for Thy Chea, a 50-year old Cambodian American refugee and a Lowell, Massachusetts resident, who was deported in August 2018.

Bethany Li, director of the Asian Outreach Unit of the Greater Boston Legal Services, and  Chea’s attorney, said she was feeling incredibly happy and excited for Chea’s return.

“People want to be able to live and be with their families,” Li said, “and [the policies] under this administration are preventing that and it doesn’t help anyone.” Li said that Chea’s wife, Victoria Un, has had a hard time as a single parent raising their toddler daughter and one-year-old son.

“It’ll be really great to see (them reunited).”

Chea’s deportation stems from a criminal conviction in 1999, when Chea plead guilty to assault and battery and “threat to commit a crime.” He served three months in jail, and in 2000, federal officials ordered his removal from the country. Without a repatriation agreement between Cambodia and the U.S., Chea was allowed to remain in the country as long as he didn’t commit further crimes and checked in regularly with immigration officials.

In April 2018 ICE ordered Chea to report early for his routine check in.

“[Chea] and his wife and his daughter went with him…they thought it was a regular check in,” Li said.

But it wasn’t. Chea was detained. Li got an immigration judge to grant an emergency stay, but it came too late — just minutes after his plane took off for Cambodia, a country Chea fled at the age of 10 with his family to escape the brutal Khmer Rouge genocide.

Li kept fighting. She motioned to get Chea’s green card reinstated on the grounds that his offense was not deportable, and that he was sentenced incorrectly to a year in jail for an offense with a six month maximum sentence.

The judge denied the motion.

Li appealed. She succeeded in reinstating Chea’s green card in June 2019. But the U.S. consulate refused to issue his travel documents, and on top of that, DHS recharged Chea with entirely new proceedings of removal.

“This is crazy,” Li said of the proceedings.

“Enough was enough. We filed a mandamus in federal court, meaning we were asking the court to order the Department of State…to issue travel documents so that he could return home as a green card holder.”

That was in December 2019. After weeks of back and forth between Li and the DHS, the consulate finally issued Chea’s travel documents.

“Up up with liberation, down down with deportation,” the crowd chanted, before Chea’s wife Un got a phone call.

“Come downstairs,” Un and Li said into the phone.

Chea finally appeared. He squatted down with arms open, his two children ran to him laughing and crying, straight into his arms. A tearful and smiling Chea scooped them up.

“I’m so grateful to be with my family. It’s been 18 months. This is my kid,” Chea said looking at his one-year-old.

“It’s my first time holding him, and meeting him.”

Chea is the fourth Cambodian American in the country to return to the U.S. after being deported, and the first on the East Coast. According to ICE data, deportations of Cambodian Americans have increased by 279% from 2017 to 2018.

ICE has not returned a request for comment at the time of this publication.

Kevin Lam, organizing director for the Asian American Resource Workshop noted that it’s the 45th year anniversary of the Vietnam War. “Forty-five years later the US may have forgotten about the devastation that they’ve caused in Southeast Asia, but we have not,” Lam said as a rallying call. He said that Chea’s return is just one of many his organization is fighting for, and he asked for continued support as they advocate for them and those that are vulnerable for deportation.

Both Lam and Li are hopeful after Wednesday.

“When we fight, we win,” Li said.

“So we’re looking forward to welcoming many more people like Thy home.”

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.