New court ruling allows Cambodian American deportee's return home

COURTESY OF METH FAMILY

Veasna Meth, second from left, was greeted by family and friends at San Francisco International Airport.

After five years in Cambodia and nine years in a U.S. prison, Veasna Meth is finally home.

“I knew one day I would be able to get back,” he told the Sacramento Bee Thursday (Mar. 1) upon his return to San Francisco International Airport.

Home for Meth is Sacramento, Calif. where he he has lived he grew up. He was 1-year old when he and his family immigrated to the U.S. as refugees. Between 1975 and 2000, the US accepted 145,000 Cambodian refugees as part of an influx of Cambodians displaced by war.

He was deported under Obama-era policies that prioritized the deportation of immigrants who had committed violent crimes.

In 2008, at the age of 19, Meth burglarized an unoccupied house by breaking in with friends. As soon as finished his year-long sentenced ICE tried to deport him. However, a judge ruled that his offense didn't justify deportation.

ICE persisted however and in their second try, they found a judge that approved Meth's deportation in 2014.

The Trump administration began visa sanctions on Cambodia, along with three other countries, in September 2017 to force them to accept deportees.

In April of last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Sessions v. Dimaya (Fiipino American James Dimaya) that the definition of “crime of violence” – which is grounds for deportation – was unconstitutionally vague. With the decision, the California conviction of residential burglary is no longer a removable offense, and within 30 days, Meth's attorneys from the San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus challenged Meth’s old removal order.

“Mr Meth’s return from deportation gives hope that others will also be able to reunite with their families in the United States,” said Kevin Lo, one of Meth's lawyers. He notes that Meth is the second Cambodian to return home, who coincidentally is another Sacramento resident.

“I’m excited to see my kids and to be back on American soil,” Meth told the Khmer Times. “I don’t quite know how to express it, but I just want to go outside and kiss the ground.”

The Trump administration began visa sanctions on Cambodia, along with three other countries, in September 2017 to force them to accept deportees. About 1,900 Cambodians currently live in the United States with deportation orders. ICE has ramped up roundups and raids and expects to deport about 200 Cambodian refugees a year.

“For me to get deported to a country I wasn’t born in, it’s crazy,” Meth told the Sacramento Bee. “Growing up, all I thought I was, was a citizen. ... Nobody ever taught me, ‘Hey if you commit a crime you’re going to get deported’ (until) it was too late.”

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Cambodian Americans deportations continue; are Vietnamese Americans next?

THE CAMBODIA DAILY

Cambodian Americans have been fighting U.S. deportation policies for years.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Updated Dec. 19 to include final number of deportees.

THIRTY-SIX KHMER AMERICANS are in the air enroute to a country they've never set foot in before. Many don't speak the language.

The department of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported the Cambodian refugees Monday from its detention center in El Paso, Texas. They are scheduled to land in the Cambodian capitol, Phnom Penh on Wednesday (Tuesday, PST).

Another 9,000 Vietnamese who sought asylum during and after the Vietnam War decades ago may also be at risk of deportation, as U.S. officials and Vietnamese officials this month to discuss reinterpreting an agreement protecting them from deportation.

The moves reflect the hardline stance against refugees of the Trump administration, which has widened the pool of deportees beyond recent arrivals to include those who have put down roots in the U.S, a generation ago.

An ICE official said it is policy not to comment on the deportation flights but representatives of immigration advocates and civil rights groups confirmed the departure from Texas.

Most of the people on the chartered jet on its way to Cambodia are men and a few women, according to Anoop Pasad, senior staff attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus.D Originally, 46 were to be on the flight by through pardon and other means of relief, the number was whittled down.

Pasad said his San Francisco-based organization of legal advocates represented six clients who were slated to be deported and five were able to get last-minute reprieves from their deportation orders.

"Almost everyone is leaving family behind," he said. "Almost no one has surviving family in Cambodia."

Katrina Dizon Mariategue, director of national policy for the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center in Washington, D.C., told NPR that Trump's policy is "short-sighted and very unfair."

"Many [of those being deported] were born in refugee camps," Mariategue said. "They don't speak the language, it's really hard to imagine a means of survival, especially because they don't know the culture."

ICE deported 79 Cambodians during Fiscal Year 2016, and 29 in Fiscal Year 2017. ICE told NPR in an email that the agency removed 110 Cambodian immigrants in Fiscal Year 2018.

Orders for deportation have been sent to 2,000 Khmer Americans. Most of them were convicted of crimes -- from minor charges such as driving under the influence to serious crimes that includes murder -- that they committed in their youth. After serving their sentences, most of them have become productive residents - holding jobs, going to school and raising families.

The Trump administration wants to expand its deportation policies to include Vietnamese Americans who have been in this country since the Vietnam War.  

The State Department said it would continue negotiations with Vietnam to repatriate some of its immigrants who've committed crimes. Like the Cambodian immigrants, many Vietnamese were resettled in the U.S. during and after the Vietnam War, said Melanie Kim, an attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus.

"These are not people who haven't been held accountable, these are all people who've gone through the criminal justice system, they have paid their debt to society," Doris Meissner, a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, told NPR.

"It is true you are subject to deportation [if you break certain laws]," said Meissner, who headed the Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1993 to 2000. But it's not the same as what is depicted as "criminals on the loose" by the Trump administration, she said.

“We condemn the Trump Administration’s inhumane efforts to deport Cambodian community members right before the holidays, and we denounce the US government’s ongoing effort to change its historical interpretation on the ability to deport Vietnamese refugees,” said Quyen Dinh, executive director of SEARAC.

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Cambodians, & Vietnamese Americans on edge, fighting protesting deportations.

SCREEN CAPTURE / KTLA

Hundreds protested [ossible deportations of Vietnamese Americans in Westminister, Caalif.

ASAM NEWS & VIEWS FROM ThE EDGE

VIETNAMESE AMERICANS rallied Saturday in Orange County's Little Saigon to protest a move by the Trump administration to clear the way for the deportation of Vietnamese American refugees.

“Bao ve gia dinh. Bao ve gia dinh,” protesters repeated, demanding protection against separating families. More than 300,000 Vietnamese Americans and nationals live in Orange County, the largest Vietnamese population outside Vietnam, according to KTLA.  It includes parts of Westminster, Garden Grove and Santa Ana. Many of them came into the country in the 1990s as refugees of the Vietnam war.

Xuyen Dong-Matsuda, a mental health worker, urged the crowd of about 100 Saturday in Little Saigon to “fight for those who need our passion and our help.”

The White House is trying to renegotiate an agreement with Vietnam that protects refugees from deportation. A new agreement would enable the U.S. to deport some 8,000 Vietnamese Americans who committed a crime-even for minor offenses that they have already served jail sentences.

“We need to open our hearts and minds to offer others a second chance,” said Lan Nguyen, a filmmaker at the rally. Lan also expressed support for the Cambodian community which is now also living under the same threat.

Meanwhile, three Khmer American men in detention in the state of Washington and awaiting deportation to Cambodia have been freed, according to the International Examiner. 

In Washington state, three members of the so called Washington 7 have been freed from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

The Northwest Immigrants Right Project (NWIRP), Foster Pepper PLLC, Formerly Incarcerated Group Healing Together (FIGHT), and the Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs (CAPAA) and the ad hoc response group called the Khmer Anti-deportation Advocacy Group of Washington (KhAAG) worked to get two of the men freed.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee granted an emergency pardon for  Roeuth An. His mother recalled the shock she felt when he was taken into custody by ICE.

“When he [An] was five, the Khmer Rouge took him away from me, they don’t let you live with your parents anymore, ” said Ms. Lorng Raing, mother of Mr. Roeuth An. “When they [ICE] took him away, all those emotions came rushing back to me,” she told the International Examiner.

After the U.S. bullied Cambodia into accepting deportees, Cambodian officials agreed to accept more deportees from the U.S. Forty-six Cambodian Americans are supposed to be deported Monday (Dec. 17), the largest number of Cambodian deportees in history.

Most of the detained Cambodian Americans set to be deported have committed a crime for which they already served their sentence.

Attorneys have petitioned Gov. Jerry Brown to pardon the Cambodians which would prevent their deportation. The governor in the last 10 months has pardoned seven formerly incarcerated who otherwise would have been deported to Cambodia, drawing the ire of Donald Trump, whose administration has stepped up efforts to deport immigrants with criminal convictions.

In a rare step, the California Supreme Court has blocked one of Brown’s pardon's to a 37-year-old Borey Ai, who killed a woman when he was 14-years old, for which he served a 19-year sentence.

The court gave no reason for the rejection, but earlier noted it only had the authority to do so in the case of an “abuse of power.” Brown’s pardon would have effectively stopped Ai’s deportation to Cambodia, a nation where his mother was born but he has never seen.

This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.

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Legal immigrants could be penalized for using government assistance

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial in Washington D.C.

ASAM NEWS &
VIEWS FROM THE EDGE

A new rule proposed by the Trump administration would make it more difficult for legal immigrants to get a green card if they apply for food stamps or Medicaid, reports Vox.
Experts warn this change could cause individuals to disenroll from public benefits for fear of losing their opportunity to get a green card, leading to worse health and poverty outcomes for millions of children and families. 

“This plan is outrageous. The goal of the Trump administration’s new ‘public charge’ plan is clear: to drive undocumented and immigrant communities into the shadows and tear apart families who live and work here," said Monica Thammarath, president of Asian Pacific Americans Labor Alliance. (APALA).

“There is no justification for this rule change outside of bald-faced xenophobia," said Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA and chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. "The change applies to immigrants who are here legally and have done nothing to merit punishment. Immigrant families are no less entitled to food or housing support than any other person trying to get by in this unequal economy."

The proposal, long expected, were released quietly over the weekend and received minimal news coverage because most media were emphasizing coverage of teh sexual assault charges against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 presidential elections.

"This change creates a rigged immigration process that makes it impossible for all but the wealthiest to have a secure, permanent future here. Green Cards shouldn’t go to the highest bidder," said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-WA. "Your actions, not your wallet, should define you in the United States. This just the latest ploy from Trump and Republicans to distract Americans from their efforts to bulldoze working families. We won’t play their games and are ready to fight tooth and nail to stop this rule.”

More than 1.5 million Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) immigrants are in families that u se public benefits to feed and sustain their families.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice immediately moved to denounce the idea.

“This is a wide-reaching and incredibly depraved attack from the Trump Administration on our families. This proposed rule could discourage families from accessing the basic assistance they need in order to survive in our communities. More than 1.5 million Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) immigrants are in families that use public benefits to feed and sustain their families,” AAAJC said in a statement.

According to the civil rights law group, immigrants are already prevented from accessing most federal programs during their first five years of living in the United States.

“The proposed regulation greatly expands the federal government’s ability to reject applications for lawful permanent residency, attacking our family-based immigration system through backdoor methods,” AAAJ statement continued.

The Center for American Progress joined in the condemnation.

“It jeopardizes children in the school cafeteria lunch line, people in need of lifesaving medical care, and immigrant parents working two jobs just to put food on the table,” CAP said. “This move goes around Congress to tear families apart and reverse immigration policies and practices that have lasted for nearly a century—through Republican and Democratic administrations alike.”
The Department of Homeland Security defends the proposal, saying it will save tax dollars.

Once the rule is officially published on the Federal Register, the public will have 60 days to comment on the proposed rule before the Department of Homeland Security proceeds with final rulemaking.

“You don’t kick the cane away from a person and criticize them for not standing. But that’s what this rule is doing," said Chu. "I’m deeply worried that immigrant families who are here legally and are doing their best to get by will now go hungry because they fear being punished for using the resources our country has made available to them.”

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