Issue: ICE is enforcing immigration laws in a way that unfairly impacts refugees from Vietnam

and Cambodia.

Which Means: ICE is going through records that are decades old to identify Vietnamese and
Cambodians who technically are “removable from the U.S.” and deciding to deport them now,
even those who have been living in the U.S. without any criminal issues for over 15 years.

Let’s Break It Down:

Refugees​ are people who the U.S. allowed to live in the U.S. because their home country was
engulfed in war. Refugees are ​documented​ immigrants who receive a ​green card​ once the U.S.
lets them in. During and immediately after the Vietnam War, and then during/immediately after
the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, the U.S. invited and allowed thousands of Southeast
Asian refugees to live in this country.

Removable​ means that, under the law, the immigrant can be deported from the U.S. It doesn’t
matter if the immigrant is here as a tourist or a green card holder - or even a naturalized U.S.
citizen. The main immigration law in the U.S. that sets the removability rules is called the
Immigration and Nationality Act or INA.

What makes a person removable?

● Convictions for certain crimes (including domestic violence and too many DUIs because
being an addict can make you eligible for removal, and ICE is starting to take the
position that if you have too many DUIs, you must be an addict)
● Health issues you did not disclose when you first came to the U.S., including certain
mental health issues that ICE thinks are a threat to public safety (like schizophrenia)
● Staying in the U.S. after your visa expired
● Marrying someone just to get immigration documents (and, yes, they really do ask
questions about your sex life and how long you dated in those interviews)

Think long and hard about what I’m saying here. And then think about immigrants you know and
love. Are they removable? I can already think of 5 or 6 people I know and love who would be
removable if we were just looking at the words written in the INA.

But then there’s the concept of enforcing the INA. ​ICE​ is the Federal agency responsible for
enforcing INA. The INA and related laws have a concept called “​prosecutorial discretion​” built
into it that gives ICE some power to decide how and when to enforce the law. ICE is part of the
executive branch of government, which is the same branch as the POTUS. So, as you can
imagine, ​the way ICE decides to enforce immigration law is influenced by politics and POTUS.

Okay, so where does that leave us today?

POTUS ran on a promise to remove criminal immigrants from the country and to rid the country
of “illegal immigrants,” which can mean people who crossed into the U.S. without any legal
paperwork AND people who stayed here after their visas expired. ICE is helping POTUS make
good on that promise by conducting more enforcement actions than before.

But here’s the issue I have, the one that I’ve raised in my petition: ICE is also finding old records
of people who ​did something that made them removable under the INA but​ ​have been given
permission to make their homes here, then ​deciding to deport them without any consideration of
whether it makes sense or is right to do so. The most egregious examples are cases where the
person was a convicted of a crime decades ago, served the required time, was given legal
permission by the U.S. government to keep living here, working, starting a family, etc. ICE is
arresting and deporting those folks, too - even if they haven’t gotten into trouble once since that
one conviction and have actually been great members of the community.

Some of you may say, well, isn’t ICE just doing its job? In a very robotic sense of the word, yes.
But remember what I said about prosecutorial discretion? That was the same power ICE used
for the last 20 years when it decided not to remove these people and allow them to make a life
here. ICE - and the executive branch - still has that power today. But ICE is not using this power
at all in these types of cases.

I’ve received enough responses to my petition to know that ICE’s actions in these types of
cases are unacceptable to Americans across all races, ethnicities, socioeconomic classes, and
political alignments. The overwhelming response is a beautiful example of what I think we all
love about America: it’s a country that was built on noble ideals like democracy, justice, liberty,
equality, and redemption. In theory, our justice system sets a high bar for deciding whether a
person should even be punished for a crime. And, even if a person is found guilty of a crime, our
system allows for second (and third and fourth) chances. Unfortunately, immigrants do not get
all the same protections offered to U.S. citizens - even immigrants who are here “legally.” And
ICE’s actions strongly suggest that the values stated so eloquently in the Declaration of
Independence and Preamble to the Constitution do not apply to immigrants who have ​legally
made a home here, with the U.S. government’s consent, and are contributing, productive,
law-abiding Americans.

To me, there’s something innately wrong about what ICE is doing, which is why I created the
petition. The arrest of my friend Sivath Yaing was the catalyst for the petition, but the petition
really isn’t about him only. The petition is about hundreds of other former refugees in his
situation who ICE is targeting right now for mass deportation. Many of you have asked how
signing your name to the petition and sharing it can help. Well, to be honest, it may not help him
specifically - and he knew that when he told me I could create the petition. But the purpose of
the petition is to send ICE a message from Americans about the type of country we want
America to be. If you think that deporting documented, rehabilitated, law-abiding human beings
like Sivath for ONE nonviolent mistake made 20 years ago is NOT a reflection of the America
you love, please sign and share the petition. My goal is to print the signatures and
corresponding comments and hand them over to the good people who are on the ground
fighting bad policy-making every day - and to give printed copies of the petition to Sivath and his
family, so they can have some comfort as they endure the pain of being separated by a system
they have done their best to respect.

Thank you for watching and sharing this message and petition.

https://www.change.org/p/u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement-stop-ice-from-unfairly-dep
orting-law-abiding-tax-paying-southeast-asian-refugees