Many Uch speaks at an immigration rally in Washington, D.C.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Spotlight on Southeast Asian Americans

As an organization that works to advance the interests of Southeast Asian American and refugee communities, the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) works closely with our colleagues on immigration issues that deeply affect the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, including family reunification and reducing the immigration backlog. One issue that is of particular concern to our community, however, is the detention and deportation of Southeast Asian Americans, many of whom arrived in the U.S. as refugees.

Many’s story.

Many Uch fled war-torn Cambodia as a refugee with his parents when he was just 8 years old. Many grew up in the projects in Tacoma, Washington where many impoverished refugee families struggled to get by. When he was just 18 years old, Many and some friends were arrested for robbery. He was the driver for the get away car. He served his full sentence of 40 months in prison. While incarcerated, Many focused on turning his life around – starting with obtaining his high school diploma. When he was ready to be released, however, Many was met with devastating news. Because of changes to immigration laws in 1996, Many, a legal permanent resident (LPR), would now be deportable back to the very country he had fled as a child. Many served an additional 24 months in immigration detention before finally being released. Now, 33 years old, and having led an upstanding life for the past 15 years as a community volunteer helping at-risk youth stay out of trouble, he still faces the reality of being taken away at any time from his young daughter and the only home he’s ever known.

What is deportation?

How can it be that someone who has already served his time still faces the potential of life-long punishment for past mistakes? In 1996, Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). These laws dramatically increased the kinds of offenses for which noncitizens (including legal permanent residents) can be detained and deported. For example, while the misconception is that people are deported for heinous acts of violence, many individuals have been deported for minor convictions such as urinating in public, writing a bad check and minor drug possession. The laws were made to be retroactive; meaning a legal permanent resident who was convicted of a deportable offense prior to the passage of the law can still face deportation, even if he has already served all of his time for that conviction. Of additional concern is that the laws severely restrict the ability of immigration judges to consider an individual’s circumstances before ordering him to be deported. This means that even if an individual has completely reformed his life, or has U.S. citizen family and children to support, a judge is not able to take these circumstances into consideration before ordering him removed.

Restore fairness to our broken immigration system and keep families together.

As Congress considers comprehensive immigration reform this year, we urge that it restore fairness to the immigration system so that Many and others like him can have a fair chance at life. Judges should have the discretion to consider the circumstances of each individual’s specific case before determining whether or not he or she should be deported.

In addition, SEARAC opposes the deportation of former refugees back to the very countries they once fled based on well-founded fears of persecution. Many Southeast Asian Americans arrived in the U.S. as refugees when they were young children and grew up, in every way possible, as Americans. Not only is their deportation a strain on their American families and communities, but upon return to the countries they fled, they face huge barriers to maintaining livelihoods.

We believe in policies that promote keeping families together. Southeast Asian Americans with orders of removal are parents, partners, sons and daughters. Policies that take away a family member – and often the family’s primary provider – undermine already vulnerable families and communities. This is the year for immigration reform – now is the time for Congress to act to bring back fairness to the immigration system.

To learn more about the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center and how you can be active on deportation, visit: www.searac.org

The National Asian American Pacific Islander week of action from Jan. 12-20 is a collaborative effort among national, state and local AAPI organizations and allies to demonstrate the collective power and voice of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the comprehensive immigration reform debate. Coordinated outreach and events across the nation will engage community members in the broader Reform Immigration FOR America campaign and show Congress that the AAPI community is serious about demanding reform this year.