An unexpected phenomenon is a growing concern for immigrant families: the opening of facilities — in border cities as close as Mexicali in Mexico and in cities as far as Phnom Penh in Cambodia — for convicted minors who served their sentence in the U.S., but are subject to deportation and double-punishment because they lack the privilege of citizenship.

In Mexico, the first center for returnees opened in Tijuana in 2003, the second in Mexicali in 2004, and in Phnom Penh a place for young returnees opened its doors in 2003, shortly after the U.S. and Cambodia signed the Cambodian Repatriation Agreement on March 22, 2002.

“My brother Borom is one of those people who will be separated forever from his family because of this agreement between the U.S. and Cambodia that threatens over 1,500 Cambodians with deportation,” said Keo Chea, 23-year-old member of Asian Pacific Islanders for Community Empowerment (APIforCE), a pan-Asian organization working for progressive change in the Bay Area since 1995.

Keo Chea arrived in the U.S. in 1981, after her family fled Cambodia and was welcomed them as political refugees.

Arrested at 17 and sentenced to seven years at an adult facility in California, Borom completed his punishment in 2001. Instead of going home, however, he was thrown into detention by officials at the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who cited immigration reform laws passed in 1996.

There are nine detention facilities for immigrants, in places like Buffalo, New York, Miami and El Centro, California, and the ICE holds foreigners in seven facilities and in rented cells in 40 jails across the country.

Although Section 305 of the 1996 law requires the U.S. Attorney General to deport aliens within 90 days of a final order or when the person is released from criminal custody, whichever is later, Borom Chea has been detained for three years already.

“His only crime is that he holds a green card and not a certificate of naturalization. In this democracy, how does this punishment fit the crime?” asked Keo Chea at a community rally in Oakland on March 22.

The rally, hosted by Asian Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL) at the Federal Building Plaza in Oakland, brought together over 100 young men and women who listened to individuals and families affected by deportation and declared their Oakland neighborhoods deportation-free zones.

“We’re here to get the word out to Representative Barbara Lee to act to stop deportations from breaking up families,” said 15-year-old AYPAL intern Junior Tapafua.

AYPAL’s two-year campaign to stop deportations has produced a youth-led report titled: “Justice Detained.”

“We’re asking Barbara Lee to look at this report, listen to her constituency, and speak for us by introducing a new law that makes it easier for families to stay together,” said Paolo Sambrano, a Filipino member of AYPAL.

Among other findings the “Justice Detained” report shows that while the majority of criminal deportations are for non-violent crimes, and immigrants are less likely than native-born citizens to commit crimes, hundreds of thousands of families from various origins are affected by deportation.

According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the countries with the most criminal deportations in 2002 are: first Mexico (55,683), second the Dominican Republic (1,990), and third El Salvador (1,712).

The 1996 immigration reform law, passed by a Republican Congress and signed into law by a Democrat President (Clinton), is retroactive, expands the definition of aggravated felonies to increase the number of crimes punishable by deportations, and denies people their ability to ask for a waiver of deportation before an immigration judge.
Under the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), deportable crimes can include gambling, shoplifting, domestic violence, or drug-related offenses.

The most common categories of crime for removals in 2002 were drugs (41 percent), immigration (16 percent), and assault (10 percent), according to the 2002 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.

AYPAL opposes deportation because it breaks up families, punishes immigrants twice, and sends people back to a place they do not know

“We don’t ever see Cambodia as: that’s my home place. We see it as a place where genocide happened,” said Keo Chea.

Chea added: “My 54-year-old mom has hopes that the law might be changed. We all have our fingers crossed hoping that day will come. It’s going to take a lot of time but it’s inspiring to see so many young people at this rally, aware of the issues and working to raise the consciousness of the community.”

According to AYPAL organizers, the IIRIRA paved the way for the Cambodian Repatriation Agreement, soon to be followed by Laotian and Vietnamese agreements that will threaten 9,000 more families with the specter of deportation.

AYPAL’s report further claims that “because of criminal justice and immigration policy changes combined, many immigrants can be deported for crimes for which they would not even have gone to prison 10-15 years ago.”

During the March 22 rally, Katalina Langi, 17-year old AYPAL intern from East Oakland, summed up her work: “I want to tell the families affected: Keep your head up because a lot of people are working to stop deportations. After all, our campaign is One Love, One Nation Stop Deportations.”

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AYPAL Deportation Campaign can be reached through Penina Ava Taesali, artistic director at 510-834-9455

For assistance with deportations in Northern California call 510-834-8190 or contact La Raza Centro Centro Legal’s Immigration and Naturalization Unit for help with a variety of immigration related matters at 415-575-3500.

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