Eight Vietnamese American and Southeast Asian community groups are warning about a surge of deportation cases in their community.
The alert follows similar warnings in the Cambodian American community and a related lawsuit.
The Southeast Asian Resource Action Center issued its alert to the Vietnamese American community on behalf of itself, VietLead, APIROC, Mekong-NYC, VietUnity-East Bay, VietUnity-South Bay, and Dorchester Organizing Training-Initiative.
The statement read:
“We believe that Vietnamese community members with final removal orders are vulnerable to potential arrest, detention, and deportation. ICE has used more aggressive tactics such as threatening community members with self-deportation and forcing folks to sign Vietnamese citizenship applications. Over last several weeks, ICE has re-arrested individuals with final removal orders that they were unable to deport in the past.
“We have learned that on on September 21, 2017, the United States submitted 95 cases to the Government of Vietnam for processing and at the end of October 2017 into November 2017, a Vietnamese delegation will arrive in the United States to conduct interviews in Georgia. We know these cases include both pre-1995 and post-1995 cases.”
“We’re still in the process of trying to educate folks and show them that it’s OK to speak out and organize to fight for your loved ones,” Nancy Nguyen of Viet Lead said to NBC.
One of those who received a deportation order is Hai Nguyen.
“With all this going on, it takes a toll physically, mentally, and psychologically, waking up every single day with the thought of being taken away from your family,” she said.
As with some of the others, she has a criminal record and served 17 years for robbery.
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