By Randall Yip, Executive Editor
(This story is done in partnership with the URL Collective)
A Brooklyn man who has lived in the United States for some 45 years faces likely deportation this week if New York Governor Kathy Hochul doesn’t pardon him.
The Southeast Asian American advocacy group Mekong NYC says a man they are identifying only as Sammy may be detained during his scheduled ICE check in Thursday.
Sammy came to the United States as a refugee from Laos with his family when he was just 7 or 8-years-old. The family fled the mass carpet bombing of Laos by the United States for the promise of a new life.
Sammy’s mother died in a refugee camp before they could get to the U.S. and his father raised him and his several siblings as a single father.
Mekong NYC says Sammy ran into trouble at the age of 15 when a group approached him and his friends in a threatening manner after confusing them for someone else.
Sammy shot and killed a man after mistakenly thinking the man was about to pull out a gun. It turned out the man did not have a weapon.
A jury convicted Sammy of manslaughter, and a judge sentenced him to 14 years in prison which he has served.
“The mistake that Sammy ended up making he made when he was 15 years old. He was a child and has taken complete responsibility for what happened. He served his full term, and he really regrets what happened. He’s really worked hard to turn his life around, to become a positive productive member of society,” said Socheatta Meng, Executive Director of Mekong NYC during a phone interview with AsAmNews.
Meng says Sammy has stayed out of trouble for more than 20 years since being released from prison.
The government stripped Sammy of his green card after his conviction, and he has faced the threat of deportation ever since. However, Laos until recently, has resisted accepting deportees back to their country.
He and his wife declined to be interviewed by AsAmNews.
With President Trump determined to deport as many as possible, the prospect of being deported this time during his check in is more and more likely, says Meng.
Governor Hochel has not acted on Sammy’s pardon request since she took office in 2021. Sammy hopes that changes this week.
“Sammy is absolutely scared,” says Meng. “He is really terrified. The prospect of him being separated from his wife, from his (step) children, from his siblings, from you know all of his loved one and everything that he’s known here. His home is here in New York. He does not know any other place as home. The prospect of him having to start all over in a new place completely is really terrifying and really saddening for him and his family.”
Not taking any chances, Sammy’s family has begun to make preparations for his separation from his family. They plan to stay in the United States.
Anyone interested in encouraging Gov Hochul to issue a pardon may express their concerns via phone or email.
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