In September, Ram Hong Lu faces what could be the final step in the deportation process. He was told to get a Vietnamese passport and bring it to the next hearing in Yuba, CA on September 8.
“I left Vietnam 42 years ago,” said 53-year-old Le, who fears a difficult life in the future. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, whose capital is in the northern city of Hanoi, considers Vietnamese from the south who have fled the communist regime to be traitors.
Le is one of the many Southeast Asian refugees who faced a rough landing when they arrived in the United States in the years following the fall of Saigon in 1975. His trajectory ended with a shooting at a birthday party in California in 1990. Le was convicted of murder at the age of 24. Prison officials sentenced to 34 years in life imprisonment released Le on parole and on December 23, 2019 from San Quentin State Prison under the control of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Authority (ICE).
After he was released, Le began working at a homeless shelter in San Francisco. The shelter considered Auckland residents to be essential workers during the pandemic. He is ready for promotion.
A rally for the amnesty of Ramhongl was organized by a crane for solidarity outside the State Capitol in Sacramento, California, on June 4, 2021. (Kiyoshi Ina)
Currently, Le is seeking amnesty from California Governor Gavin Newsom to avoid deportation to Vietnam. 2019, governor Forgive some Cambodians When Vietnamese..May, just a few months ago, Newsom Forgive two Lao people With a life story like Le.
However, Newsom’s past performances do not represent Le’s future. A spokesman for the Newsome office on August 4 responded to a request for comment by VOA Vietnamese, saying that the office “cannot discuss individual amnesty claims, but each will be subject to careful and exclusive consideration. We can guarantee that, “he said in an email.
Petitions and protests
In the case of Le, it is a topic Petitions and protests In the San Francisco Bay Area. Activist Ina Satsuki, a qualified psychotherapist specializing in local trauma, told VOA Vietnamese that Le is “a person who feels we really deserve to be protected.”
A rally for the amnesty of Ramhongl was organized by a crane for solidarity outside the State Capitol in Sacramento, California, on June 4, 2021. (Emiko Omori)
Vietnam War refugees like Le, who came to the United States before July 12, 1995 (the day Washington and Hanoi officially reestablished the war-overturned relationship), were bilaterally signed in 2008. It was supposed to be protected under the agreement.
However, President Donald Trump’s administration has selected pre-1995 refugees with a criminal record of being deported to Vietnam in November 2020. Memorandum (MOU) Between the United States and Vietnam.
California Democrat Alan Lowenthal Criticized He said the memorandum with Vietnam was “morally uncertain” and violated “the clear promise the United States made to these refugees after the Vietnam War.”
Le said he should not be sent back to unrelated Vietnam.
His story is Resonates throughout the United States Like a country Policy on immigrant criminals revised.. Deportation increases anxiety when the fear of the Asian-American community is increasing due to COVID-19-related backlash and hate crimes.
Violent past
Massive immigration from Vietnam to the United States began at the end of the Vietnam War, when the fall of Saigon led to the evacuation of an estimated 125,000 refugees in the United States, according to a report by the Institute for Immigration Policy.The United States accepted more refugees and their families under 1980 as the humanitarian crisis and the evacuation of people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos intensified. Refugee lawAmends the previous Immigration and Nationality Act and the Immigration and Refugee Assistance Act.
When he left Ho Chi Minh City, known as Saigon without his parents, in 1979, Le was 12 years old and his younger brother Mickey Le was 10 years old. After spending a year in a refugee camp in Hong Kong, the brothers arrived in Los Angeles in 1981. More than 231,000 Vietnamese Those who arrived in the United States in the early 1980s.
Most Vietnamese refugees, like Le and his brother, entered the United States through sponsorship. Sponsors included churches, individual families and businesses associated with refugees through Vietnamese employees. California Online Archive..
The refugee resolution process assigned brothers to various sponsors. Mickey calmed down and adapted to American life, but at the age of 14, his brother escaped from what he described as an abusive situation. Le evacuated to the gang. Common story Among Southeast Asian refugees in the United States
Le was first imprisoned in 1986 at the age of 19 for assault with a deadly weapon, a felony sentenced to five years in prison. He was released after working for two years. He was sentenced to 34 years in 1990 after killing a member of a rival gang.
“I thought I would die there,” Le said, even though his ruling had the potential for parole.
Transformation and liberation
However, Le transformed in San Quentin State Prison, California, participated in educational programs, attended church, and assisted other prisoners.
In December 2019, the state parole hearing committee granted him release, and he left prison after serving a total of 32 years in prison.
Waiting for him at the gate was an ICE police officer who had been informed of Le’s release by a state prison official. He was returned to ICE Detention Center in Yuba County, where he was detained for two months and eight days before being released for deportation proceedings.
While waiting for a call from Newsom’s office, Le lives in a temporary housing in Oakland, California and works in nearby San Francisco.
“”[Le] He got a full-time job servicing homeless people in San Francisco, and he was promoted to supervisor because he is so well done, kind to people, and it has received so much praise. I’m ready to do it, “said Ina, the co-organizer. Crane for solidarity, A Japanese-American social justice organization focused on mass detention in the United States and the end of “racist and inhumane immigration policy”
Lam Hong Le volunteers to clean the streets of Oakland Chinatown, California (Crane for Solidarity)
“He volunteered as a street ambassador in Auckland’s Chinatown, where he cleaned the streets and escorted the elders. Anti-Asian hatred“. Ina, who was born in a US camp for Japanese Americans during World War II, said.
In May, Le saved the life of an overdose homeless man using CPR, according to Ina.
Jeffrey Gray, who was resurrected by Le, told Bay Area television station KTVU, “I am very grateful that Le was there.”
Ina’s group Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, National rights group. NS Sacramento Immigrant Union Other advocacy groups to mobilize support to persuade Newsom to forgive Le.
“His survival is a problem”
“If you are deported [Le] You will face a hostile Vietnamese government that has been subject to government surveillance and has been stigmatized as a traitor. … he will face discrimination in finding employment and other opportunities to find a safe being. His survival is questioned because of his lack of family ties and scarce resources, “he said, reading more than 3,450 signed petitions.
Le, who is at risk of being deported soon, needs a direct amnesty from the governor. According to Ina, it could take years to wait for the California amnesty review process to decide on his proceedings.
Ina said the deportation of Le violated the original agreement to protect refugees arriving before 1995. She hopes Newsom will make an exception and accelerate Le’s case.
“If we can give him an amnesty, he will get enough attention to protect other Southeast Asians, especially Vietnamese refugees, from deportation,” said Ina.
After being released from ICE control, Le reunited with his brother in January 2020 in Auckland.
“We cried,” Mickey Le said he met his brother nearly 30 years later.
Ram Hong Le (left) and his brother Mickey Le reunited on the holiday weekend of July 4th in Los Angeles. (Ram Honglu)
The brothers then met in Los Angeles on the holiday weekend of July 4th. Mickey, who is married to three children and runs a small business in Los Angeles, said: [he] I am doing it to serve the community and hope he can stay in the United States. “
Le said his life was completely changed by his liberation and his work.
“Now I have a chance to make a real difference,” he added, adding that he is dreaming of living a peaceful life and paying back to the community groups that support him.
“I want to have the opportunity to share my experience with my children,” Le said, referring to his past as a young criminal. “I would like to advise homeless children not to go in the wrong direction like I do.”
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