hardboiled

sentenced home?

by yer yang

After up to thirteen years of living in the United States, an agreement between the US and Viet Nam has made it legal to force repatriation upon Vietnamese individuals who arrived on or after July 12, 1995 and who have not yet acquired their citizenship. This agreement between the two countries was made on January 22, 2008 and applies to any Vietnamese in the US who are non-citizens and categorized as aggravated felons.

Since the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act, this term has been expanded thus increasing the number of deportable offenses. Minor crimes such as shoplifting or even writing a bounced check can be considered an aggravated felony. Additionally, even if an individual committed the crime years ago and has served the court sentence, this person is still subject to being deported.

The repatriation effort that brought shock and in many instances worry to an entire community. But it is an experience that is not new to the Southeast Asian refugees who are in America today because of the American War in Southeast Asia (aka the “Vietnam War”).

This happening is very similar to the continuing deportation of Cambodians from the US back to Cambodia. In March of 2001, the US and Cambodia made an agreement which allowed Cambodians who had previously committed aggravated felonies to be deported back to their homeland. What is problematic here however, is that many of these Cambodians who were subject to being “returned home” have no recollection of Cambodia at all nor do they have strong ties to this country. After the communist take over by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, those who were able to flee Cambodia immediately did. The majority of its people however, spent the next 3 to 4 years in labor camps under the Khmer Rouge rule, working and starving in rice fields.

From 1975 to1979, the Khmer Rouge killed approximately 2 million Cambodians many of whom were the educated and elite in hopes of creating a utopian society. While doing so, mass amounts of people were dislocated and the majority of families were broken and separated. A lot of the men were killed, leaving a number of the households led by women. After experiencing so much violence and dislocation, many of the Cambodian refugees escaped to refugee camps and were then eventually resettled in some of the poorest communities in the US with higher than average crime rates.

Many of these men who have been deported or are still awaiting deportation are 1.5 generation, the majority of them are actually unfamiliar with Cambodian traditions and some do not even speak Khmer (the Cambodian language) fluently. Although the structure of many Khmer families was already disrupted, the deportations that started after March of 2001 yet again tore these families apart. When this repatriation agreement was made, many of the Khmer deportees had already served their time for the crimes they committed during their adolescent years and had started families. In addition, even if their spouses were US citizens, they were still subject to deportation.

The agreement between Viet Nam and the US is very recent thus consequences are yet to be seen and predicted. However, if the parallels are drawn between these two deportations, the fate of these Southeast Asian refugees becomes very similar. Mention of the recent case with the Vietnamese repatriation cannot go without referencing the deportation that Cambodians have faced since 2001.

Similar to the Khmer community, the Vietnamese also have a history of flight from Communists in their home country. A number of the Vietnamese in the US were supporters of the former Vietnamese government before the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. Subject to persecution after the Communist party took over Viet Nam, the citizens of South Viet Nam fled when Saigon fell.

To this day, there are still Vietnamese on the borderlands of China and Viet Nam resisting repatriation from China back to Viet Nam. To many of the Vietnamese, leaving Viet Nam is looked down upon. When Vietnamese who fled in 1975 and the later years return, they are not always welcome by the current residents or the government. In essence, assuming that these people who are being repatriated can return to their “homeland” and fit right in as if they had never left is a supposition made without context. Many of these Vietnamese refugees were uprooted from Viet Nam, placed in the refugee camps which ais equivalent to being in a state of limbo because one does not know where or when he or she will.

Finally after a decade or two, many of these refugees who are currently subject to deportation were resettled in the US. After finally starting to feel a sense of stability, they are now being uprooted again, forced to go back to a place they and their families have been trying to escape for the past 30 or so years. Both the Vietnamese and Khmer communities have undergone multiple dislocations since the American War in Southeast Asia aka the “Viet Nam War”. Putting them through another dislocation especially after they have started to finally reestablish themselves is immoral and cruel. Since the deportation started for the Khmer community, there have been reported suicides among the young men in Cambodia.

Even with such outcomes, the US policy makers have still been adamant about implementing a similar agreement that will possibly bring out a similar outcome to yet another community. As of now, there are currently about 1500 Vietnamese nationals who are awaiting deportation. Judging from the terms of the agreement, it seems this number may only increase with the years. If neither the US nor Viet Nam give a written request to cancel this agreement, it will continue for five years from March 22, 2008 and then be renewed for durations of three years thereafter.

Julie L. Myers, the Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, expressed in the news release, “This agreement between our countries reflects the commitment of our respective nations to come together and craft viable partnerships that work for both of us. Agreements such as this are the building blocks of diplomacy. This agreement allows us to carry out a judge’s order to remove individuals from our country in a safe and humane manner.” The news release then states, “The missions will be carried out in an orderly and safe way, and with respect for the individual human dignity of the person being repatriated.”

In opposition to Myers’ perspective, I personally do not see how sending back a group of people who are no longer connected to their “homeland” and who will most likely not be accepted with open arms benefit the relationship between two countries. In response to the latter quote, I don’t know how anyone can describe a situation where a human being is being removed from their family, home and life with the word dignity. One other thing I can’t help but ponder is, “what country is next?”