Buntha Nhep is fighting deportation to Cambodia. Trained and then abandoned in his native Cambodia by the CIA, Nhep fled for his life to the U.S. where he has lived for years. He works at the Gospel Mission Center as a drug counselor.December 08, 2006
By The Record (Stockton, California, USA)
SAN FRANCISCO - A Stockton resident once convicted of selling drugs and who now faces deportation to Cambodia has won a brief reprieve to make his case before a San Francisco immigration judge, his legal adviser said Thursday.
The immigration judge set a March 28 hearing for Buntha Nhep, 56, convicted nearly 10 years ago of selling drugs on a south Stockton street.
Nhep now counsels homeless addicts.
Also diabetic, Nhep said he would face certain death if he returned to his native Cambodia, where lifesaving dialysis is not an option.
He could face political persecution for having fought alongside American soldiers during the war in Southeast Asia, court papers said.
Guy Danilowitz, a law student at the University of California, Davis, said Nhep has little chance at beating the federal deportation order triggered by his drug conviction.
Danilowitz is urging federal officials to exercise their discretion in Nhep's case.
The immigration judge set a March 28 hearing for Buntha Nhep, 56, convicted nearly 10 years ago of selling drugs on a south Stockton street.
Nhep now counsels homeless addicts.
Also diabetic, Nhep said he would face certain death if he returned to his native Cambodia, where lifesaving dialysis is not an option.
He could face political persecution for having fought alongside American soldiers during the war in Southeast Asia, court papers said.
Guy Danilowitz, a law student at the University of California, Davis, said Nhep has little chance at beating the federal deportation order triggered by his drug conviction.
Danilowitz is urging federal officials to exercise their discretion in Nhep's case.
9 comments:
I had met and known many surviving Lon Nol soldiers including my own relatives and brothers/uncle-in-laws living these days in Cambodia. They are doing their regular business for living like all of other Cambodians. The reason of getting persecution that he may have because of his former soldier status of Lon Nol regime is not a good presentation.
The good case of him is the lack of medical care. That is certainly the convincing case for him not to be deported based on humanitarian condition.
American government can only deport small criminal guy like this Cambodian man. Talking about 10 years ago that he committed crime. If he is clean now, why the government doesn't give him one more chance. This govenrnment policy used a one-strike out rule. But, they failed to deport 10 million Mexican living illigal here in the United States. All of Cambodian people living in the US should become citizenship even you don't care to vote. This is to avoid deportation if you commit a small crime. Otherwise, if you hold green card, they will deport you back to your village.
Retro-active law has been in the book during the Clinton administration, but it was never enforced. However, once Bush and the Republican came into power, they persued it to the max, targeting mostly poor, non-voting immigrants. If Cambodian Americans and Southeast Asian Americans in general voted, this law would have been shot down along time ago. However, not many Southeast Asian uses the franchise.
Everyone agrees that the law is unfair, but no politician would fight to get rid of it. Simply put, defending a group of people that do not help you get elected is not practicle (refering to politicians, not my own point of view).
That is why everyone in the U.S. should obtain their citizenship. It's not hard.
I don't support a crook, a drug addicted a slime ball ,a scum bag , If he or she doesn't care about the law of this country ,then that individual should be punished to the full extend of the law regardless of where they came from ,and that include deportation.
If that's the case, nearly every college student in American colleges should be deported for smoking mirijuana and destroying public property.
Your attitude breathes ignorance. There's no such thing as punish to the full extent of the law in any country. If that is the case, Enron who harms more families than any drug addict, should get the death penalty; but they get a slap on the wrist.
Is this man,the fired Labor Minister Nhep Bun Chin of Oakland, CA?
I meant Nhep Bun Chin's relative?
What is the big deal of not obtaining a citizenship?
Whatever country we live in, we should be productive and useful citizen,with an exception of our people live in South Vietnam. That is our land and it's none of the Viet's business. They can just get lost!
Get a citizen, get a job, keep a job, keep ourself straight and help paying tax to build this country. Being a citizen, we have full right to live and own this land. Please learn and cherish mainsteaming's value and ideas. Come on wake up!
What do we get to loose? we can still go and visit our country and help our old country catching up. It's just that now we have two countries to love nad care for.
Just because you become a naturalized citizen of US doesn't mean you will not be deported. US government have the right to strip a naturalized (non-US born) citizen of their citizenship in cases of violent crimes.
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