'All we could do was film a tragedy'
By Angela Woodall, STAFF WRITER
InsideBayArea.com (Calif., USA)
OAKLAND — Loeun Lun thought he could start a new life after serving 11 months in jail for shooting a gun in the air during a 1995 confrontation.
But he wouldn't get a second chance.
Nearly a decade after his conviction as a street-tough teen, the father of two and permanent U.S. resident was deported in May 2003 to Cambodia — a country his desperate family fled when he was 6 to escape the notoriously repressive Khmer Rouge regime.
The regime, led by the infamous Pol Pot, was responsible for the deaths of at least a million Cambodians, nearly extinguishing the country's educated middle class and demolishing its infrastructure.
Lun is one of three Cambodian men who are the focus of "Sentenced Home," a documentary screened Wednesday night at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. The film also will be shown 10 p.m. May 15 on KQED Channel 9 IndependentLens series.
The stories of Lun, Many Uch and Kim Ho Ma mirror more than a hundred Cambodians who have been deported under a 1996 immigration law signed by President Clinton.
Under the law, deportees are denied a hearing and cannot challenge their deportation. Judges cannot consider their individual circumstances.
The law also broadened the grounds for deportation by expanding the definition of an aggravated felony. As an immigrant, shoplifting can become an aggravated felony.
Immigration officials have categorized about 300,000 immigrants as aggravated felons and ordered their deportation in the past 15 years — no matter how long ago they committed the offense, according to the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.
The law created a Kafkaesque situation for deportees to Cambodia because the country refused to accept them.
Often they were kept in U.S. detention for years, waiting for a release — however bitter — that never came.
"It really defies common sense," said Angie Junck, an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
In the aftermath of 9/11, however, Cambodia — still wracked by intense poverty and highly dependent on U.S. economic aid — signed a repatriation agreement under pressure from the United States.
Since then, 163 Cambodians have been deported, and
2,100 face deportation.
The issue is that immigrants must follow certain rules to stay in the United States, Patricia Vroom, chief counsel for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, says in the film.
Co-producer and director Nicole Newnham said filming the deportations were the worst days of her life. The film still can't convey how traumatic it really was for the men and their families, she added. Newnham said she wanted to intervene in what was happening. "But all we could do was film a tragedy."
Once deported they can never return, at least under current laws.
The discrimination in Cambodia is intense, Newnham said. "A blanket of fear and mistrust is emerging," she said.
Deportees are supposed to return as Cambodian citizens but are put in deportation facilities in Phnom Penh, the capital city, for days or weeks, Newnham said. Often, guards demand bribes to release them, she added. The deportees are denied identification papers, which they need to obtain jobs.
But the few jobs that exist would be out of reach for many young deportees, who often do not speak or write English well, let alone Cambodia's national language, Khmer, Newnham said.
The rules were changed in the middle of the game, Junck said.
"They don't get a second chance."
Staff writer Angela Woodall can be reached at awoodall@angnewspapers.com.
But he wouldn't get a second chance.
Nearly a decade after his conviction as a street-tough teen, the father of two and permanent U.S. resident was deported in May 2003 to Cambodia — a country his desperate family fled when he was 6 to escape the notoriously repressive Khmer Rouge regime.
The regime, led by the infamous Pol Pot, was responsible for the deaths of at least a million Cambodians, nearly extinguishing the country's educated middle class and demolishing its infrastructure.
Lun is one of three Cambodian men who are the focus of "Sentenced Home," a documentary screened Wednesday night at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. The film also will be shown 10 p.m. May 15 on KQED Channel 9 IndependentLens series.
The stories of Lun, Many Uch and Kim Ho Ma mirror more than a hundred Cambodians who have been deported under a 1996 immigration law signed by President Clinton.
Under the law, deportees are denied a hearing and cannot challenge their deportation. Judges cannot consider their individual circumstances.
The law also broadened the grounds for deportation by expanding the definition of an aggravated felony. As an immigrant, shoplifting can become an aggravated felony.
Immigration officials have categorized about 300,000 immigrants as aggravated felons and ordered their deportation in the past 15 years — no matter how long ago they committed the offense, according to the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.
The law created a Kafkaesque situation for deportees to Cambodia because the country refused to accept them.
Often they were kept in U.S. detention for years, waiting for a release — however bitter — that never came.
"It really defies common sense," said Angie Junck, an attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
In the aftermath of 9/11, however, Cambodia — still wracked by intense poverty and highly dependent on U.S. economic aid — signed a repatriation agreement under pressure from the United States.
Since then, 163 Cambodians have been deported, and
2,100 face deportation.
The issue is that immigrants must follow certain rules to stay in the United States, Patricia Vroom, chief counsel for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, says in the film.
Co-producer and director Nicole Newnham said filming the deportations were the worst days of her life. The film still can't convey how traumatic it really was for the men and their families, she added. Newnham said she wanted to intervene in what was happening. "But all we could do was film a tragedy."
Once deported they can never return, at least under current laws.
The discrimination in Cambodia is intense, Newnham said. "A blanket of fear and mistrust is emerging," she said.
Deportees are supposed to return as Cambodian citizens but are put in deportation facilities in Phnom Penh, the capital city, for days or weeks, Newnham said. Often, guards demand bribes to release them, she added. The deportees are denied identification papers, which they need to obtain jobs.
But the few jobs that exist would be out of reach for many young deportees, who often do not speak or write English well, let alone Cambodia's national language, Khmer, Newnham said.
The rules were changed in the middle of the game, Junck said.
"They don't get a second chance."
Staff writer Angela Woodall can be reached at awoodall@angnewspapers.com.
2 comments:
Cambodians living in the USA should join together and rally against this unfair law.
Cambodians should lobby the King of Cambodia to cancel this bullied repatriation agreement.
Cambodians should set up a manifestation in front of US embassy based in Phnom Penh, this should create awareness of this rigid law.
Please go and see how the deportees cope with their life in Cambodia which is strangely not their country anymore...
Thank you, Thank you, Thank
you, ... , from all khmer people.
We don't need them (fools) here.
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