Vong Sokheng and Brooke Lewis
The Phnom Penh Post
Former permanent residents sent home after prison terms
AT least 10 Cambodians who have been legally living in the United States are expected to arrive in the Kingdom today after being deported. Officials said yesterday that this was in accordance with a controversial bilateral repatriation agreement reached in 2002.
All the deportees are former legal permanent US residents – but not full citizens – who have served prison sentences for aggravated felonies, a group of crimes that was expanded in 1996 to include some that were previously misdemeanours.
Rights workers have criticised the repatriation policy as needlessly strict, while voicing concern that those affected by it face challenges in adapting to Cambodian society.
Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said yesterday that he had received a letter from the Cambodian embassy in Washington last month informing him that 10 deportees would arrive in the Kingdom today, but noted that the number might have since increased.
Kloeung Aun, executive director of the Returnee Integration Support Centre, an NGO based in the capital, said local officials had informed him to expect 10 new arrivals sometime in September, but that he had not been given a specific date or details about their individual cases.
He said that the 10 expected arrivals were part of a group of almost 50 people waiting to be deported from the US.
“There are approximately 49 people currently being detained in America pending removal,” he said. Prospective deportees were detained while their travel documents were organised, a process that could take anywhere from a month to more than a year, he said.
The US embassy in Phnom Penh said by email that such deportations targeted not only Cambodians.
“Non-citizens who have been convicted of aggravated felonies are subject to deportation under US immigration law,” the embassy said.
“We also remain committed to helping the returnees successfully reintegrate into Cambodian society.”
But Kloeung Aun said yesterday that many deportees faced a struggle to reintegrate.
“It is difficult for a lot of people to come back,” he said. “Many people left as refugees at 5 or 6 years old, and some were born in Thai refugee camps, so they have never been to Cambodia before.”
He said that a total of 229 Cambodian-Americans, only two of whom were female, had been deported since the signing of the repatriation agreement in 2002, and that there were at least 14,000 more people at risk of deportation.
Sara Colm, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, said yesterday that American immigration laws were “very strict in that many of the people being deported have committed very minor and nonviolent crimes”.
“Our overall concern is that the Cambodians who are being deported are in the US legally as refugees and permanent residents,” she said.
“And they’ve already been punished; they’ve already served a prison sentence.”
AT least 10 Cambodians who have been legally living in the United States are expected to arrive in the Kingdom today after being deported. Officials said yesterday that this was in accordance with a controversial bilateral repatriation agreement reached in 2002.
All the deportees are former legal permanent US residents – but not full citizens – who have served prison sentences for aggravated felonies, a group of crimes that was expanded in 1996 to include some that were previously misdemeanours.
Rights workers have criticised the repatriation policy as needlessly strict, while voicing concern that those affected by it face challenges in adapting to Cambodian society.
Koy Kuong, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said yesterday that he had received a letter from the Cambodian embassy in Washington last month informing him that 10 deportees would arrive in the Kingdom today, but noted that the number might have since increased.
Kloeung Aun, executive director of the Returnee Integration Support Centre, an NGO based in the capital, said local officials had informed him to expect 10 new arrivals sometime in September, but that he had not been given a specific date or details about their individual cases.
He said that the 10 expected arrivals were part of a group of almost 50 people waiting to be deported from the US.
“There are approximately 49 people currently being detained in America pending removal,” he said. Prospective deportees were detained while their travel documents were organised, a process that could take anywhere from a month to more than a year, he said.
The US embassy in Phnom Penh said by email that such deportations targeted not only Cambodians.
“Non-citizens who have been convicted of aggravated felonies are subject to deportation under US immigration law,” the embassy said.
“We also remain committed to helping the returnees successfully reintegrate into Cambodian society.”
But Kloeung Aun said yesterday that many deportees faced a struggle to reintegrate.
“It is difficult for a lot of people to come back,” he said. “Many people left as refugees at 5 or 6 years old, and some were born in Thai refugee camps, so they have never been to Cambodia before.”
He said that a total of 229 Cambodian-Americans, only two of whom were female, had been deported since the signing of the repatriation agreement in 2002, and that there were at least 14,000 more people at risk of deportation.
Sara Colm, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch, said yesterday that American immigration laws were “very strict in that many of the people being deported have committed very minor and nonviolent crimes”.
“Our overall concern is that the Cambodians who are being deported are in the US legally as refugees and permanent residents,” she said.
“And they’ve already been punished; they’ve already served a prison sentence.”
8 comments:
Nothing wrong with that. Free ticket home, why not?
Eh! but went to jail first,that not so great!
Some of deportees do not have relatives in Cambodia,14,000 deportees or more will send home.Life in Cambodia is not easy as Khmer people here in USA.The returnees have no experiences of living there making feel uncomfortable at first.If some of them have someone depending on in USA,they can ask some money to support them in the beginning.That's good.If they don't,no answer.
Make sure every body understand this, you have to follow the laws of the country whereever you are living.
If you want to be a good citizen of that country, you have to respect the laws and the gov.
Who are to blame here, the US gov. ??? or the convicted Cambodian ?????
Enjoy your new home! Less criminals from the US. But more to Cambodia, DAMN!
In addition, we must concentrate on rule of law, because only rule of law can take Cambodia into another level of expectation. Rule of law helps us to walk, drive and navigate according to plans like a sailor needs his Compass while at the High Sea. Only rule of law can truely change Cambodia into the directions everyone wants. Look at Thailand for example, they know what they. In 1915, Siam decided to follow the West and thus they have chosen America and British as their Compass and guidance. The King and I should have explained that better than anything that has ever written for all Siamese. Once the Siamese have decided on what they want they will never look back, and we can see the result of the present time...they have outgrew Cambodia when it comes to success and being established. Having said that, Cambodia ought to do the same thing. As a nation, we must pick a model, the best model there is in the world t use it as guidance and compassing our hardest time and made it to a greater and better place for all. In the end...no one is stopping us from growing, but ourselves. Democracy is there for us to grasp, rule of law is there for us to be written, models are there for us to follow. The question is...when will we say enough is enough and this is the time to rise up to the challenges. WE CAN DO IT. NO MORE EXCUSES.
I thank you.
X-MEN
3:15 AM
I dont care who the US is going to send back where they came from but , if they are going to send them back, why did they put those poeple in jail ? This law got messed up and needs to be fixed.
Jail in Cambodia may be better then in the U.S. You have less chance to be screwed in the ass by the inmates.
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