A woman who fled Vietnam to the United States in the 1970s said she had hoped that the United States would become a refuge for the turbulent country of her motherland. But now, as her family faces potential deportation under the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, she says it’s the same place she fled.
"You're afraid to go to church. You're afraid to get in the car." The woman, based on the West Coast, said, demanding anonymity out of fear of revenge. “You are on high alert.”
Her family is upward of 8,500 Vietnamese nationals who face orders for dismissal due to past convictions, many of which can be traced back to young people.
Advocates say Southeast Asians are three to five times more likely to be deported based on old criminal convictions than other groups, which may be due to the difficulties that communities have created as refugees’ immigration status as refugees and their lives in the United States and the pressure on an increasing number of people, but to accept more people who have brought expert approval to the increasing responsibility.
Many refugees facing dismissal orders belong to what immigration experts call "immigration from schools to deportation pipelines." Advocates say this shows how those who are resettled in the United States have access to resources, are entangled in the criminal justice system, and are threatened with deportation while serving their sentences.
Advocates say that as the world marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, the Advocates say the problems in refugee communities have only been magnified.
"At that time, your family was deported, forced to leave, separate, start over. So you are repeating that cycle," said refugees, those who fled Vietnam and may be deported now.
Quyen Dinh, executive director of the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center or civil rights group Searac, said Trump's first term proved to be a tense time for refugee communities. According to DHS data, in the first government, 382 Vietnamese were deported. That's 114% higher than Barack Obama's second term. Under Joe Biden, 87 Vietnamese nationals were deported despite the fact that official data for his last year have not been published.
Legal experts and community advocates say many of the previous protections for refugees no longer exist. In 2008, the United States and Vietnam reached an agreement to ensure that refugees arriving in the United States by July 12, 1995 are not deported. However, during Trump's first term, Vietnam was under greater pressure to deportation, and Ice began to detain people who arrived before 1995.
At the end of Trump's first term, the United States and Vietnam renegotiated the deal, creating a process to deport 1995 refugees. Tin Nguyen, an immigration lawyer based in North Carolina, said the increasingly fragile relationship between China and Vietnam, especially in the South China Sea, could cause Vietnam to fall into repatriation pressure.
“Now, Vietnam needs the United States military and strategically to balance China,” Nguyen said.
Ding said that while the previous Trump administration imposed visa sanctions on countries such as Vietnam that refused to accept repatriation, the new administration also threatened tariffs. This is likely to push countries that want to avoid bending economic consequences. As third countries participate in U.S. deportation efforts, individuals are also worried about being sent to countries that are completely unfamiliar.
According to Pew Research, the Vietnam War led to the largest relocation of refugees in U.S. history, with Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos coming to the United States from 1980 to 1990.
These refugee communities are still struggling. According to Serrac's 2020 report, more than one in five Southeast Asians are considered low-income, above the national average. In terms of educational achievement, nearly 30% of Southeast Asian Americans (more than the general population) have not completed high school or passed GED. Immigration issues are particularly plaguing the community.