“You get deported, you feel like you lost. You don’t know what to do. You feel like you left something behind. It’s a horrible feeling, being deported.”
So narrates Thy Chea, a Cambodian refugee, who had lived in Lowell with his family, before he was deported by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. The camera cuts to scenes of strife in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Chea was sent to stay there for eighteen months, until his case was won, and he was able to return home to Massachusetts.
On September 11, Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) and the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW) held a sneak peak of the documentary “Keep Saray Home,” a film that chronicles the stories of immigrants they had worked with in the fight against South East Asian deportations. The screening was followed by a panel discussion featuring Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, State Representative Liz Miranda, Lowell City Councilor Vesna Nuon, District Attorney Rachael Rollins, and Jassyran Kim, the daughter of Saray Im, who was targeted for deportation. The film captures the experiences of three families and derives its name from Im’s struggle. It describes how in the 1970’s and 80’s, the United States resettled over a million South East Asians, who fled warfare in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. They are the largest refugee community to settle in the United States.
During the movie, Im describes how because of a past criminal conviction, he was asked to routinely visit ICE for the last nineteen years. While living with his wife Tammie Christopulos and their children in Lynn, Im felt that he never knew when he might be deported, “snatched away” from his family with “no remorse.” Im said that he has changed since the time of his trouble with the law. He is a father of three and coaches and mentors children in youth football leagues.
“If you have something to fight for, to live for, that’s how people change,” said Im, in the film. “That’s how I look at it.”
Kevin Lam, Organizing Director of AARW, and Bethany Li, Director of GBLS’s Asian Outreach Program, led the discussion on concrete strategies to support community members impacted by deportation, following the screening. Lam explained that in the aftermath of September 11, many Muslim and South Asian communities were targeted, leading to their criminalization and increased surveillance in the country. The formation of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security brought about the increase of deportations in the South East Asian community, creating a system that is ultimately linked to the current crisis. He also stressed that while Tony Pham, the new Director of ICE, shares similar experiences with South East Asian community members, he does not represent the interests of refugee and immigrant communities.
Pressley spoke to the importance of legislation that has been passed on the federal level to support immigrants vulnerable to deportation. The New Way Forward Act addresses the connection between mass detention and deportation, reducing mass incarceration by ending mandatory detention and banning for profit immigration jails. It also gives judges discretion when deciding immigration claims for immigrants with criminal records and redefines the categories of “serious crimes” that currently bar immigrants from qualifying for asylum. Miranda and Nuon described narratives that are perpetuated in society about the existence of a “good immigrant” and a “bad immigrant.” Individuals who make “positive” contributions to society are rewarded, while immigrants who commit crimes become part of a reductive storyline that is propagated through mainstream conversations. The reality, explained Nuon, is much more complex.
“Those are the notions that are used by the mainstream community, as a bias,” said Nuon. “There is no bad immigrant. I came here in 1982, to the United States, facing a language and cultural barrier. …There’s a lack of structural support and systematic violence. And so what you do is you form your own group. …Eventually it draws you to commit some crime.”
Kim delivered an emotional account of experiencing the possibility of having her father deported. She was in school when she heard the news, and she described the impact that it had on her wellbeing there. She spoke to the pressure that she felt to represent herself as an exemplary member of the community, explaining that she believed she would not be heard unless she achieved success – that her story would not matter.
“This fight is everywhere,” said Kim. “…I just hope that nobody else has to go through this anymore, because it is painful. I wish that no child has to have the conversation of ‘why is my mom or dad no longer here?’ It is emotionally and mentally taxing.”
