“In the 22 years since my conviction, I have worked hard to support my family and give back to the community. To be suddenly torn away from my wife, daughter, and elderly parents is devastating to all of us.” - Mony Neth
When Mony was a teenager, he was convicted of possessing a weapon and receiving stolen property. That was in 1995. Mony lost his green card but was never deported because Cambodia wouldn’t take him back. Mony got married, raised a daughter, and was caring for his aging parents when Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested him in 2017.
Even though the court that convicted him recognized his efforts to turn his life around, granting him a certificate of rehabilitation, ICE detained him as part of sweeping raids of Southeast Asian communities. Thankfully, Mony was pardoned by Governor Jerry Brown, halting his deportation. But too many other community members have ended up back in countries they fled as children.
In response to deportation raids on Southeast Asian communities, we led two nationwide class action lawsuits, Chhoeun v. Marin and Trinh v. Homan, challenging the unlawful detention of Cambodian and Vietnamese refugees. The litigation has resulted in groundbreaking victories including an injunction preventing ICE from ambushing Cambodian class members at home or work without warning sometimes decades after they had been released.
Chhoeun v. Marin
In 2017, we filed a class action lawsuit with Sidley Austin LLP, challenging the detentions of Cambodian nationals with deportation orders. That year, ICE began unannounced raids, detaining people like Mony based on decades-old convictions for offenses they committed as teenagers. Many of these community members fled Cambodia as refugees in the 1970s to escape genocide and war. Many have no family left in Cambodia and have only ever called the U.S. home.
The court acknowledged that the way ICE has been conducting arrests on Cambodian community members is unconstitutional and has caused enormous harm to that community over the years. The court issued an order requiring the U.S. government to issue a 14-day written notice before detaining Cambodian nationals with final orders of removal, giving people more time to contact their family and seek legal counsel. We are continuing to defend our win on appeal.
Trinh v. Homan
In 2018, with Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Atlanta and Reed Smith LLP, we filed a nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of Vietnamese refugees who fled Vietnam to escape persecution under the new communist regime, challenging their detention by ICE. Historically, Vietnamese immigrants who came to the United States before July 12, 1995 (pre-1995 Vietnamese) were protected from deportation under an agreement between the United States and Vietnam. As a result, ICE released pre-1995 Vietnamese immigrants relatively promptly after their deportation proceedings concluded. But ICE abruptly changed its detention practices in 2017 and began imprisoning pre-1995 Vietnamese immigrants for many months.
Months after we filed the case, ICE returned to its practice of releasing pre-1995 Vietnamese immigrants promptly. ICE has also agreed to provide bond hearings to certain class members and greater transparency regarding the detention and deportation of pre-1995 Vietnamese immigrants.
If you or a loved one have been detained by ICE and need legal help, please contact us.
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