Fear grows as Donald Trump administration moves to deport Laotian refugees

Serena Somsack said she did not know what she and her six children would do if her family was broken apart by deportation. Somsack, 32, a US citizen, would lose her husband. Her children would lose their father. “It would just be a tremendous loss for [any] of the families to lose a mum or a dad,” Serena Somsack said. Since taking office, US President Donald Trump has aggressively pursued deportations. In 2018, the Trump administration sanctioned Laos to pressure the Southeast Asian country to take back its deportees. Talks between both governments have now intensified, leaving many in Fresno’s large Hmong community in fear. Since no agreement has been reached between nations, there is no timeline for deportations to begin. While the US and Lao governments remain in negotiations over a new repatriation agreement, the US is already funding a reintegration programme to assist people who have been deported to Laos in recent years. Thousands of Laotians and Hmong individuals have held a final deportation order for years, but most have not been deported because Laos refused to recognise them as its citizens. The majority have criminal convictions for which they already served time in jail or prison. Serena Somsack’s 42-year-old husband, Keota, said he faces a final deportation order for a crime he committed two decades ago when he was 22 years old. He said he served six months in prison for stealing a car and possession of US$10 worth of drugs. “I’m scared,” he said. An official with the Office of Consular Affairs in Washington, who declined to be identified, said any repatriation deals reached in the future will be announced on the Laos embassy’s website. The official said Laos will not accept thousands of deportees all at once. Instead, he said he believes Laos may accept between 30 to 50 deportees a year, a step-by-step process that could take many years to complete. As of February 1, there were 38 Laotians, nationwide, facing deportation in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s custody. There were also 4,716 Laotians with a final deportation order who were not in ICE’s custody, according to Britney L. Walker, a spokesperson for ICE. Of those who were not being detained, Walker said, a total of 4,086 have criminal convictions. As of February 1, a total of eight Laotians had been deported from the country, she said, and seven of them had criminal convictions. Laos is among the countries that are considered “recalcitrant” for refusing to accept deportees. The other countries include Cambodia, Vietnam, Bhutan, Pakistan, Iran, China, Hong Kong, India, Cuba and Eritrea, according to ICE. At the request of the Department of State, USAID provided a US$100,000 reintegration grant to Village Focus International – a non-governmental organisation – to assist people who have been deported to Laos from the US, a USAID spokesperson said. “The grant will assist them with integration into Lao society and will reduce their vulnerability to exploitation through helping returnees with establishing stable, constructive and independent lives in Laos,” he said. Many facing deportation came to the US as children. Laos’ secret war – and how it transformed the CIA And some – like Keota Somsack – were born in refugee camps, the children of CIA-recruited fighters – like Somsack’s father – who helped the US battle communist forces during the so-called “Secret War” while the Vietnam war raged. “He helped Americans get to places where they needed to go, ” he said. “He told me about this war.” Keota Somsack said he just a year old when his parents brought him to the US from a refugee camp. Both of his parents have since died. His wife acknowledged her husband made “dumb” mistakes two decades ago, but also said he served his prison time and shouldn’t be punished twice. “It’s almost like double jeopardy,” she said We became enemies of the country of Laos because of our involvement in the Secret War, and now to send [back] children of the veterans … for me, I think it’s a human rights violation Pao Yang, CEO at The Fresno Centre The couple have been married for five years and been together for 11. “While I work, he does everything,” his wife said. “He does the cooking, the cleaning, takes the kids to school, picks up the kids from school, takes them to whatever activities they need to be [at] … It’s a busy household and without him there I would be lost.” Lucky Siphongsay, executive director at the Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries, said he and others believe the establishment of a reintegration programme in Laos means deportations could soon begin. “It makes me think ‘OK, they are in the process, and talks are intensifying every day,” he said. “They are preparing to do something drastic this year, and the community needs to be aware of that, and we need to all come in and support.” At least 138 people deported from the US to El Salvador have been killed Siphongsay said he recently met the Laos Ambassador to the US Khamphan Anlavan and was told the Trump administration is pressuring the Laos government “to really have an open-door kind of policy”. “Families will be broken,” he said. Pao Yang, chief executive officer at The Fresno Centre, said that “everybody is really scared now.” “We are allies of the US,” said Yang, who came to the US when he was six years old. “And when we became allies, we became enemies of the country of Laos because of our involvement in the Secret War, and now to send [back] children of the veterans … for me, I think it’s a human rights violation.”