Cambodians living in the United States who fled genocide in the late 1970s may soon face deportation to a country they don’t fully know.
On Tuesday, Los Angeles County 4th District Supervisor Janice Hahn submitted a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke questioning an alleged increase in detentions and deportations of Cambodian individuals by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
“My office has heard multiple reports that detentions of Cambodian immigrants have increased in recent weeks,” Hahn’s letter reads. “Many of these detentions were sudden and without warning. Many of the people detained have been living and working in the United States for decades without incident, and most of them have faithfully and regularly reported as required to their local ICE office during those decades.”
Janice Hahn
In an emailed response to the Signal Tribune Wednesday evening, Liz Odendahl, Hahn’s communications director, said the speculation concerning ICE targeting Cambodians comes from an NBC news article published on Oct. 13 that reported that federal agencies have begun detaining Cambodian-Americans with orders to be removed. Odendahl provided the Signal Tribune with a website link to the story.
Political tensions between the United States and Cambodia have been covered in the media recently. On Sept. 22, the Signal Tribune published a press release from Congressmember Alan Lowenthal concerning political turmoil in Cambodia.
The statement reads, “Lowenthal joined with eight of his House colleagues in calling on Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to ‘swiftly and publically condemn’ the recent arrest of Cambodian opposition party leader Kem Sokha for treason by the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.”
Lowenthal had also issued a statement on Sept. 12 that indicates he was appalled by the closure of Radio Free Asia offices in Cambodia.
The congressmember called out the Cambodian prime minister for not “allowing a free press to exist in Cambodia.”
Cambodian officials said that its government has continued to work closely with the United States concerning a variety of topics, including immigration, however the Southeast Asian country has been placed on “the list of countries determined to be uncooperative, denying or unreasonably delaying the acceptance of its nationals, whom the United States seeks to expel,” according to a statement from the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Department.
“Surprisingly, the embassy of the United States through its note 0703, dated [Sept. 12, 2017,] notified that ‘the Department of States has ordered, effective [Sept. 13, 2017,] consular officers in Cambodia to discontinue granting B1, B2 and B1/B2 visas to employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the rank of director general and above, and their families,” the statement reads.
The statement adds that, despite the visa restrictions imposed by the US, Cambodian agencies will continue to “accept its nationals who will be deported by the US.”
In the United States, Long Beach, which is part of the county’s 4th District, is home to a large Cambodian community. Hahn wrote in her letter that one person detained by ICE is a Long Beach resident.
“We heard first from a family in Long Beach who has a family member currently in ICE custody,” Odendahl wrote in her email.
Hahn’s office could not share the identification and contact information of the family with the Signal Tribune because they are conducting “case work” for them as of press time, according to Odendahl.
The letter ends with Hahn asking for an explanation for any change in procedure and details on recent detentions of Cambodian immigrants by ICE.
She also urges the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to release individuals detained if the allegations about detentions as a result of US-Cambodian political disagreements are true.
“My residents and their families cannot be used as pawns,” the letter states.
According to Odendahl, there has been no response to the letter.
“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on congressional correspondence,” wrote Homeland Security Acting Press Secretary Tyler Houlton in an email to the Signal Tribune. “We will respond to the member as appropriate.”
The Long Beach-based organizations United Cambodian Community and the Cambodian Association of America were not able to respond to requests for comment by press time.
