The Long Beach Southeast Asian (LB SEA) Anti-Deportation Collective is asking the public to call and email Governor Gavin Newsom’s office asking that he prevent the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) from transferring inmate Phoeun You into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The LB SEA Anti-Deportation Collective fights against the deportation of Southeast Asian immigrants in Long Beach, leading campaigns asking the public to support detained immigrants from Cambodia, Vietnam and more.
According to Ear Hustle, a podcast produced within San Quentin state prison, You is currently being held at San Quentin for killing another man during a gang-related brawl.
According to the CDCR Inmate Locator, You has been in custody since Nov. 20, 1996 and was granted parole on Aug. 3, 2021. He has not yet been released from prison.
Because You is an immigrant, instead of being released on parole, he will be handed over to ICE—who will detain and then most likely deport him to Cambodia.
According to a class-action lawsuit against ICE, in fiscal year 2017 ICE arrested 1,600 people held at CDCR facilities and another 1,100 people in fiscal year 2018.
According to the same lawsuit, between Jan. 1, 2020 and May 13, 2020, approximately 575 people were transferred to ICE custody directly from CDCR.
This practice has been criticized by immigration advocates as excessive and unfair, arguing that it punishes immigrants more than citizens for the same crimes.
“The hardships I would face if deported would be unjust and unnecessary, especially when I have so much that I hope to offer my community here,” You said in a statement.
When he was 5 years old, You and his family fled Cambodia to escape the violence of the Khmer Rouge. His family spent two years in a refugee camp before they were able to come to the United States.
Local immigrant advocacy groups, such as the Long Beach Southeast Asian Anti-Deportation Collective and the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, have voiced their support of a bill that could end the transfer of immigrants in CDCR custody to ICE.
The Voiding Inequality and Seeking Inclusion for Our Immigrant Neighbors (VISION) Act, Assembly Bill (AB) 937, would entitle immigrants to the same rules of release and parole as citizens, keeping them from being transferred to ICE after being granted parole or release from CDCR.
“Once a Californian has paid their debt to society, and earned their release from our state prisons or jails, they should be released back to society rather than funneled into immigration detention and deportation,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement in February 2020.
A previous version of the bill, AB-2596, that was co-sponsored by the Sanctuary Long Beach Coalition was killed in committee in May 2020.
The current VISION Act is being considered by the state senate, after being passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee in August 2021.
If passed into law, the Vision Act would prevent cooperation between CDCR, California police departments and ICE, such as sharing an inmate’s release date and immigration status.
The bill also provides further protection for immigrants who were arrested for crimes committed when they were 25 years old or younger and are now eligible for release.
ICE has stated that immigrants who have been detained in California jails and prisons should continue to be transferred directly into ICE custody to await deportation proceedings.
“It is a great injustice for our community and law enforcement officers to see criminals, who pose a risk of reoffending and danger to the public and should therefore be turned over to ICE, released into the public instead,” ICE’s ERO Los Angeles Field Office Director Dave Marin said in a statement.
