A dedicated community campaign to free Rot Mythong reached an important milestone when the Long Beach resident was released on bond from the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Sept. 8. To help Mythong as he re-enters society, the Long Beach Southeast Asian Anti-Deportation Collective set up a GoFundMe page that was able to collect $5,501 in donations by the time it closed on Thursday, Oct. 1.
According to the GoFundMe page, the $5,501 raised will go towards:
• Basic needs related to medical, food, clothing, and transportation
• Digital and tech needs for cell phone, service, or a computer
• Relocation needs when he decides to transition elsewhere
• Financial resources for Rot as he builds socio-economic stability
• Additional support for resources that Rot determines necessary
Mythong was arrested in 1989 by the Long Beach Police Department on charges of first-degree murder after shooting a man to death during an altercation when he was a teenager and was sentenced to 29 years to life in prison. After serving 29 years, he was granted parole and given a release date of Feb. 20, 2020.
Rather than being released that day, Mythong was transferred directly into ICE custody.
While California jails and prisons are not required by law to share an inmate’s release date or hand them over to ICE, many facilities choose to.
Mythong’s case has put a local face to the controversial practice.
Those who object to the transfer of immigrants from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to ICE custody argue that it is a xenophobic attempt to punish immigrants more than citizens for the same crimes.
“I sometimes do think of the possibilities of being deported to Cambodia and how will that look like,” Mythong wrote on July 23 in a letter to his supporters. The handwritten letter was shared on social media by the Long Beach Southeast Asian Anti-Deportation Collective on Aug. 1. “I have to admit the fear is real for me. I think of the past horror and trauma my family and I had to escape from. I don’t speak the Khmer language and I have no living family or relatives in Cambodia.”
Mythong arrived in this country when he was only two years old, and is culturally no different from any other American who was born here. If he were a citizen he would have been granted release on parole in February and been home with his family instead of in the ICE-ran Adelanto Detention Center when the coronavirus pandemic arrived.
“As the state of California has deemed him rehabilitated, in the state’s same breath they sentenced him to more persecution in ICE detention,” Nathaniel Tan, co-director of the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, said in a press release. “For immigrants and refugees who have gone through our criminal justice system, they do not get to celebrate their freedom, but instead are made to endure more time in ICE while they await deportation. It is because of Rot’s will to fight and organizers’ will to reunite families that Rot’s freedom is possible.”
Members of the Long Beach Immigrant Rights Coalition, the Sanctuary Long Beach Coalition, Khmer Girls In Action and the May Day Long Beach Coalition would call ICE weekly on Tuesdays asking for Mythong’s release.
The Sanctuary Long Beach Coalition is also co-sponsoring the VISION Act, Assembly Bill 2596, which would limit the authority of CDCR to transfer inmates to ICE.
Under the current California Values Act, only those “convicted of specified crimes or arrested for a serious or violent felony,” can be transferred from CDCR to ICE custody. The California Values Act also prohibits California law enforcement agencies from sharing an inmate’s release date with ICE unless that information is already publicly available.
While the VISION Act is currently stuck in committee, if passed it would require that law enforcement only comply with subpoenas related to immigration if they’ve been signed by either a federal judge or a federal magistrate judge. It would also ban CDCR from sharing an inmate’s release date with ICE in all circumstances.
ICE has spoken in defense of transferring inmates from CDCR to ICE custody, calling it a matter of public safety.
“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. “We have an obligation to protect and serve, which includes using every resource at our disposal, such as honoring immigration detainers, to keep violent criminals, like Mythong, off our streets.”
Advocates for Mythong claim that he is a changed man and that the 45-year-old has reformed himself since his time as a troubled teen.
“At the time, Rot only knew how to respond to situations with violence and aggression,” a petition on MoveOn.org asking for Mythong’s release, said. The petition was shown to the presiding judge in the case.
The petition listed Alcohol Anonymous, anger management, substance abuse prevention, Buddhist meditation groups, alternative violence program (AVP), Criminal and Gang Anonymous (CGA), Prisoners Against Child Abuse and New Life Canine Dog Program among the programs Mythong participated in while behind bars.
“My goals and purpose is also here in America,” Mythong’s letter said. “I plan to continue to be an advocate for change. I would like to continue to reach out to the youngsters or even adults who is struggling with [their] addiction to criminal and gang lifestyle. I would like to share my testimony to the men and women and show them that it is possible to leave the gang lifestyle for a higher purpose.”
The MoveOn.org petition to free Mythong originally had a goal of 3,000 signatures, then 5,000, and has garnered 4,827 signatures as of Monday, Sept. 28.
Despite originally being denied bond a few weeks earlier, a federal judge agreed to release him on bail Tuesday, Sept. 8. Mythong was reunited with his family the next day. His partner had been pregnant at the time of his arrest and until now, Mythong had been incarcerated for the entirety of his daughter and grandchildren’s lives.
During the campaign for his release, his medical history as a cancer survivor and asthma sufferer was repeatedly referred to as a reason his immediate release was necessary. COVID-19 is known to attack the lungs and potentially cause them to fail in some cases, and those with underlying health conditions are more likely to have severe symptoms.
Of the 784 detainees held at Adelanto, 81 have tested positive for coronavirus, with nine requiring hospitalization. A federal judge ordered on Tuesday, Sept. 29 that the facility must come up with a plan to reduce its population size to allow all detainees to keep a distance of six feet from each other, according to City News Service.
It was recently discovered during a lawsuit that ICE administration at Adelanto has been allegedly denying COVID-19 testing to detainees, as reported by the American Civil Liberties Union. While the agency had tested new arrivals, it chose not to do so for the existing population.
“With COVID-19 rapidly spreading in immigrant prisons, immigration detention can become a death sentence for many,” said Gaby Hernandez, executive director of the Long Beach Immigrants Rights Coalition. “People are crowded in close quarters with no possible way to social distance, creating a high risk for rapid spread of this dangerous virus and peoples’ lives are at risk the longer they are in there. Detention destroys entire families and is simply unnecessary. We are incredibly thankful to know Rot is home and no longer in an immigrant prison that could have cost him his life.”
