Lueon Lum is a father of two, living with his loving wife in a house they’ve recently been able to rent. He’s got a good paying job, and the first of his two little girls is learning to ride a bike and is getting ready to start attending school. Lueon is a cambodian refugee who was brought here as a little boy- he’s been living in the US as a legal permanent resident, and his wife encouraged him to become a citizen so that he wouldn’t have any status issues as he continues to advance in his work.
Little did he know that applying for citizenship would lead to his deportation.
About a month ago, we told you about the national screenings of the documentary “Sentenced Home”. Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the DC screening. This important documentary follows the lives of three cambodian refugees, including Lueon, who were deported,or are facing deportation due the the 1996 law that states that any legal permanent resident convicted of an aggravated felony is ineligible for citizenship and can be deported. The 1996 law elminated judicial review and appeals processes for these cases. Thus, there is no way for a legal permanent resident to plead their case based on rehabilitation, circumstances of the crime, or US citizen children.
Lueon Lum fired a gun while in a chase in a mall parking lot when he was a teenager. He served jail time for attempted assault. Nearly a decade later, after starting a family, building a community in his hometown of Seattle, and entering the labor force - he was detained for months in the US, and was eventually deported- separated for the rest of his life from his children and wife. — This isn’t justice. This isn’t making our community any safer. It’s destruction for desctruction’s sake. We must demand that congress reinstate judicial review and appeals for cases such as Lueon’s.
There are currently 1500 cambodian refugees facing deportation. Every 2 months, a new group is deported.
I highly recommend you check out this documentary- and if you know of other documentaries let us know!
I’ ve also included a relevant article below focusing on the lives of US citizen children who are left behind after their parents are deported.
Deportations strand young U.S. citizens
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Illegal immigrants’ American-born kids have right to stay — but doing so can often mean great hardship
By Michael Martinez
Tribune national correspondent
April 29, 2007
AUSTIN, Texas — With no more than two hours of sleep in 32 hours, Luissana Santibanez found her two lives colliding.
There is Santibanez the 23-year-old senior at the University of Texas who just pulled an all-nighter to complete a paper and cram for a test.
Then there is Santibanez the sudden mother to three siblings, ages 13, 15 and 16. With classes over, she was beginning her second life, cooking dinner and supervising three teenagers with their homework.
When she had a private moment, Santibanez broke down. Sitting on the living room floor with her laptop, she began to cry. Read the rest of this entry »
