In a July 18 telephone interview with You when he was still in ICE custody, he reflected on his possible fate. As part of his rehabilitation in the California prison system, You learned sheet metal work and automobile painting, skills he will lean on for employment if he gets the chance. You was likely met at the airport by staff from a nonprofit in Cambodia, who typically help people in his situation secure proper documentation and provide some transitional support, including housing, but only for about a month. You also knew that the California State Senate will be deliberating upon AB 937, the VISION Act, which would prohibit CDCR from doing exactly what it did to him, and hoped that fact and the close timing of the possible end of the practice would sway the governor to act in some way to rescue him from the trauma of deportation, if only as a stopgap measure until the Legislature has its say. But he wasn’t giving up because having paroled him to early release, Newsom knew how hard he had worked to be rehabilitated and that he was not a threat to public safety.
Newsom signed 17 pardons on July 1, and You’s was not among them, he knew his chances were slim. Community members are also raising funds to support Phoeun in Cambodia, a country to which he has no ties.”Īfter Gov. Nonetheless, his supporters will fight for his return, saying in a press release issued by Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus: “Despite the deportation, Governor Newsom can still pardon Phoeun and reunite him with his family and community. Amid the uncertainty, advocates continued to call Newsom’s office asking for an 11th hour act of mercy, not knowing that their colleague and friend was already en route.Ī reporter from Capital & Main also called Newsom’s communications department on Wednesday morning and, later in the day, submitted a request form online, seeking information about the status of a pardon, but did not receive a reply. He was able to get a message out to supporters that he was “being taken to an airport,” but for over 24 hours, his lawyer, family and friends did not know if he was being transferred to another ICE facility or if he had been dispatched to Southeast Asia, where he knows no one and does not speak the language. On Tuesday afternoon, without advance warning (which is standard practice, according to immigration rights advocates) You was removed from the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Center in Bakersfield. Despite a determined defense and vigorous campaign spearheaded by advocates at Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus and the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, efforts that included a rally attended by You’s aged and wheelchair-bound parents, and the unanimous passage of a resolution from the Oakland City Council urging Newsom to pardon him, what You had called his “small window of hope” was shuttered.
0 kommentar(er)
