Deporting Vietnamese Refugees: Policy and Politics from Bush to Biden (Part 2)

A rally protesting deportation policy to deport Vietnamese refugees (Source: Hilda L. Solis)

Anna Nguyen

Trump’s Policy and Critics

Trump’s move in 2017 to deport former Vietnamese refugees confronted critics and opponents from many directions, including members of his own administration. In a letter addressed to then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the American ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius, requested a reconsideration of this policy change and spoke about the potential harm it could inflict on Vietnamese refugees. Appointed in 2014 by President Obama as the sixth U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, Osius had had his extensive career in foreign service, including appointments in Vietnam, India, and Indonesia.

Osius’ opposition to the new policy hinged on the fact that most of those to be deported had allied with the United States during the Vietnam War and would be subject to hostile treatment by the Vietnamese authorities once returned. He predicted that their forced return would trigger an uptick of human rights cases that the U.S. government would be culpable for and would likely inflame their already tenuous relationship with the Vietnamese government.

Osius later handed in his resignation after his letter was ignored. Following Hanoi’s acceptance of the new reinterpretation in return for some undisclosed quid pro quo by Washington, the Trump Administration was able to repatriate a small number of pre-1995 refugees in the early months of 2018.[1] These deportations were then used as a precedent to round up thousands of Southeast Asian refugees in the pipeline, especially those from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, for removal.

Trump officials might not have anticipated the immense public backlash to the new policy. Members of prominent Asian American advocacy groups mobilized in response to the policy change, taking to the streets in frustration and solidarity. Their efforts culminated in a legal effort piloted by Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a West Coast-based advocate for Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the United States.[2] The Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Asian Law Caucus affiliates of this civil rights nonprofit filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government in February 2018.[3] The outrage induced by Trump’s deportation push ultimately forced his administration to quietly walk back their repatriation plans for the time being. The policy reinterpretation was officially retracted in a California district court ruling that October, according to an official in the Department of Homeland Security.[4]

Although the alleviation of this pressure eased some anxieties within the Vietnamese community, advocates for the refugees knew that the battle was not yet over. In advance of a possible meeting between Trump officials and their Vietnamese counterparts, the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC) issued a statement about the community’s deep concerns over the issue and launched a letter campaign targeting members of Congress.[5] Despite these ardent efforts, however, the Trump administration renewed their negotiation with the Vietnamese government to reinterpret the MOU later that month, putting the lives of Vietnamese refugees in jeopardy for the second time in two years.[6]

In the U.S. Congress, House Representative Alan Lowenthal from California introduced a resolution last year that commemorated the Southeast Asian diaspora as an event of forced mobility and resettlement. The resolution intended to “[honor] those who survived and rebuilt their lives far from their homelands, [while] recognizing the contributions these survivors have made to American society.”[7] The bill also demanded that the Trump administration institute an immediate moratorium on the repatriation of Southeast Asians who committed crimes more than a decade ago.

The Appointment of Tony Pham

As if to demonstrate that the Trump administration was not against refugees, Tony Pham was appointed as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in July 2020. Pham is a Vietnamese refugee himself, with his immigration story beginning days before the fall of Saigon. He left the country with his family at the age of two and became an American citizen ten years later. Pham was not afraid to share this information and often displayed pride in his experiences as a refugee. The ironic juxtaposition of this identity with Pham’s punitive actions as the top ICE official generated a considerable level of controversy in the months following his appointment.

In the five short months he held office before stepping down in December 2020, Pham led efforts to install controversial billboards that depicted the faces of immigrant offenders who were deemed as at-large public safety threats. These aggressive signs were posted along Pennsylvania highways in the month leading up to the November 2020 general election. Pham is also known for his involvement in Operation Rise, “ICE’s latest operation targeting criminal aliens in Sanctuary Cities across the country.”[8] These actions illustrate how Pham’s immigration politics closely aligned with those of other GOP conservatives and culminated in his support for these fearmongering tactics. “Too often sanctuary policies limiting cooperation with ICE result in significant public safety concerns,” said Pham, “ICE will continue to enforce immigration laws set forth by Congress through the efforts of the men and women of ICE to remove criminal aliens and making our communities safer.”[9]

Pham’s brief tenure in this position was met with intense criticism from Asian American advocates pushing for more progressive immigration reforms. Some young Vietnamese Americans found it difficult to reconcile his refugee background with the anti-immigrant policies he pushed as acting ICE director.[10] His views on illegal immigration, however, reflect the perspectives of many Vietnamese Americans who have entered the country legally as refugees or immigrants and who have no qualms condemning illegal immigration. After all, Vietnamese refugees and their families waited for months and years in Southeast Asian camps or in Vietnam to obtain admission into the United States—why can’t others do the same?

Trump’s Immigration Policy in Perspective

Compared to his recent predecessors, Trump certainly made a more determined and public effort to deport Vietnamese nationals during his presidential tenure. His decision to reinterpret the 2008 MOU officially widened the pool of deportable refugees to include those who had previously been protected. From 35 Vietnamese nationals (not all being former refugees) who were deported the year before Trump took office, the number rose to 71, 122, 80, and 93 under his administration.[11] In an interview, a lawyer in Portland, OR who serves a number of Vietnamese-speaking clients in her community told me that the anti-immigrant sentiments expressed by the Trump administration went further than just political rhetoric. Trump’s attempts to move forward with executive orders, travel bans, and other efforts to tie courts up or put judges in complicated situations together made work harder for her and colleagues. The consequences of these actions continue to present unique and often frustrating challenges for refugees and their community advocates today.

Although Trump’s provocative take on immigration effectively ignited national discourse about deportation and the refugee experience, it is also important to understand that this is an issue he inherited at the start of his presidency. Understanding that the repatriation of Vietnamese refugees today stems from progressive and consistent political escalations under the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations is critical to finding a solution to the problem. In the third and final part of this series, I will discuss how policies on deportation and refugee admissions have evolved in the hands of President Joseph Biden since the beginning of this year.

References

Chishti, Muzaffar, Sarah Pierce, and Jessica Bolter, “The Obama Record on Deportations: Deporter in Chief or Not?” Migration Policy Institute, January 26, 2017. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/obama-record-deportations-deporter-chief-or-not.

Constante, Agnes. “Nonprofits sue over immigration detention of Vietnamese nationals who came as refugees.” NBC News. March 1, 2018. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/nonprofits-sue-over-immigration-detention-vietnamese-nationals-who-came-refugees-n852401.

Cowen, Jill. “Untangling Moves to Deport Vietnamese Immigrants.” New York Times. December 18, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/california-today-vietnamese-immigrants-deportation.html.

Dunst, Charles. “Protections Fall for Vietnamese Immigrants as Trump Pushes Deportations.” Just Security. August 29, 2019. https://www.justsecurity.org/66015/protections-fall-for-vietnamese-immigrants-as-trump-pushes-deportations.

Dunst, Charles. “Trump Administration Quietly Backs Off on Deporting Vietnamese Immigrants.” New York Times. November 22, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/22/world/asia/vietnam-trump-immigrants-deport.html.

Dunst, Charles and Krishnadev Calamur. “Trump Moves to Deport Vietnam War Refugees.” The Atlantic. December 12, 2018.

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/12/donald-trump-deport-vietnam-war-refugees/577993/.

Fernandes, Deepa. “A Vietnamese refugee served as one of California’s inmate firefighters. Then the state gave him to ICE.” San Francisco Examiner, August 9, 2021. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/A-Vietnamese-refugee-served-as-one-of-16375225.php#:~:text=Bay%20Area-,A%20Vietnamese%20refugee%20served%20as%20one%20of%20California’s%20inmate%20firefighters,state%20gave%20him%20to%20ICE&text=Aug.%209%2C%202021%20Updated%3A,9%2C%202021%209%3A58%20p.m.&text=On%20his%20final%20day%20in,beyond%20the%20gray%20penitentiary%20wall.

“ICE launches billboards in Pennsylvania featuring at-large public safety threats.” Immigration Customs and Enforcement. Last updated February 9, 2021. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-launches-billboards-pennsylvania-featuring-large-public-safety-threats.

Lowenthal, Alan. “Congressman Lowenthal Marks 45th Anniversary of Southeast Asian Diaspora, Calls on Administration to End Deportation of Refugees.” May 5, 2020. https://lowenthal.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-lowenthal-marks-45th-anniversary-southeast-asian-diaspora-calls.

Osius, Ted. “Respect, Trust and Partnership: Keeping Diplomacy on Course in Troubling Times.” American Foreign Service Association, April 2018. https://www.afsa.org/respect-trust-and-partnership-keeping-diplomacy-course-troubling-times.

“Remarks as Prepared by Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf for ICE Operation Rise Announcement.” Department of Homeland Security. October 7, 2020. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/10/07/remarks-prepared-acting-secretary-chad-f-wolf-ice-operation-rise-announcement.

Southeast Asian Resource Action Center. “SEARAC Deeply Concerned About Possible DHS, Vietnam Meeting.” Last modified December 10, 2018. https://www.searac.org/press-room/searac-deeply-concerned-about-possible-dhs-vietnam-meeting/.

Sweeney, Caroline. “Immigration, race, family separation all topics in conversation with acting head of ICE.” Channel 5 Cleveland, October 29, 2020. https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/originals/immigration-race-family-separation-all-topics-in-conversation-with-acting-head-of-ice.

Watson, Julie, and Matthew Lee. “Trump plans to slash refugee admissions to US to record low.” Associated Press. September 30, 2020. https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-politics-united-states-immigration-f76797b97e8a0b66150d0269fe4f432b.

Wilson, Elaine Sanchez. “SEARAC Statement on Resignation of ICE Acting Director Tony Pham.” SEARAC. December 16, 2020. https://www.searac.org/immigration/searac-statement-on-resignation-of-ice-acting-director-tony-pham/.

Notes

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/us/california-today-vietnamese-immigrants-deportation.html

[2] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/nonprofits-sue-over-immigration-detention-vietnamese-nationals-who-came-refugees-n852401

[3] https://www.advancingjustice-la.org/sites/default/files/Habeaus-Petition-Complaint-Vietnamese-Detainees.pdf

[4] Charles Dunst, “Trump Administration Quietly Backs Off on Deporting Vietnamese Immigrants,” New York Times, November 22, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/22/world/asia/vietnam-trump-immigrants-deport.html.

[5] Southeast Asian Resource Action Center, “SEARAC Deeply Concerned About Possible DHS, Vietnam Meeting,” last modified December 10, 2018, https://www.searac.org/press-room/searac-deeply-concerned-about-possible-dhs-vietnam-meeting/. Also, interview with Quyen Dinh, SEARAC executive director.

[6] Dunst and Calamur, “Trump Moves to Deport Vietnam War Refugees.”

[7] Office of Rep. Alan Lowenthal, “Congressman Lowenthal Marks 45th Anniversary of Southeast Asian Diaspora, Calls on Administration to End Deportation of Refugees,” May 5, 2020, https://lowenthal.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-lowenthal-marks-45th-anniversary-southeast-asian-diaspora-calls.

[8] “Remarks as Prepared by Acting Secretary Chad F. Wolf for ICE Operation Rise Announcement,” Department of Homeland Security, October 7, 2020, https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/10/07/remarks-prepared-acting-secretary-chad-f-wolf-ice-operation-rise-announcement.

[9] “ICE launches billboards in Pennsylvania featuring at-large public safety threats,” Immigration Customs and Enforcement, last updated February 9, 2021, https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-launches-billboards-pennsylvania-featuring-large-public-safety-threats.

[10] Elaine Sanchez Wilson, “SEARAC Statement on Resignation of ICE Acting Director Tony Pham,” SEARAC, December 16, 2020, https://www.searac.org/immigration/searac-statement-on-resignation-of-ice-acting-director-tony-pham/.

[11] Deepa Fernandes, “A Vietnamese refugee served as one of California’s inmate firefighters. Then the state gave him to ICE,” San Francisco Examiner, August 9, 2021. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/A-Vietnamese-refugee-served-as-one-of-16375225.php#:~:text=Bay%20Area-,A%20Vietnamese%20refugee%20served%20as%20one%20of%20California’s%20inmate%20firefighters,state%20gave%20him%20to%20ICE&text=Aug.%209%2C%202021%20Updated%3A,9%2C%202021%209%3A58%20p.m.&text=On%20his%20final%20day%20in,beyond%20the%20gray%20penitentiary%20wall.