CAMBODIANS PROTEST DEPORTATIONS.Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - Cambodian-American activists from Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, and other large Khmer communities on Friday launched a four-day lobbying campaign that seeks to halt controversial deportations of convicted felons to Cambodia. ``Cambodia is not a safe place for these people,'' said Him Chhim, executive director of the Cambodia Association of America in Long Beach and a leading critic of the Immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. and Naturalization naturalization, official act by which a person is made a national of a country other than his or her native one. In some countries naturalized persons do not necessarily become citizens but may merely acquire a new nationality. Service's new deportation deportation, expulsion of an alien from a country by an act of its government. The term is not applied ordinarily to sending a national into exile or to committing one convicted of crime to an overseas penal colony (historically called transportation). policy. He cited reports of deportees being jailed upon their arrival in Cambodia and also criticized the inclusion of persons convicted of nonviolent felonies. ``We agree with U.S. and violent criminals should be deported,'' said Chhim. ``But there are also people being deported for offenses like shoplifting Ask a Lawyer Question Country: United States of America State: Florida caught shoplifting at sears 12/05/05, first time, 20yearsold, have no criminal record. and drunk driving. We also want to stop deportations until we are sure the people will be properly treated.'' The 2000 Census reported Southern California's Cambodian-American population at 36,233, but local activists say the actual figure is far higher. Vunyaung Tan, political counselor for the Cambodian Embassy in Washington, D.C., denied that deportees are being mistreated. ``They are free to go when they arrive and have the same rights as all Cambodian citizens to live and work where they please,'' he said. Theary Seng, a Washington attorney and organizer of the lobbying effort, said her fellow Cambodian-Americans are particularly at risk of deportation because many have failed to go through the procedures to become citizens. ``We were war-weary, downtrodden down·trod·den adj. Oppressed; tyrannized. downtrodden Adjective oppressed and lacking the will to resist Adj. 1. and just happy to be alive here in a land of freedom,'' said the Cambodia-born Seng, who grew up in Cerritos. ``So many of us didn't deal with passports and green cards. ``I believe these people face torture in Cambodia and there should be a blanket stop to these deportations until it can be proved otherwise.'' Most legal and undocumented immigrant felons have faced deportation since the enactment of a 1996 reform law. Cambodian-Americans were not immediately included because of concerns over human rights and political unrest in Cambodia. That policy changed in March, when the U.S. and Cambodia signed a deportation treaty that included pledges of humane treatment. To date, 27 Cambodian-Americans have been deported and an estimated 1,500 felons are awaiting deportation in INS INS abbr. 1. Immigration and Naturalization Service 2. International News Service Noun 1. INS detention centers at Terminal Island and other locations. Rep. Juanita Millender McDonald, D-Carson, is pressing for passage next year of the Family Reunification Family reunification is a recognized reason for immigration in many countries. The presence of one or more family members in a certain country, therefore, enables the rest of the family to immigrate to that country as well. Act to curtail deportations of legal permanent U.S. residents. ``I am opposed to the forced removal of Cambodians to a country where they and members of their families suffered violence and torture,'' she said. |
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