April 13, 2021
The Honorable Alejandro Mayorkas
Secretary, Department of Homeland Security
245 Murray Lane, S.W.
Washington, DC 20528
The Honorable Tae Johnson
Acting Director
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
20 Massachusetts Avenue, 4th floor
Washington, D.C. 2052
The Honorable Tae Johnson
Acting Director, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
20 Massachusetts Avenue, 4th floor
Washington, D.C. 20529
Dear Secretary Mayorkas and Acting Director Johnson,
We write to express our deep concern about the detention and deportation of Vietnamese refugees, specifically reports that 33 refugees were deported on March 15, 2021 after a new repatriation agreement was signed between the United States and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. While we await the details of this situation, we want to unequivocally express our opposition to any agreement that would allow the repatriation of Vietnamese refugees who arrived before 1995, as many of us have done before.
In the aftermath of the Vietnam War, hundreds of thousands of Southeast Asian refugees fled to the U.S. to seek freedom from political persecution and the Communist take-over of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Many of those who fled fought alongside or supported U.S. forces during the war. Others were born in refugee camps and have never set foot in the country to which they currently face deportation.
Upon their arrival in the U.S., these refugees, many of them young children or teenagers, were resettled in struggling neighborhoods without support or resources to cope with significant trauma from the war. As a result, some made mistakes that funneled them into the criminal justice system. However, these individuals have served their time.
In 2008, the United States and Vietnam signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This longstanding agreement, which was honored by both President George W. Bush and Barack Obama, did not outline a bilateral agreement regarding the deportation of any Vietnamese citizens who arrived in the United States before the two countries reestablished diplomatic relations on July 12, 1995. [Article 2, Para. 2]
Reports have indicated that in February 2021, a new MOU was signed to govern the repatriation of pre-1995 Vietnamese immigrants, and that on March 15, 2021, an Omni Air Charter flight was scheduled at 7:45pm PST to leave Dallas and headed to Hanoi, Vietnam with 33 individuals.
We request that you confirm the validity of these reports, and, if true, provide us with a copy of the new agreement. We also request that you confirm the validity of reports that 33 Vietnamese refugees, including some who arrived in the United States prior to July 12, 1995, were deported to Vietnam on March 15th, 2021. If true, we request that you provide us with the names of the deported individuals.
We also encourage you to meet with community organizations, and impacted individuals on the issue of Southeast Asian refugee removal.
Thank you and we look forward to your answers.
Sincerely,
________________________
Alan Lowenthal
MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Elizabeth Warren Mazie K. Hirono
/s/ UNITED STATES SENATOR /s/ UNITED STATES SENATOR
Jerrold Nadler Zoe Lofgren
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Nikema Williams Barbara Lee
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Ritchie Torres Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr.
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Seth Moulton Cindy Axne
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Adam Smith James P. McGovern
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Ayanna Pressley Ro Khanna
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Grace Meng Bonnie Watson Coleman
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Jan Schakowsky J. Luis Correa
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Ilhan Omar Eleanor Holmes Norton
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Jake Auchincloss Raul M. Grijalva
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Juan Vargas Pramila Jayapal
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS /s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
Scott H. Peters Lori Trahan
/s/ MEMBER OF CONGRESS
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