This past summer, 8 Cambodian Americans in Minnesota (“MN 8”) were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for unjust deportation. Families, friends, and neighbors have banded together by launching the #ReleaseMN8 campaign. Watch their call to action video here.

Take action by calling Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to stop these unjust deportations. Add your phone number and we'll give you a call with instructions and talking points!

These deportations show how unfair the "felons, not families" policy is - despite their old records, all of the men are devoted and beloved fathers and sons. Unjust deportation is an important Asian American issue and families are fighting to stay together (e.g. the Adam Crapser Korean Adoptee case). Now the next Trump Administration may escalate attacks on Asian American families, even though we understand that deporting people who contribute to society is a waste of time and money.

Why is unjust deportation of the MN 8 a moral issue?

It is morally wrong to throw away survivors of war and genocide. Southeast Asian American refugee families from Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam escaped war and genocide, only to be resettled in poverty-stricken neighborhoods plagued by violence and crime. Many Southeast Asian American (SEA) children and young adults were funneled into the school-prison-deportation pipeline. Since 1998, around 16,000 SEAs have received final deportation orders—78% of them based on past criminal records for time served already.

It is morally wrong to deport people who are not a threat to security. In 2014, ICE updated prosecutorial use guidelines to focus on immigrants with criminal convictions as the first priority -- making people vulnerable to deportations despite an explicit guideline that states if people aren’t a “national threat, public security, and border security” they should not be deemed as a priority. Cambodian American survivors are not a threat to security.

It is morally wrong to break up loving families who contribute to society. According to SEARAC’s 2015 report, ICE agents can use “prosecutorial discretion” which enables ICE to use their judgement and authority to detain and deport persons based on background. This includes taking into account factors such as ”circumstance of the person’s arrival, ties and contributions to community, including family relationship, [and] whether the person has a U.S. citizen or permanent resident spouse, child, or parents.” Cambodian American survivors contribute to society and have loving families.

This petition is co-sponsored with the #ReleaseMN8 campaign, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, National Immigration Project, and Not1More/Mijente. Photo credit: Thaiphy Media (Thaiphy Phan-Quang). Call to Action Video: ubuntu Media (Ryan Stopera).