Tell President Biden to #PardonPheng!

President Biden has the ultimate power to permanently stop Pheng Seng’s deportation by pardoning his federal drug conviction. Since coming home in 2011, Pheng has become a pillar of hope for his community in unofficial "Cambodia Town" 7th Street Corridor in South Philadelphia where he's lived for over 30 years. His deportation would devastate his community, withholding them from his leadership in his neighborhood and the greater Southeast Asian refugee community in Philadelphia.

As we approach the 50th Anniversary of Southeast Asian refugee resettlement in the United States and the start of President Trump's second term, President Biden must do right by our community by honoring our dignity and right to heal, rooted in our communities!

Who is Pheng?

VietLead’s impacted leader, Pheng Seng has lived in South Philadelphia’s unofficial “Cambodia Town” 7th Street Corridor for over 30 years. Born in a refugee camp in the Philippines, Pheng and his family were resettled in the United States when he was 4 months old. Growing up in a resource-deprived neighborhood in Philadelphia, he faced many challenges that the 1.5 generation of Southeast Asian refugee children know all too well: deep poverty, racial violence and bullying, the school-to-prison pipeline, and more.

Struggling with the trauma of poverty and intergenerational trauma from war and genocide—which he inherited from his parents who are Khmer Rouge genocide survivors, Pheng struggled with mental health issues as a young adult, which drove him to develop an addiction by the time he was 19-years-old. To support his habit, Pheng turned to selling drugs, and these poor decisions led him to serve 5 years in federal prison, including a year and a half at Moshannon Valley while it still served as a federal prison before becoming an ICE detention center in 2021. For these mistakes, Pheng has a final order of removal from ICE and continues to live in fear of his deportation.

Since coming home in 2011, Pheng has committed himself to learning and growing as an individual and to transform himself from the young, misguided man he was before his incarceration. He is passionate about uplifting his community on the 7th Street Corridor, a diverse community still struggling with instability due to poverty and lack of resources. He’s held different drives and served on many community liaison roles, including his roles as the former President of Southeast Asian Vendors Association at FDR Park and the VP of the Cambodian American Business Community. Many have recognized Pheng’s service to his community, but he considers himself to still be a growing and evolving community member, and he does not feel like his actions have been enough.

“Enough for me would be the whole community and neighbors and members are all successful and thriving, basically not caught up in financial issues or problems...People continue to move in and out of the neighborhood that contributes to instability. People are leaving this neighborhood because of poverty. So you made it out, but what about the next person? I stay here because I care about the folks here, the community members, the friends I grew up with, and the ones that got caught up being incarcerated that came back out and didn’t really understand the system. And on top of that, they got caught up in the trauma and not having the right help through mental health and falling into drugs.”

In 2020, Pheng started Unrivaled Screen Printing with friends after being disillusioned by the limited job market for formerly incarcerated people. His commitment to his community has driven his business philosophy: providing jobs and a safe space for neighbors and community organizations to gather. He hopes that, even if he is deported, Unrivaled will continue to serve as a vital community resource for the Southeast Asian community in Philadelphia on 7th street and beyond.