Take Action for Nan-Hui
ICE Directors Humphrey and Meyer
In 2009 Nan-Hui fled to South Korea, her home country, with her infant daughter to escape her physically and emotionally abusive partner. When she returned to the United States in 2014, she was detained and separated from her little girl.
Earlier this week, Nan-Hui was convicted of child abduction by a California county court — her crime? Trying to protect her daughter from her abusive ex-partner.
Now, she faces deportation and the threat of permanent separation from her daughter.
No mother should have to live with this fear.
Stand with Nan-Hui against an unjust system that criminalizes survivors of domestic violence and separates families. Sign the petition below to call on CBP and ICE to immediately release Nan-Hui and stop all deportation proceedings.
Sponsored by
To:
ICE Directors Humphrey and Meyer
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Director Humphrey and Director Meyer,
I write to you regarding Nan-Hui Jo (A 098 906 641), a mother and domestic violence survivor.
In 2009, Ms. Jo fled with her child to South Korea, her home country, after documented physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her then-partner and child’s father. On two occasions in August 2009 and October 2009, Ms. Jo called the police in Sacramento after her child’s father physically abused her. After Ms. Jo left her child’s father, he reported her for kidnapping. In July 2014, when she returned to the United States, she was immediately arrested for alleged child abduction. For the past seven months, Ms. Jo’s child has not seen her mother, and Ms. Jo continues to be detained at Yolo County Jail in Woodland, CA. Although her first trial ended in a hung jury in December 2014, the District Attorney aggressively prosecuted the case a second time, ignoring all evidence of domestic violence and abuse that Ms. Jo suffered. On March 3rd, 2015, Ms. Jo was convicted of “child abduction.”
Ms. Jo has no prior criminal charges that would make her a priority for deportation and has U-Visa and VAWA petition in process. Because there is an ongoing custody dispute, if ICE were to intervene and deport Ms. Jo, it could yield in permanent separation between mother and child. Moreover, Ms. Jo’s case falls squarely into ICE’s parental interests directive from August 23, 2013, which require that the agency’s practices do not interfere with an individual’s parental rights.
For these reasons, I urge you to exercise prosecutorial discretion, drop the immigration hold, not seek to detain Ms. Jo in immigration custody, and not initiate any removal proceedings against Ms. Jo.
Thank you.