LOST BOYZ: Deporting the Cambodian Diaspora
After escaping the long war and the Khmer Rouge genocide, hundreds of Cambodian refugees reached safety in America, only to wind up, decades later, deported to a land many never even knew. Cambodian refugees got caught up in reforms dating to 1996, designed to clear courts, prisons and holding cells of illegal immigrants and foreign criminals. To speed deportations, the new codes removed appeals, hearings, and reconsiderations. The Cambodians presented a quandary for a variety of reasons. First off, they weren’t illegal immigrants at all, but refugees invited to America with ‘permanent resident’ status.
