Cultural Conflict — Mony Neth
ICE raids over the last year have resulted in the largest deportations of Cambodian refugees in US history, devastating communities by removing parents, siblings, friends, children, and community leaders. Currently, there are over 60 community members in detention facing the imminent threat of deportation. For these individuals, a gubernatorial pardon represents one of the only available opportunities to remain with their families in this country.
Each week, Asian Americans Advancing Justice — Asian Law Caucus will be posting an open letter or story from Cambodian community members highlighting how a pardon from Governor Brown would impact an individual or their family. You can urge Governor Brown to pardon these community members by signing our petition at bit.ly/PardonRefugees.
The first letter in the series comes from Mony Neth, a formerly incarcerated Cambodian immigrant who received a pardon from Governor Brown last year, saving him from deportation.
To My Khmer Family in Detention:
A year ago, I was where you are today. I was one of over 100 Khmer nationals that were arrested and detained by ICE as the result of Trump targeting Southeast Asian refugees with felony convictions. Many that had been detained were not as fortunate as I am. Some were released yet can be picked up any day and re-traumatized all over again with another arrest. And some were deported and will be forever traumatized by their return to a country to which they have no ties, where they are forced to survive alone. But by a miracle of God’s grace I was granted a pardon from Governor Brown.
I am writing this letter because I too once faced deportation and know too well what is going on in your heads and hearts. I was a couple of days away from being forced on a plane and returned to a country that my family and I left behind in order to survive the aftermath of genocide and bombings in Cambodia.
From Facebook feeds to Twitter, to the 6 o’clock evening news in my living room, I see prejudice, transgressions, discrimination, and inequalities. It’s easy for anyone to just tune out the news and go on about their business, but I can’t. I won’t. My heart is heavy; my soul is affected by the injustices. I want to do something. I need to do something. I have to speak up because I have a voice, and I have God’s permission to use my strong voice.
There are almost 600 Cambodians that have been deported to date. As I am writing this, there are about 60 nationals from across the country that are sitting in a detention center in Florida unsure if they will ever see their children and home again.
My story is your story. Southeast Asian refugees have had to fight just to survive for far too long. Now, the children of Khmer refugees are having to fight to remain in the only country that they have known. When can Southeast Asian refugees start living instead of surviving?
Children of refugees and our parents are all products of a cultural conflict. Since we first arrived in America, we have known racism. We have been targets of prejudice and experienced institutional inequality in schools, workplaces, courts, prisons, and the immigration system. As refugees, we were dropped off in cities infested with gangs, violence, and poverty where we did what we could to adapt, to survive. You know how the saying goes, “As American as apple pie”? Well, as a teenage boy, my apple pie was street gangs. The gang culture was a part of the American culture. That was what I was taught. I wanted a piece of that. What is so un-American about that?
As time goes on, I’ve learned from it. Yes, some of us have made mistakes, but I believe everyone deserves a second chance and that we shouldn’t be judged and defined entirely by our past mistakes. Governor Brown can act with mercy and grant many of us that second chance with a pardon. Will mercy happen for my detained Khmer community members?
Since Trump and his administration came into office, we have seen racism and hatred but no mercy. It has had a devastating impact on Southeast Asian communities, especially my Cambodian community members who are facing deportation and separation from their families.
I am writing this letter because I am furious. America is a Christian nation. We claim to worship the God of many chances, but we refuse to give others even a second chance. Social justice is nonexistent to the underprivileged. To quote Dr. Bernice King, the daughter of MLK himself, “Jesus didn’t call it ‘social justice’, he simply called it Love. If those who profess to follow Him would only Love our neighbors beyond comfort, borders, race, and religion, ‘social justice’ would be a given. Love makes justice happen. But since some have convoluted what Love is and made the Gospel of a Christ who loves all about loving who they deem lovable, the freedom struggle continues. And we must make manifesting Justice a priority.”
With love,
Mony Neth
