Sok Loeun, a Cambodian refugee, had self-deported due to what advocates call a failure at every level.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1130001
Feb. 4, 2020, 3:17 PM EST
By Kimmy Yam
A U.S. citizen and former refugee, who was put in deportation proceedings years ago, has finally returned to the country from Cambodia.
Sok Loeun, who had first arrived in the United States legally with refugee status, landed in San Francisco on Wednesday after spending five years in Cambodia.
When Customs and Border Protection started the proceedings in 2015, prompted by an old drug conviction, Loeun had actually been a citizen for almost two decades, unbeknownst to him at the time. When he was threatened with deportation, he self-deported due to what advocates call a massive administrative oversight error and a failure at every level.
According to Anoop Prasad, an attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice Asian Law Caucus, who facilitated Loeun s return, he is the third person to return from Cambodia after mistakenly being put in deportation proceedings.
The United States, of course, may not deport its own citizens but it happens far too often, he told NBC News. As long as the United States follows mass deportation policies, we know this will continue to happen.
Roughly 75 people, including Loeun's family members, showed up at San Francisco International Airport with signs and drums to welcome him back