Cambodian immigrants granted class status in deportation fight

A judge granted class certification to nearly 2,000 Cambodians with criminal records who claim they were unfairly subjected to deportation and detention after being allowed to remain in the U.S. on supervised release.

U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney of the Central District granted “in substantial part” the certification on behalf of all Cambodians in the U.S. who were ordered deported but subsequently released from custody “and have not subsequently violated any criminal laws or conditions of their release, and have been or may be re-detained for removal by ICE.” Chhoeun et al. v. Marin et al., 17-CV01898 (C.D. Cal., filed Oct. 27, 2017).

“If the government wants to attempt to remove them, they should at least give them some notice,” said Sean Commons, a partner at Sidley Austin LLP overseeing a team of attorneys from the firm working on the case.

U.S. Department of Justice attorneys argued the class members had the opportunity to fight their deportation when the orders were initially issued and the government had the right to detain and remove them without notice since those orders were still in effect.

Sidley attorneys are working with the ACLU and chapters of Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

Between 1,700 and 1,900 individuals made up the class, according to Darlene Cho, another Sidley attorney working on the case. Some class members have had their deportations dismissed and roughly 30 are in immigration custody, she said.

Because many of the class members’ crimes had been committed years or decades ago, Cho and Commons said changes in the law — including a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision stating certain felony definitions were not grounds for deportation — meant they could potentially continue to fight their deportations.

Many of the class members said they came to the U.S. as children fleeing the persecution and genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. They were ordered deported because of crimes they committed in the U.S. but were not sent back to Cambodia because the country refused to accept them.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement allowed them to stay in the country on supervised release but began re-detaining members of the class, including roughly 100 of them last fall, according to court documents.

The government claimed in court that the class members were re-detained to allow Cambodian government officials to interview them and decide whether to repatriate them.

Many class members claimed to have been subjected to inadequate food and bathroom breaks and intimidation and extortion from Cambodian officials while in custody, according to court documents.

In his decision, Carney noted that, “The government contends it is not required to determine whether any of these individuals should be given procedural protections before they are re-detained, whether it be notice, time to wrap up their affairs, or an opportunity to challenge their detentions.”

U.S. Department of Justice attorneys previously argued that Carney had no jurisdiction in the matter and have filed multiple interlocutory appeals in the case.

The judge ordered a stop to the deportation of 92 of the individuals in January while the case proceeded.

The U.S. Department of Justice did not respond to an emailed request for comment on the case.