Anonymous Letter Threatens to "Shoot Cambodians"

"I want to take a gun and go down there and kill these individuals."

Last week in Philadelphia, someone sent an anonymous letter to community leaders threatening to "shoot Cambodians." The typed, one-page letter, reportedly sent last week to the office of the Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, accuses Cambodian residents of setting off fireworks at all hours in Mifflin Square Park.

The letter's author claims to be a Marine suffering from traumatic stress disorder after serving tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also claims to own several guns. "I want to take a gun and go down there and kill these individuals," the letter reads. "I am writing you to let you know when I do freak out and try to kill these people that it is your fault for not going to them and encouraging them (it is in their best interest) to stop doing this and remain alive!"

The association, which believes the letter is blatant, targeted racial intimidation, plans to address the incident during a news conference on Friday at the park. The letter has been reported to Philadelphia police and other investigative agencies.

More here: Amid anti-Asian hate, letter-writer threatens to shoot Philly Cambodians over park fireworks

Stop the Deportation of Cambodian Refugees

Stand with Southeast Asian mothers and join the social media action on May 10.



Cambodian American community members are facing imminent deportation in the next months. A majority of those facing deportation are children of refugees whose families survived and fled the genocide in Cambodia. This is part of an ongoing attack by the Trump administration, with a record year of 100 Cambodian community members deported in 2018, and plans to 200 Cambodian Americans each year over the next several years.

Mothers, and women overall, have led incredible efforts and continue to be at the front lines fighting to reunite with their loved ones separated by ICE. You're invited to join a social media action on the Friday before Mother's Day -- May 10 from 11 am - 2 pm PST -- to stand with Southeast Asian mothers and urge California Governor Gavin Newsom to stop the deportations and #PardonRefugees.

Here's the basic information:

#KeepPJHome: ICE is targeting the Cambodian community for deportation... and this man might be on the top of its list.

Guest Post by Thi Bui.



Last week, I caught up with Borey Ai aka PJ, whom I wrote about in this piece for The Nib:

Refugee to Detainee: How the U.S. is Deporting Those Seeking a Safe Haven

It's been twelve weeks since PJ was released from ICE detention, two years since he was released from a life sentence in prison for a crime he committed at the age of fourteen. The #KeepPJHome campaign is going strong. Hundreds of postcards have been mailed to California Governor Jerry Brown, asking him to grant PJ a pardon in light of his rehabilitation and years of service to others as a counselor and advocate for juvenile justice reform.

We sat on a grassy knoll overlooking Oakland's Lake Merritt. PJ told me it's been a long time since he sat down in a park. We chatted about how you can rent kayaks and sailboats on the lake. He asked me if there were things I've always wanted to do since I was a kid, and I replied that I've been using my adulthood to catch up on them. I asked, "What about you?"

"So many things," he answered with a smile that looked mostly optimistic but which I couldn't help thinking was incredibly sad at the same time. I thought about a life, humans in cages, and how Americans don't feel safe even though the US has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Meanwhile, PJ played with a small dog that came to lie down in his shadow and chatted with her owner, an elderly woman with a walker.

A short while later, an electronic beep told him it was time to change the battery on his ankle monitor. He put a fresh battery into the bulky plastic contraption under his sock as we discussed the process of getting a 47-hour pass from his parole officer to go to Stockton to visit his mother and see his childhood haunts.

All of these lingering effects of imprisonment go away if PJ receives a pardon.

This is Mony Neth

Guest Post by Thi Bui



This is Mony Neth. He's the same age as me -- forty two. I came from Viet Nam; he came from Cambodia. His family fled the Khmer Rouge when he was just a few months old. He spent years in a refugee camp in Thailand. By the time Mony arrived in the U.S. as a refugee, he was ten years old.

When he was a teenager, he was convicted of possessing a weapon and receiving stolen property and lost his green card. That was twenty two years ago. Since then, Mony got married, raised a daughter who is now sixteen, and cares for his aging parents. He installs solar panels for a living and serves the homeless with his church community. Even the court that convicted him has recognized his efforts to turn his life around, granting him a certificate of rehabilitation.

But that wasn't enough for ICE.

ICE is targeting Cambodian Americans in the largest raid ever

Civil rights advocates file nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of 100+ refugees detained by ICE.


​Posda Tuot, cousin of Nak Kim "Rickie" Chhoeun, who was detained by ICE on October 20, 2017.
Cambodian refugees detained in recent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have filed a nationwide class action lawsuit challenging their unlawful arrests. Since early October, ICE has rounded up over a hundred Cambodian refugees with deportation orders, making these the largest raids ever to target the Cambodian community. Nearly 2000 Cambodian refugees are at risk of being unlawfully arrested.

The complaint, filed last Friday by civil rights organizations Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, and Sidley Austin LLP, alleges the detentions are illegal, and argues that without that clear pathway to deportation, the detainees should be released.

The people detained in the raids arrived in the United States as refugee children fleeing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Many of them were born in refugee camps and have never set foot in Cambodia. They made the United States their home and became lawful permanent residents.

In the U.S., Cambodian refugee families struggled with trauma and poverty in violence-ridden neighborhoods. Some refugees made mistakes in their youth, which led to criminal convictions and ultimately deportation orders. But because Cambodia has refused to accept them for deportation, ICE had to release Cambodian detainees instead of keeping them indefinitely and unconstitutionally detained.

Stop the Unjust Deportations of the Minnesota 8 #ReleaseMN8

Cross-Posted from 18 Million Rising



This past summer, 8 Cambodian Americans in Minnesota ("MN 8") were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for unjust deportation. Families, friends, and neighbors have banded together by launching the #ReleaseMN8 campaign. Watch their call to action video here.

What is happening is unjust because the Obama Administration pledged to deport felons, not families. Unjust deportation is an important Asian American issue and families are fighting to stay together (e.g. the Adam Crapser Korean Adoptee case). Now the next Trump Administration may escalate attacks on Asian American families, even though we understand that deporting people who contribute to society is a waste of time and money.

Cambodian Americans from Minnesota are about to be deported to a country they’ve never been to

Guest Post by Vichet Chhuon


Sameth Nhean and his family.
Eight Cambodian Americans from Minnesota are currently being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). These men were detained last August as part of nation-wide raid by ICE. The families of these detained individuals have dubbed themselves the "MN 8" and are demanding the immediate release of their loved ones back to their families.

The MN 8 are seemingly caught up in an immigration system that since 1996 strictly limits the abilities of immigration judges to consider issues of family ties, atonement, and rehabilitation. The deportation of Cambodian Americans began swiftly following a 2002 repatriation agreement between the US and Cambodian governments. Each of the detained individuals have a past aggravated felony conviction, which triggered their deportation orders. An aggravated felony is wide ranging category of which the conviction could trigger at least a 1-year sentence. Each of these men have served their sentences and were leading otherwise regular lives with spouses, children and work when they were detained.

Long Beach approves memorial to victims of Killing Fields

Cambodian Genocide Memorial Park will honor the millions who died at the hands of Khmer Rouge.



In Long Beach, California, a vacant lot will be the future site of one of the nation's only memorials dedicated to victims of the Killing Fields -- the millions of Cambodians who died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.

Long Beach's Killing Fields Memorial to Honor Trauma Experienced Before, During and After Genocide

Last week, the Long Beach City Council voted to lease a 6,210-square-foot lot for the development of the proposed Cambodian Genocide Memorial Park, to be located in the city's Cambodia Town neighborhood.

The memorial center will feature Khmer-style dwellings located on a landscaped plot of land bordered by an orderly fence, patches of green grass, a koi pond and a few leafy trees.