We need your support to reunite four Cambodian deportees with their families and community. We’re living through a global pandemic and people should be weathering it with their loved ones. Families deserve to be together. We know that if we’re able to prevent people from getting deported, we can also bring them back home!
Kay Kay, China, Tone, and Chantha were separated from their families by ICE. They came to the U.S. as refugee children fleeing from the U.S.-backed genocide in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge. Now, ICE has ripped apart their families because their refugee status put them at risk for deportation.
We’re raising $3,000 to pay for their legal defense so they can all return home. All proceeds from our sales will go to Asian Prisoner Support Committee, who are working to reunite Kay Kay, China, Tone and Chantha with their families.
Kay Kay, China, Tone and Chantha’s families were resettled by the U.S. government in heavily-policed and under-resourced neighborhoods in California. Southeast Asians who fled from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam in the late 70s and early 80s are the largest refugee community ever resettled in the U.S. They are the survivors of decades-long war, bombings and genocide all backed by the U.S.
As youths in the 1990s, they committed crimes during an era of “tough on crime” laws that drove mass incarceration to new heights. After serving their time, they were doubly punished by being deported and ripped from their homes and families.
Kay Kay, China, Tone and Chantha are community members who rebuilt their lives after being released. Now they are struggling to survive after being deported to Cambodia, a country they do not know. Their families are dealing with both the emotional strain of being separated, and the financial pressure of making ends meet during COVID-19 while paying legal fees.
80% of all deportation orders for Southeast Asian Americans are based on old criminal records that have already been served. These Cambodian refugees escaped one of the worst genocides of the 20th century to seek safety in the US only to be deported and separated from their families.
It’s time to end the cycle of trauma. Let’s reunite Kay Kay, China, Tone and Chantha’s families!
For this collaboration, we worked with Raychelle Duazo, a queer femme Filipina-American illustrator and tattoo artist from the Pacific Northwest. Learn more about Raychelle on her website: raychelleduazo.com/
