ICE Deports 1,600 to Vietnam and Laos, Reversing Postwar U.S. Practice
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Aug 6
ICE Deports 1,600 to Vietnam and Laos, Reversing Postwar U.S. Practice
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 6
Summary
More than 1,600 people had been deported to Vietnam and Laos by early March—over 1,200 to Vietnam and 400 to Laos—as the Trump administration sharply expanded removals of Southeast Asian refugees and immigrants.
That surge followed U.S. pressure on both governments to accept more deportees, undoing a long-standing approach under which Vietnam and Laos often refused returns and Washington did not force the issue.
The shift reaches people long rooted in the United States, including refugees who arrived as children after the Vietnam War and later lost legal status because of criminal convictions.
New York Times analysis of official records released by the Deportation Data Project found the totals already exceeded those of the past three presidential terms combined, underscoring a major policy break.