Born in Cambodia, Sok Khoeun Loeun grew up in Fresno, California, where his family resettled as refugees. In 2015 Loeun’s mother, Nath Meas, finally saved enough money from her doughnut shop to take her family—parents, children, and grandchildren—on a trip back to Cambodia. The momentous trip included visiting the village Loeun’s parents grew up in, as well as where his father witnessed his brother’s murder during the Cambodian genocide by the Khmer Rouge regime.

When the family returned to the US, a customs agent stopped Loeun because of a marijuana possession charge from 2012, for which he had already served a sentence. The agent did not believe Loeun was a citizen and detained him for hours. His family could not afford a lawyer, and Loeun feared that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could deport him anytime if he remained in Fresno. The agent suggested an “easy” solution: Loeun could self-deport. Under duress, Loeun accepted this option, and voluntarily left for Cambodia.

However, the government missed one significant piece of information: Loeun had already naturalized as a US citizen when he was twelve years old, when his mother became a citizen. His deportation order was invalid due to a simple clerical error. After five years in Cambodia, Loeun finally returned to the United States.

Unfortunately, many migrants today face similar unfair deportation practices. This module outlines contemporary discrimination policies and practices that continue to exclude Asian Americans from everyday life.

This module explores recent policies, laws, and institutions that exclude Asian Americans from this nation, especially through deportation. The rhetoric that establishes such policies also fuels interpersonal practices of exclusion, as we will see in the case of COVID-19 racism.