yuba county jail for two months where he signed removal proceedings papers to be released and subject to routine checkins i was like man i was doing 30 years to finally get out freedom and now i got to go through the same process le said les story isnt unusual dr carolee tran a clinical psychologist and professor at uc davis medical school told abc news lam le speaks during a virtual webinar for californias assembly bill 937 also known as the vision act in june 2021 nancy ukai via tsuru for solidarity a refugee herself and the first known vietnamese woman to earn a phd in clinical psychology in america dr tran said we have a lot of cases now that were hearing of southeast asian men who are refugees who have been let out of prison who have been in gangs and who are at risk of being deported more asian hate incident data shows discrimination skyrocketing in pandemic report in 2020 there were a total of 1615 ice transfers from the california department of corrections and rehabilitation according to the division of correctional policy research and internal oversight office of research according to a study by advocacy groups human impact and asian americans advancing justice due to decades of underresourcing and overpolicing of southeast asian refugee communities southeast asian refugees are 3 to 4 times more likely to be deported for past convictions when compared with other immigrant communities the trauma le experienced as a refugee is so severe that it leaves an imprint in the brain tran added saying the trauma can affect their perception of the world and how they react to difficult experiences a plea to a governor last thursday the morning before his latest ice checkin organizers from tsuru for solidarity a nonprofit japanese american social justice organization led an emergency rally in sacramento urging california gov gavin newsom to issue an immediate pardon to le in recent years newsom issued similar pardons for two cambodian refugees facing deportation in 2019 both men were convicted of crimes they committed as young adults activists say les case violates the original intent of the 2008 bilateral agreement between the us and vietnamese government where it states vietnamese citizens are not subject to return to vietnam if they arrived in the united states before july 12 1995 participants pose for a photo a rally organized for lam le by tsuru for solidarity on june 4 2021 in sacramento calif josh kaizuka via tsuru for solidarity in 2017 the trump administration renegotiated the agreement with the vietnamese government to exclude protections for those who have criminal records between 2017 and 2018 there was a 279 increase in the deportation of cambodian americans and a 58 increase in the deportation of vietnamese americans in march of this year 31 vietnamese refugees were deported on one flight under the biden administration many of whom fled to the us prior to 1995 if le were to be deported to vietnam