Extradition?

DEPORTING VIET REFUGEES?

Lời nói đầu: DĐTC nhận được một góp ý khá dài của một độc giả, viết bằng tiếng Anh. Nhận thấy bài góp ý quá dài, cũng như vấn đề nêu lên khá quan trọng, tôi quyết định cho bài này vào một trang riêng, kèm theo lời phản biện của tôi. Và cũng kèm theo một bài viết về vấn đề bằng tiếng Anh luôn, dành cho các độc giả trẻ thông thạo tiếng Anh hơn.

Độc giả Yen Nguyen: Thank you for your long contribution to this critical issue of deporting Viet refugees. You just give me an opportunity to address this issue in English for the benefit of many of our young fellow refugees who may have been misled by fake news. Please allow me to respond to your points as needed.

First, here are your comments, verbatim, in Italic, including all your misspellings and typos (By the way, there must be some feature in your computer that allows spelling check, I strongly suggest that you make use of that to facilitate the reading of your comments. Thank you!):

You absolutely have no knowledge of US immimation laws, as well as international treaties and agreements relating to refugees that the US is a partner of and has agreed to, such as the Geneva Conventions and other international agreements

Let’s start with US iimmigration law on Withholding of Removal,
8USC1241(b)(3)  Restrction on Removal to a Country where Alien’s life or freedom would be threatened, which staes:

“(A) ...the Attorney General may not remove an alien to a country if the Attorney General decides that the alien’s life or freedom would be threatned in that country because of the alien’s race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular group, or political opinion.” (Except for former Naziz type or those in espionage cases who are the persecuters not relevant to the Vietnamese cases here). This is current US Immigration law as well as law existed in 2008 relating to those who were convicted of criminal offenses that rendered them “removable” or “deportable” from the US. However, was it safe in 2008 to return these former refugees who were convicted to Vietnam according to 8 USC 1241(b)(3)? The answer was NO in most cases because these former convicts were either refugees themselves or sons or daughters or spouses of former service members of the South Vietnam regime (HO)

Therefore, the 2008 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) excludes the returns of Vietnamese who arrived in the US prior to JULY 1995, the date the US re-established diplomatic relations with Vietnam, REGARDLESS whether these Vietnamese were convicted of deportable crimes.

Why draw a line there? Why THAT DATE, JULY 1995 and for whom the protection was aimed? It is for the protection of those who OPPOSED to the US’s normalizing relation with Vietnam, who refused to recognized that the VC regime has any authority over them because WE WERE REFUGEES AND EXILES FROM OUR COUNTRY, WHETHER OR NOT WE HAD BECOME US CITIZENS, WE ARE STILL REFUGEES AND EXILES FROM VIETNAM. CHXHCN HAS NO AUTHORITY OVER US, THOSE THAT HAD ESCAPED COMMUNISTS VIETNAM. Over the objections of the Vietnamese overseas, a line was drawn at July 1995.

For that reason, former adminstration DID NOT AND CANNOT remove those who were convicted of deportable offenses to Vietnam AFTER THEY HAD SERVED THEIR CRIMINAL SENTENCES, THEY WERE RELEASED BACK INTO THE COMMUNITY AND WERE NOT DEPORTED.

US immigration laws and international laws and treaties PREVENTED the return of refugees to the original country IF THEIR LIVES OR FREEDOM WOULD BE THREATENED AND REQUIRES that the judge who ordered the deportation to make SPECIFIC FINDINGS ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS THAT RETURNING THESE CONVICTED VIETNAMESE WOULD BE SAFE AND THEIR LIVES OR FREEDOM WOULD NOT BE THREATENED IF THEY ARE TO BE RETURNED TO VIETNAM. See 8 USC 1241(b)(3) and Geneva Conventions relating to refugees.

Prior administrations from CLINTON to BUSH Jr to OBAMA umderstood the 2008 MOU IN ACCORDANCE WITH US IMMIGRATION LAW AND INTERNATIONAL LAWS RELATING SPECIFICALLY TO VIETMPNAMESE REFUGEES as stated above , so they did NOT return those convicted Vietnamese to VIETNAM, EVEN THOUGH SOME HAD RECEIVED FINAL deportation orders.

TRUMP disregarded the 2008 MOU, the current US immigration law in 8 USC 1241(b)(3) as stated above, as well as other international treaties and agreements NOT to return refugees to their original country if thwir lives OR FREEDOM would be threatened, by returning these Vietnamese to Vietnam without first making a dtermination or any guaranty from the CHXHCNVN that the lives OR FREEDOM of these Vietnamese would NOT be threatened as required under the laws.

The argument that it costs $$ to house these convicted Vietnamese is WRONG. Most of the 8000+ Vietnamese with criminal convictions were already been released from incarceration as they had finished their jail sentences and paid their debt to soceity. Further, MOST were Drug related convictions committed in their youth, the crimes were committed years ago, they were incarcerated in jail and HAD BEEN RELEASED AFTER THEY HAD FINISHED THEIR SENTENCES AND PAID THEIR DEBTS to society. DEPORTATION IS AN ADDITIONAL PENALTY that can be VERY HARSH AND EVEN DEADLY to some, especially REFUGEES, that is why US and international laws REQUIRES THAT A JUDGE FIND SPECIFICALLY IN EACH CASE THAT IT IS SAFE TO RETURN THEM TO VIETNAM after they finished their criminal sentence in the US. After a Vietnamese person was convicted and had their green card or legal status taken away, their iimigration status is in limbo, is reverted back to being a refugee in exiled from Vietnam and cannot be retuned to Vietnam because no one knows whether it is safe to return them. Some cases were allowed to stay in the US after a judge had setermined that his/her life would be threatened if they were t o be returned to VN. But in MOST cases, no such specific findings were made because the convicted Vietnamese either did not know how to present their cases or lacked legal representations, or both.

One important point is US immigration laws in recent years expanded the catergoties of deportable offenses to include a lot of non-violent and white collar crimes. Trump labeled ALL these deportable Vietnamese as violent criminals is just PURE FAKE NEWS TRUMP PROPAGANDA.

YES, there were SOME robbery, gang related violence, BUT NOT MOST.

MOST WERE OLD CONVICTIONS AND MOST OF THESE PEOPLE HAD BEEN ALLOWED TO STAY IN THE US AFTER THEY WERE RELEASED FROM JAIL, HAD BEEN REHABILITATED INTO SOCEITY, BUILT FAMILIES WITH SPOUSES, SONS DAUGHTERS, PARENTS, SIBLINGS RELATIVES AS US CITIZENS. TRUMP IS NOW ROUNDING THEM OFF BACK TO DETENTION TO BE DEPORTED TO VIETNAM!!!

The 8000 Vietnamese that Trump ARE THRWING BACK TO IMMIGRATION DETENTION TO BE RETUNED are either children of former servicemembers of the former South Vietnam, or the service member themselves, or they have chlidren, parents, siblings who are US citizens. THEIR LIVES OR FR EEDOM WOULD BE THREATENED ONCE THEY ARE RETURNED TO VIETNAM BECAUSE OF THESE RELATIONS.

CONDEMNING THEM TO A LIFE SENTENCE IN VIETNAM FOR THEIR MISTAKES N THEIR YOUTH IS A VERY HARSH LIFE SENTENCE.

SO WHAT, YOU SAID, THESE ARE CRIMINALS and they deserve it. But what about their US citizen children, spouses, parents and relatives, who would suffer if they were to be deported permanently to Vietnam, with their lives or freedom being threatened?

They WERE convicted, they ARE NOT currently convicted, they had paid their debts to soceity, are they not allowed to BE REHABILITATED and CORRECTED THE MISTAKES THEY MADE IN THEIR YOUTH?

When you started with the wrong premise that ALL OF THEM WERE VIOLENT CRIMINALS and deserved to be returned to VN as BRAINWASHASHED BY TRUMP, you are WRONG already.

The above are the reasons that the Vietnamese citizens who voice their objections to Trump deporting their sons, daughters, f athers, mothers, parents, siblings, friends, neighbors.... back to VN.

GOOGLE:

Withholding of Removal
8 USC 1241(b)(3) Restrction on Removal to a Country where Alien’s life or freedom would be threatened

Geneva Refugee Convention
Convention Against Torture

International laws relating to refugee status

Now, please allow me to offer my counter-arguments:

First of all, let’s talk about some basic rules about exchanging views, even controversial political views.

Don't you think it is quite preposterous to always state upfront that whoever you disagree with must be ignorant, dumb or stupid  (“You absolutely have no knowledge”)? How long have you been living in this country? Haven’t you learned that in a democratic society, one can have honest disagreements without any need to look down to everybody else as dumb?

As you are of Vietnamese origin, don't you think it’s not exactly ‘proper Vietnamese manner’ to start a conversation by insulting people? Maybe you have learned something new from America?

Now, let’s talk about the issue and your comments.

You raised the issue of safety of the Viet returnees. Was it safe for the refugees to be returned? Most likely not, of course! But practically no, as thousands of Viet refugees have returned to VN for good without being subject to any sort of retaliation. But still, to say the 2008 Agreement specifically prohibited the expulsion of convicted Viet refugees to protect them is nothing but pure … fake news! There is absolutely nothing in that 2008 MOU that prohibits the expulsion of certain refugees arriving in the US before 12/7/1995 (we’ll go back to that issue in a little while).

If there are serious concerns about the safety of those who would be returned to Vietnam, what need to be done is to come up with some law that would better protect them after their return to VN or better yet, allow them to stay in the US, not criticize prez Trump. Making laws is the responsibility of Congress, presidents, the police, ICE,… only implement dully established laws. Deporting those who are not qualified to remain in the US and have US citizenship is the law of the land, not Trump’s law, not ICE’s law. Furthermore, any extradition decision has been, is and will be made by an immigration judge, NOT by prez Trump anyway. So what are you blaming Trump for exactly?

You mentioned the Geneva Convention and whatever international agreements you can remember only vaguely but still pretended to know. It is my understanding that these agreements are intended to protect regular, normal, law-abiding, non-criminal people against political or religious persecution, and do NOT cover the extradition of criminals, which is completely legal and permissible under international laws, covered in most cases by bilateral agreements ‘thỏa ước dẫn độ’. You did mention the cases of former Nazis, I can also add the cases of all these Narcos cowboys from Mexico and Colombia who have been extradited from their own countries to be punished in the US.

By the way, why do you think we have INTERPOL, an international organization responsible for tracking down, arresting and deporting criminals all over the world. In our situation, we are talking about the US deporting convicted felons, not regular innocent refugees. Please don't put words in my mouth. I am not equating convicted Viet refugees to Nazis or Narcos. Just want to point out that international immigration conventions that you mentioned do NOT cover convicted felons.

You stated: “Therefore [because it was unsafe for Viet refugees after they are back to VN] the 2008 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) excludes the returns of Vietnamese who arrived in the US prior to JULY 1995… REGARDLESS whether these Vietnamese were convicted of deportable crimes”.

Sorry, but this is the biggest hoax that has been widely spread by the Main Stream Media as well as some Democratic congressmen/women, and people with vested partisan interests. Unfortunately, millions of people fell hard on that, including yourself, although I can bet these millions people and yourself never did read that MOU at all.

In his latest statement, California congressman Ro Khanna repeated the same fake news! He probably has never read that Agreement either. Nor has Ms. Murphy, that Vietnamese-American congresswoman from Florida, who also voiced her concerns. I can certainly understand all the important people have so many much more important things to do than read a stale, decade-old Agreement that does not affect them a bit.

Here’s the link to the 2008 MOU, please read it carefully or better yet, ask a lawyer to read and explain to you:

https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/108921.pdf

Please highlight for me the specific clause(s) that “excludes the returns of Vietnamese who arrived in the US prior to JULY 1995… REGARDLESS whether these Vietnamese were convicted of deportable crimes”, will you?

Article 2 - Section 2 states “Vietnamese citizens are not subject to return to Vietnam under this Agreement if they arrived in the United States before July 12, 1995,…”.

If I understand lawyerly English correctly, that would simply mean that the Viet refugees arriving before July 12, 1995 would NOT be covered by this Agreement, i.e. not subject to return to VN under the conditions spelled out in this Agreement. It does NOT mean they cannot be returned to VN. Some biased journalists, congressmen and activists were not exactly honest when they decide to delete the words “under this Agreement” to make the sentence appears as “Vietnamese citizens are not subject to return to Vietnam if they arrived in the United States before July 12, 1995,…” This is what I call “sheer dishonest fake news”!

Your statement that the 2008 MOU “excludes the returns of Vietnamese who arrived in the US prior to July12, 1995,… REGARDLESS whether these Vietnamese were convicted of deportable crimes” is absolutely and totally false! There is absolutely NOTHING in the 2008 MOU that spells out what you said.

Last but not least, the expulsion of convicted immigrants is clearly written in the laws of this land. Even if prez Bush wanted to, he did not have the authority to overrule the laws, especially in a loose MOU signed by a mid-level official of the US State Department with another country. It takes nothing more than a little bit of common sense to understand that, does it?

You stated “Why THAT DATE, JULY 1995 and for whom the protection was aimed? It is for the protection of those who OPPOSED to the US’s normalizing relation with Vietnam, who refused to recognized that the VC regime has any authority over them”.

Sorry again, but you are dead wrong here.

That line was NOT drawn by the US to protect those who opposed normalization of relations US-VN as you stated. It was drawn by the Viet government who took that date simply because that was the day when the US formally recognized the VC regime and exchanged diplomatic relations. In fact, prez Clinton insisted on pushing that deadline for extradition all the way back to 1975, but the VC government adamantly clung to that July 12, 1995. For obvious political ramifications, the VC could not go back beyond that July 12, 1995, to the period when the US and VC were still enemies at war against each other and the VC government was not recognized by the US, therefore no agreement could be valid. No agreement between sovereign governments could be valid if these governments do not recognize each other, except in case of warring parties evidently.

You stated “For that reason, former adminstration DID NOT AND CANNOT remove those who were convicted of deportable offenses to Vietnam”.

Sorry, but you are wrong again. Former administrations (and even the current Trump administration) have not been able to deport anybody who have arrived here prior to July 1995 even though several immigration judges have decided they must be deported, NOT because the US had agreed not to deport anybody back to VN, but simply because the VC government has so far refused to accept them. Even now, if prez Trump wants to deport anybody back to VN, he could not do that as the VC government would still not accept.

You stated “TRUMP disregarded the 2008 MOU, the current US immigration law in 8 USC 1241(b)(3) as stated above, as well as other international treaties and agreements NOT to return refugees”.

Maybe I am not updated on this issue. So you may want to quote for me any tweets, executive orders, or rulings that explicitly show “Trump disregarded the 2008 MOU” or whatever else you are accusing Trump of! Without such evidences, I’m afraid your statement is flat out … fake news!

You stated “Trump labeled ALL these deportable Vietnamese as violent criminals is just PURE FAKE NEWS TRUMP PROPAGANDA”.

Likewise, I would greatly appreciate your quoting for me any Trump’s tweets, executive orders, rulings or statements whereby “Trump labeled ALL these deportable Vietnamese as violent criminals” that fall under your category of “Trump propaganda”. If you cannot provide the exact quotes, should I again consider your statement as fake news?

You stated “TRUMP IS NOW ROUNDING THEM OFF BACK TO DETENTION TO BE DEPORTED TO VIETNAM!!!”

Again, please quote for me the exact source(s) of your statement that “TRUMP IS NOW ROUNDING THEM OFF BACK TO DETENTION TO BE DEPORTED TO VIETNAM!!!”. To the best of my knowledge, prez Trump has NOT rounded up anybody for deportation. Should we consider your statement again as fake news if you cannot provide us with tangible proofs?

You stated “SO WHAT, YOU SAID, THESE ARE CRIMINALS and they deserve it.”

Where did I say/state/write “THESE ARE CRIMINALS and they deserve it”? Can you show me my exact quotes? Or you are inventing stuff just to criticize my viewpoint? Can we discuss the issue honestly without putting fake statements in my mouth?

Dear Yen Nguyen,

I whole heartily applaud your compassion that I am not questioning and appreciate your spending time contributing your comments to this very important issue. Yet, I worry about somebody thoroughly misleading you, manipulating and abusing your inexperience and misplaced goodwill. Thus, I would strongly suggest that you make sure you understand the problem fully and correctly before making your statements or participating in any movement, or demonstration against prez Trump.

If you want to fight, fight for a just cause, don't fight for fake news. Fight to change the prevailing laws, not against Trump for anything, everything that you don't like, whether he is responsible for or not.

I would also like to take this opportunity to add some more about this issue, in English, for your benefit and for the benefit of your fellow young Viet refugees. Please read the essay below. I welcome all serious counter-arguments, of course.

 _______________________________

MY VANTAGE POINT: ON OUR REFUGEE STATUS

Lately, there has been a surge in heated discussions about the refugee status of thousands of Vietnamese now living in the US. While it is not clear how this sudden paranoiac fear came about, it is quite certain that it has created a huge wave of totally unjustified panic among us, the Viet refugees. What is even more stunning is that totally unfounded fear (or partisan thinking?) has also caught some of our ‘best and brightest’ young minds. Most worrisome is a recent demonstration on Bolsa Avenue in Westminster, California, the American ‘capital’ of the Viet diaspora, where one could see some young Vietnamese-American –certainly well educated- protesting with the worst vulgar/lewd slogans against president’s Trump policy of deporting Viet refugees back to Vietnam, in what is called a blatant violation of a 2008 Agreement signed by the US and Viet governments.

The least one can say about that is that the Democratic party and the Main Stream Media have been quite successful in igniting a kind of fire storm against a president they never accepted, let alone liked, over fake news!

To put it mildly, yes, this entire new campaign is based on nothing but … fake news!

Please allow me to revisit the entire issue, from the very beginning.

As we all know too well, back in 1975, South Vietnam lost the war against the invading communist North Vietnamese, primarily due to the loss of will and patience on the part of our ally, the great US of America. Million lives of non-communist southerners were threatened. America, under Republican president Gerald Ford, and faithful to this great country’s tradition of compassion, opened up her doors to accept hundred of thousands of Vietnamese so-called political refugees, trying to escape political vendetta from the victorious communists. Over the vocal objection of prominent Democrats, the like of then Senator Joe Biden (who loudly proclaimed he would have been willing to vote for unlimited funds to bring back all Americans from South Vietnam, but not willing to give even one dime to bring in and resettle a single Viet refugee) and the then Governor Jerry Brown (who pleaded with president Ford “not to dump” the Viet refugees on his wonderful state of California while closing California airports to block refugee planes from landing).

In any case, Congress passed a special law admitting hundreds of thousands of Viet fleeing South Vietnam in the last days in April 1975. Subsequently, under presidents Carter and Reagan, more laws were enacted to accept more Viet refugees under various humanitarian programs.

These laws allowed the acceptance of Viet refugees en masse as exception to normal immigration quotas. Yet, they did not exempt the Viet refugees from other applicable immigration laws, especially concerning the laws/rules about getting US citizenship. In other words, the Viet refugees still would need to go through due process before getting citizenship, including going through an absolutely clean ‘probation period’, under so–called ‘green card phase’, and successfully passing afterward some exams after a certain period of time.

These laws were passed in some sort of emergency situation, thus have not covered all potential problematic situations. One of the big issues was what to do with refugees who violated the laws while not having citizenship yet. Were they going to be exempted from normal laws and accepted as citizens anyway, or would they be denied citizenship and deported as called for under prevailing immigration laws? Not specifically addressing this issue in the new special laws simply means that the normal prevailing laws would apply, i.e. convicted refugees would not be allowed to have US citizenship and should be returned to VN.

Democratic President Bill Clinton was the first to address the issue. He decided to comply with then –and now- existing immigration laws that called for denial of citizenship and deportation of refugees who have violated the laws prior to getting US citizenship. The problem was that at that time, there was no agreement whatsoever on this issue between the US and the new Viet communist regime. President Clinton negotiated with the communist Viet government. Sure enough, the Viet government agreed to accept international laws and practices of taking back Viet citizens who have violated the laws, but with a huge caveat: they would accept only Viet citizens who arrive in the US after July 12, 1995, the exact day the US officially recognizes the communist Viet regime. Whatever agreement they could reach with the US would not apply to the Viet refugees arriving in the US prior to that date.

Under 3 successive American presidents, Clinton, Bush and Obama, the issue remained unresolved, with the US trying to have the Viet government accept the refugees with tainted past, while that government steadfastly refusing to accept them under any circumstances.

In January 2008, President Bush negotiated a new agreement with the Viet government, essentially reconfirming the Clinton Agreement, nothing new. Apparently, this new agreement would have been valid for just 5 years, subject to automatic renewal/extension every 3 years if no specific new agreement or law withdraw or modify  it. Under President Obama, nothing was done, meaning he fully accepted the Agreement, did absolutely nothing to resolve the case of convicted Viet refugees, willingly leaving them in a state of legal limbo.

Then came President Trump. We still have this status-quo situation. Except that true to his temperament, President Trump wants to get things moving if not resolved one way or the other. He decided to order the re-negotiation process. Thus re-opening up the possibility of extradition of convicted Viet refugees unqualified for US citizenship, as long as the Viet communist regime agrees to go along with that.

The Democratic party, the Main Stream Media, and some parties with vested interests on the issue raised hell against President Trump, flooded the Viet community with alarmist news implying Trump wanting to deport all Viet refugees simply because he is a racist, kind of white supremacist guy! So effective was this campaign that a young Vietnamese-American fiction novel writer –winner of Pulitzer price no less!- screamed that he might soon be deported as well in a New York Times article without bothering himself with explaining why that would be the case. Writing fiction novels never require supporting evidences.

Former Vietnam war veteran/senator/Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted that after Clinton, Bush and McCain tried their best to heal the Vietnam wounds, “Trump [shamefully] now turns his back to those who run away from Vietnam, our former allies who fought alongside us”. Please, give me a break, Sir! You’re the one who went before Congress to testify that US GIs and their Viet “allies who fought alongside us” were “just good at stealing chickens and raping women”, remember?! What could be more shameful?

Let’s use  our clear mind to address the various issues involved.

1.   The fact that an immigrant or a refugee having committed a crime cannot be accepted as citizen is NOT something newly created by the ‘racist Trump’ specifically against the Viet refugees. It is part of long-established laws of the land that have been applied to all immigrants coming from any country in the world, since immemorial time, that not even Trump can change. In order to spare the Viet refugees, what is needed is an overhaul of current general immigration laws, or a new special law that would exempt the Viet refugees from this clause, to be enacted by Congress and signed by President Trump.

2.   It is simply ridiculous to hit the road, demonstrate in the street, yelling “down with racist Trump” or “F…k ICE” to trigger such a change. All the 3 preceding presidents, Clinton, Bush and Obama attempted to negotiate the return of convicted Viet refugees to Vietnam, more or less actively, not just President Trump. For the recent demonstrators: where were you in the last 20 years? Did you demonstrate against Clinton, Bush, or Obama? Does anybody see some kind of double standard motivated by some sort of ‘hate-Trump’ obsession?

3.   There is absolutely nothing President Trump can do. He cannot extradite anybody, nor can he not extradite anybody. All decisions to deport or not to deport are made by immigration judges according to existing laws. Many people affected by Trump Derangement Syndrome may be screaming against Trump as a budding Hitler, but honestly, that’s pure hysterical insanity. America of the 21^st century is no Third Reich, unless all the young people go nut collectively, one way or the other. For those who keep yelling “Hitler!”, they just need to learn some more about world history instead of babbling toddlers’ baloneys!

4.   At the present time, under current applicable laws, up to 8000 Viet refugees are in limbo, not allowed by law to become US citizens as they have committed some crime, yet cannot be deported back to Vietnam as the Viet government refuses to accept them since they have arrived here prior to July 12, 1995. Some still are serving time, some have completed their time and lived free although ‘illegally’, or at least under unclear immigration status. President Trump is exactly right to revive the issue and try to resolve it one way or the other. Either getting the Viet government to accept them, or get Congress to resolve the issue, allow them to stay in the US in a lawful manner. Ignoring the problem is never a solution at best, and  is condemning these convicted fellow refugees to a lifetime in limbo at worst.

5.   Some Viet citizens –not refugees- coming to the States after July 12, 1995 as tourists or students or businessmen have committed crime and have been expeditiously extradited back to Vietnam, but not a single Viet refugees has been or will be deported anytime soon as the Viet government still refuses to accept them.

6.   In the name of humanitarian concerns, yes, we can try to request the US government to spare the Viet refugees who have committed some minor crime and paid for their crime with jail time or fines. This may be the right thing to do under certain circumstances, but to demonstrate, blame and insult President Trump is not a smart move as it may be perceived as just another partisan hit job against President Trump while this is clearly not a Trump’s problem.

7.   Many people, including journalists and congressmen, have called for President Trump to respect the 2008 Agreement, that presumably has stipulated that refugees arriving before July 12, 1995 are not subject to deportation back to Vietnam. This is the most dishonest or the most … wrong interpretation of that 2008 Agreement. Maybe none of the loud protestors has ever read the actual text of the 2008 Agreement? Or have they intentionally distorted things to advance their cause? Nowhere in that Agreement is there anything that states categorically that the Viet refugees arriving prior to July 12, 1995 are not subject to deportation. Here’s the exact quote of a relevant part of that 2008 Agreement: “Vietnamese citizens are not subject to return to Vietnam under this Agreement if they arrived in the United States before July 12, 1995”. The critical part of course is the qualification “under this Agreement”, meaning very clearly that this Agreement, i.e. the conditions for deportation as spelled out in this Agreement simply do not apply to the Viet refugees who arrive in the US before July 12, 1995. The people who interpret the Agreement deliberately choose to ignore/delete the key words “under this Agreement” to truncate the sentence into “Vietnamese citizens are not subject to return to Vietnam if they arrived in the United States before July 12, 1995”. Absolutely and totally misleading if not completely false! Intentionally or not.

Furthermore, expulsion of convicted felons is the law of the land. There was no way President Bush could overrule that law by signing a loose MOU  with another country.

Below is the link to the full text of the 2008 Agreement for references:

https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/108921.pdf

8.   Here’s another proof, the official clarification provided by the spoke person of the Viet Embassy in Washington DC in January 2008. There is absolutely no mention whatever about the US and Viet governments agreeing NOT to deport the Viet refugees arriving before July 12, 1995. Only a specific clarification that the Agreement is “not applicable” to Viet citizens who entered the US before July 12, 1995.