About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

20 Refugee Reports 1 (1999)

handle is hein.immigration/refgrpt0020 and id is 1 raw text is: Refugee Reports A NEws SERVICE OF THE U.S. COMMIIEE FOR REFUGEES VOLUME 20, NUMBER 1 JANUARY 1999 Refugees In America's Jails: A Life Sentence Tam Minh Tran is twenty-three-years old. He grew up in Mississippi and Louisiana along the Gulf of Mexico, the second youngest of his parents' eleven children. Tam and his family, who are refugees from Vietnam, started their lives in the United States working for others, harvesting shrimp and oysters. Now the Tran family owns its own shrimp boats and runs its own business. Tam entered the United States as a lawful permanent 'resident on March 24, 1980, when he was five years old. He never applied for citizenship, because before he was old enough to do so, he was arrested for stealing a car. According to the indictment, Tam committed his crime the day after he turned eighteen. Although not a citizen, Tam shows no indication he is anything but American. His English is flawless; he has long ago lost any trace of foreignness. For Tam, the United States is clearly home. However, as a result of his crime and his immigration status, Tam's current address is the Federal Detention Center (FDC) in Oakdale, Lousiana. Tam has been in jail since he was twenty years old. During the first year Tam was in jail, he was serving a sentence at the Orleans Parish Prison in Louisiana for stealing a car and burglarizing a home. The state of Louisiana pardoned Tam for the burglary offense, which according to Tam involved the theft of video games. During the year Tam spent at the Orleans Parish Prison, he graduated from high school (by obtaining his general equivalency diploma) and tutored other inmates. On the day Tam was expecting to be paroled, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) picked him up and took him to FDC Oakdale, where he has been for more than two years. Four months after Tam arrived at FDC Oakdale, an immigration judge ordered Tam deported based on his crimes, which classify him as an aggravated felon. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed the deportation order on August 21, 1997. This means that Tam, in addition to being a twenty-three- year old from the Gulf Coast, a refugee from Vietnam, and a convicted burglar and car thief, is also a lifer. Lifer is the IN THIS ISSUE: Lead Story Melanie Nezer reports on unremovable detainees in INS custody facing indefinite detention ....................................... 1 Projects and Programs LIRS Pen Pal Project for detained asylum seekers ......................................... 7 1998 Chronology .............................................................................. 8 Updates ............................................................................ 10 Resources HRW reports on INS detention ...... 11 Amnesty reports on INS detention .......... 12 HRW reports on INS child detention ...... 13 U.S. Detention Watch Network report ... 13 Appearance Assistance Program ............. 14 Health services in INS detention ..... 14 Job Board ............................................................................ 14 Conferences ............................................................................ 1 5 Statistics 16 ~7-. ................... N Or

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most