Cambodian men detained by ICE are pardoned by Gov. Jerry Brown
Source: Mercury News
Two months ago, Mony Neth was on his way to work when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained him for a decades-old criminal conviction that had stripped him of his green card as a teenager. The 42-year-old Modesto man was transferred to detention facilities in Louisiana, Texas and then Elk Grove, where he awaited deportation.
But two days before Christmas, Neth received unexpected news. “I heard them call my name and tell me to pick up all my belongings,” he said. “Right then I knew that I was coming home.”
Neth and another Cambodian refugee, Rottanak Kong, of Davis, were among 132 people granted clemency by Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday, clearing them of the criminal convictions that had made them targets for deportation under the Trump administration.
Their pardons are yet another defiant move by Brown against the administration, which has aggressively targeted both undocumented immigrants and legal permanent residents with criminal convictions. And it revealed a new campaign by pro-immigration activists and attorneys who are asking governors across the country to pardon non-citizen immigrants in a last-ditch effort to buy these immigrants more time — and perhaps a second chance in the United States.
Read more: https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/26/cambodian-men-detained-by-ice-are-pardoned-by-gov-jerry-brown/
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