Phnom Penh Post
After a record high in 2011, deportations of Cambodians from the US
dropped 42 per cent last year, according to figures obtained yesterday.
In 2012, the Returnee Integration Support Center, an NGO that
provides assistance to deported Cambodians, recorded 51 deportations.
The year before, the centre fielded 88 − a spike that critics of the
process attributed to a presidential administration attempting to look
tough on immigration.
Since January, just two new deportees have arrived – a pair who came
in just last week – bringing the total number forcibly flown to Cambodia
to 388 since the government first signed a repatriation agreement with
the US in March 2002 to deport non-citizens convicted of felony-level
crimes.
Keo Sarith, a co-director of the support centre, said he could not
explain the decrease, most of which occurred during the latter half of
the year.
“We’re not sure about this,” he said. He speculated that the 2012
election of President Barack Obama may have slowed the rate temporarily,
or that Cambodian authorities had their hands tied dealing with the
funeral arrangements for King Father Norodom Sihanouk.
It can’t be attributed to the Obama administration’s pushing through
of immigration reforms last year that applied to children of immigrants,
because the reforms bypassed those convicted of crimes.
Many sent back were children of refugees who fled the Khmer Rouge
into Thai refugee camps in the 1970s, and have never set foot in
Cambodia. Anti-deportation advocates say that not only is Cambodia a
land wholly foreign to them, but that a large number are sent directly
from prison and have little chance of rehabilitation or support once
they get to the country.
Of those who have been sent back since 2002, 18 are currently in
prison and 10 suffer from a mental or physical disability. Several
struggle with drugs and alcohol abuse.
While there are success stories, the odds are daunting.
While there are success stories, the odds are daunting.
“You can say most still struggle on a daily basis, due to fact that
they are Americanised and never knew, and will never understand in most
cases, the hardships of living and struggling to get by in [a developing
country]. These individuals are basically traumatised by the fact they
are here, whereas they should be with their family, loved ones and kids
there in America,” said Kem Villa, co-director of finance for the
centre.
Operating on a shoestring budget that has dwindled in recent years
because of smaller donations, the centre is able to provide temporary
housing, help with obtaining identification documents and job
assistance. The going available stipend is $4 per day.
The support is not nearly enough to settle into life here, and that compounds the cultural differences many encounter.
“When you first come back, it’s kind of a hard time,” said a returnee who identified himself as Song.
He came in one of the first groups in 2002, and has since worked with
many Cambodians through a program that works with the integration
centre.
“For a young guy that grew up in the US, the young guy doesn’t know
about the culture, the way they live in Cambodia, and that’s hard for
them. It takes a lot of time to learn how to live life here.
“For myself, it took me a year to catch up and to get back to my
culture. When we stay in the US, we don’t speak Khmer much and kind of
like forget about it.
“The young guy that left from Cambodia [at] about four or five years
old, he doesn’t understand Khmer . . . and when they come to Cambodia,
they’ve lost everything. They feel lost.”
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