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Asian American refugee communities and Asian Law Caucus sue DHS, State Department to demand answers on deportation practicesRefugee communities seek accountability after ICE targets beloved community members for deportation to Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and third countries.

SAN FRANCISCO —  Asian Law Caucus, with co-counsel Nossaman LLP, today filed a lawsuit on behalf of itself and Asian Refugees United against Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of State (DOS), and other federal agencies to uncover information regarding the sharp increase in the arrests and deportations of refugees across the U.S. Earlier this year, Asian Law Caucus submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for records of agency policies, communications, and data related to the mass detention and deportation of refugees to Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and third countries. Today’s suit follows months of targeted, often secret, operations by ICE that have resulted in the sudden expulsion of over 400 Southeast Asian refugees and more than 50 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees as of July 2025. Dozens, if not hundreds, of additional community members have been deported since July – with some deported to countries like Eswatini or South Sudan, where they lack any connection or opportunity for due process.

The Trump administration’s aggressive actions represent an abandonment of U.S. promises to refugee communities at a time when it is expending enormous resources on violent raids and militarized occupation by federal agents across the country. Widespread reports show a pattern of ICE and other immigration officials terrorizing communities by chasing parents dropping off their children at school, using force against protestors, and arresting community members without warrants or a call to their attorney.

Asian American refugees targeted by ICE face statelessness and unknown life after fleeing genocide and war

Millions of refugees from Southeast Asia and over 85,000 Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees have resettled in the U.S. after hostile regimes oversaw torture, ethnic cleansing, and other threats of violence against their communities. These refugee groups survived brutality abroad and in the U.S. encountered language, housing, employment, and other barriers as they navigated the communities they now call home.

For decades, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam refused to accept most refugees with final orders of removal, making it clear that they were not welcome. These community members rebuilt their lives and became parents, caretakers, and community leaders after serving time for their convictions. In a sharp reversal, the Trump administration in 2025 has moved to arrest and deport an unprecedented number of refugees from Bhutan and Southeast Asia. Combined with efforts to deport community members to a third country, the Trump administration’s escalation appears to break long-standing commitments to refugee resettlement without any transparency.

“By deporting Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees back to Bhutan, which once violently expelled them, the U.S government is perpetuating the very injustice it vowed to protect them from,” said Robin Gurung, co-executive director at Asian Refugees United. “We refuse to let our community be entangled in geo-national politics or be once again subjected to the limbo of statelessness. Through this lawsuit, we demand transparency and accountability from the governments responsible.”

Through this request for records, Asian Refugees United and Asian Law Caucus seek documents that will support the legal advocacy necessary to bring detained and deported loved ones home, prevent the detention of additional community members, and provide urgent information about government practices to refugee communities.

“The mass abduction of parents, neighbors, business owners, and leaders tears apart both their families and the life force of entire communities,” said Belinda Escobosa, chief strategy officer at Asian Law Caucus. “Today our government is using immigrants as part of a political agenda to attack all of our rights, creating irreparable harm in the process. We’re suing to expose the policies and agreements the Trump administration is crafting behind closed doors used to disappear its own people.”

The government’s refusal to disclose policies and procedures perpetuates a disturbing cloak of secrecy 

Immigrant advocates argue that the Trump administration has taken illegal enforcement actions without making important data and policies public, violating laws that mandate government disclosure. This information is crucial for refugee communities and attorneys that must race against the clock to challenge deportation. In one case, ICE is currently detaining Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugee Mohan Karki, separating him from his wife and newborn daughter. As Mohan’s family and Asian Refugees United fight to bring him and other community members back home to Ohio, they are keenly aware that Bhutan will promptly expel their loved ones into hostile and life-threatening conditions and render them stateless.

“Southeast Asian refugees are a manifestation of U.S. intervention in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and the failure of refugee resettlement programs that followed. The deportations of Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, Vietnamese Americans, and others are unjust, inhuman` and a betrayal of the United States’ responsibility to refugees,” said Chhaya Chhoum, co-executive director at Southeast Asian Freedom Network. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to challenge the government’s claims against them. This information is vital for our community members to be able to meaningfully fight detention and deportation and stay home in America. Our families deserve to be together and not separated again and again.”

Torn apart by ICE, families are scrambling to bring their loved ones home from inhumane detention and prevent their deportation. Lue Yang, a Michigan father of six children and Hmong community leader, expunged his record and, with community and Asian Law Caucus’ advocacy, later received a pardon. Released yesterday after five months in ICE prison, Lue must still fight the government’s attempt to deport him to Laos, a country his family fled after aiding the U.S. during the Vietnam War.

“Southeast Asians in the U.S. arrived as refugees of war and displacement, yet decades later, are retraumatized through deportations carried out in secrecy,” said Thao Ha, executive director at Collective Freedom. “These removals reopen historical wounds and destabilize entire communities. These are not just individual cases – they signal to our entire community how conditional and fragile our belonging still is. Our communities deserve truth, transparency, and dignity.”