Washington, DC – On August 25, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the selection of Tony Pham as the next Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Pham arrived in the United States after the fall of Saigon in the 1970s as a Vietnamese refugee. Pham’s professional history closely aligns with the Trump Administration’s anti-immigrant agenda. Since holding office, the Trump Administration has escalated deportations of Southeast Asian refugees dramatically. Between 2017 and 2018, removals of Cambodians increased by 279%. Deportations of Laotian and Vietnamese Americans have increased under this Administration as well, including the deportation of 30 Vietnamese community members earlier this month.

Ke Lam, a re-entry coordinator at Asian Prisoner Support Committee and a Vietnamese American community organizer impacted by this news, says, “It is sad to hear and see how some people in our communities, like Tony Pham, fall into the good versus bad immigrant narrative.” When Pham emphasizes that his family followed the “lawful path to citizenship,” this language pits immigrants against one another in a form of assimilation that “only perpetuates the model minority myth and hurts us all,” Lam said.  

“It is alarming that Pham, a Southeast Asian refugee, will further expand the Administration’s cruel attacks on Southeast Asian American immigrants. Pham’s identity as a Vietnamese refugee does not help our communities and instead gives the Trump Administration political coverage in their efforts to harm our communities,” said Katrina Dizon Mariategue, acting executive director of SEARAC. “Despite a global pandemic, ICE has continued to target immigrant communities, recently deporting 30 Vietnamese Americans. Regardless of leadership, we must defund ICE, end mandatory detention, and stop deportations. SEARAC remains committed to working with our communities to fight the detention and deportation of refugees and immigrants.”