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PHNOM PENH – The US has given no official information about deportation orders of more than 1,700 undocumented Cambodians, the Foreign Affairs Ministry says.
In exclusive data shared by Fox News, 1,747 Cambodians were among 1,445,549 foreign nationals on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s non-detained docket and have final orders of removal.
President Donald Trump has initiated many immigration executive orders since taking office, aiming to intensify efforts to combat undocumented migrants in the US.
He has initiated more than 21 actions to overhaul the US immigration system, including the processing and deportation of migrants.
“The ministry has not yet received official information from the US regarding the repatriation of Cambodian citizens to Cambodia in this new context,” ministry spokesperson Chum Sounry said.
He said Cambodia has cooperated consistently with the US in exchanging Cambodian citizens, as per an MOU signed by the nations.
The US-Cambodia Repatriation Agreement, signed in 2002, allows convicted Cambodians who are permanent residents of the US to be deported to their home country.
“Previously, the authorities of the two countries joined hands to integrate Cambodian citizens who were sent back into their communities,” said Sounry. “This cooperation will continue.”
Between the 2002 agreement and 2023, more than 1,000 individuals have been deported to Cambodia, with 76 percent based on criminal convictions. As of March 2023, 1,801 Cambodians were on the national docket for US ICE, with 1,342 for past crimes.
The 2019 American Community Survey reveals millions of people from Southeast Asia in the US, including Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Hmong Americans, many of whom arrived as refugees.
There were 2,182,735 Vietnamese-Americans, 338,637 Cambodian-Americans, 254,304 Laotian-Americans, and 326,843 Hmong-Americans, according to the survey.
About 15,000 Southeast Asian residents arrived in the US often as child refugees in the 1970s and 1980s, the survey said. They did not speak the language and lacked family connections, facing potential human rights abuses.