Vietnamese immigrant facing possible deportation back to Vietnam

The Washington Times reported last weekend on the story of Tuan Phuoc Le a 34-year-old immigrant from Vietnam. Last month Mr. Le punched a diplomat from Vietnam during a protest in Washington DC. Now the immigrant is facing federal felony charges which if Mr. Le is found guilty of could see him being deported back to Vietnam. A country Mr. Le hates because of its current communist regime.

There is little doubt Mr. Le broke the law, he was wrong in what he did. Feelings and tempers run high among Vietnamese-Americans towards the current regime in Hanoi. That don't condone Mr. Le's actions. I just hope both Immigration and any Federal Judge use common sense in this case. For if Mr. Le is deported back to Vietnam he certainly faces torture or even death. Knowing Immigration's past track record(Read here for just one example) I wouldn't count on common sense prevailing.

Hat tip- The Kommentariat

A Vietnamese immigrant is facing deportation after punching a high-ranking Vietnamese official visiting Washington late last month.

Tuan Phuoc Le, 34, of Atlanta, punched in the face Nguyen Quoc Huy, vice chairman of the Prime Minister's Office for the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, during a protest at the Willard InterContinental Hotel on June 21, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the District.

Mr. Le said Mr. Huy "was a communist" and "he killed my U.S. Marine father in Vietnam," court records show. Ernestine Fobbs, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said legal immigrants can face deportation if they commit a serious crime.

"When you become a permanent resident, you swear you will adhere to regulations here in the U.S. and ... that you will be a lawful permanent resident," Miss Fobbs said. "If they commit a crime, since they're not U.S. citizens, they are subject to removal from the United States."

Most immigrants who become permanent residents are eligible for that status on the basis of a close relationship to a U.S. citizen, job skills needed by a U.S. employer or humanitarian concerns.

Mr. Le likely would be oppressed and imprisoned if he were sent back to the communist country, human rights advocates say.

"Dissidents are harassed, isolated and in some cases imprisoned," said Minky Worden, media director for Human Rights Watch. "Critics of any kind don't really fare very well in Vietnam."

Mr. Le was a member of a group called My Voice, My Country that protested Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's visit to Washington last month, court records show. The group staged a large demonstration, replete with waving flags and blaring bullhorns.

Mr. Le spotted Mr. Huy, a member of the prime minister's delegation, in the rear of the hotel and punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground, the criminal complaint states.

Mr. Le is charged with assaulting and injuring a foreign official, a violation of Title 18 of the U.S. Code that carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court July 29.