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An Oklahoma family said a routine check-in with immigration officials turned into their worst nightmare. A man who has lived in the U.S. since he was a child and has worked in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years is now being held in detention, facing possible deportation over a decades-old marijuana charge that was previously erased from his record. A father faces deportationFor years, Hai Nguyen’s attorney said he did what he was told. He checked in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement annually, kept his address updated, renewed his work authorization and went to work every day. But this week, when he went to his routine appointment at the field office, he was detained. “It’s shocking to see, you know, this happening. I’ve seen it happen with others,” Holly Forster-Nguyen, Hai Nguyen’s wife, said. Forster-Nguyen and her family are still in shock.”He went in for his appointment on Monday morning. He was detained by ICE, and later, they transferred him to the Cimarron Correctional Facility,” Forster-Nguyen said. Now, he is headed to a detention facility in Cushing. Decades-old charge causes issuesAll of this stemmed from a marijuana charge he first got when he was in college, more than a decade ago. He did his community service, and it was expunged from his record. But they did tell him it could still be a problem later.”At the time, he was not considered deportable to Vietnam because they would not accept his request for travel documents, because they would not accept deportees who had arrived in the United States before 1995,” Forster-Nguyen said. “So, since he had come in ’93, he thought, you know, OK, this is my chance to be able to stay. I’ll continue to work.”He has held a job ever since and graduated from the University of Oklahoma. He married Forster-Nguyen, and they have been together for 18 years. “He’s a very hard worker, and he loves his work. His best and most favorite job is being their dad 100%. His kids are his best friends. He loves that so very much,” Forster-Nguyen said.ICE pursues new groups of people Now, this week has changed everything. “We are in a different era of immigration enforcement. We’re also in a different era of immigration processing. This administration is attacking the immigration base through all angles,” said Lorena Rivas with Rivas & Associates. Rivas, who is not working on Nguyen’s case, said she is seeing a lot of cases that weren’t pursued before that are now. This includes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security targeting Vietnamese nationals. “ICE is all about just detaining individuals without properly knowing all the context. So, it’s like different heads to the same animal or attacking a different means, and they are causing a lot of confusion,” Rivas said. What happens next for him? The Nguyens have an attorney, and they said they are doing their best. “We would try to manage living there at least part time so that the children would be able to be with him. I can’t and I won’t not let him be in their life. That’s not a possibility. I couldn’t possibly keep him from them,” Forster-Nguyen said.At this point, Rivas said it is unlikely something happens to stop Nguyen’s deportation. It would take something like a governor’s pardon to take away the marijuana charge.
An Oklahoma family said a routine check-in with immigration officials turned into their worst nightmare.
A man who has lived in the U.S. since he was a child and has worked in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years is now being held in detention, facing possible deportation over a decades-old marijuana charge that was previously erased from his record.
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A father faces deportation
For years, Hai Nguyen’s attorney said he did what he was told. He checked in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement annually, kept his address updated, renewed his work authorization and went to work every day.
But this week, when he went to his routine appointment at the field office, he was detained.
“It’s shocking to see, you know, this happening. I’ve seen it happen with others,” Holly Forster-Nguyen, Hai Nguyen’s wife, said.
Forster-Nguyen and her family are still in shock.
“He went in for his appointment on Monday morning. He was detained by ICE, and later, they transferred him to the Cimarron Correctional Facility,” Forster-Nguyen said.
Now, he is headed to a detention facility in Cushing.
Decades-old charge causes issues
All of this stemmed from a marijuana charge he first got when he was in college, more than a decade ago. He did his community service, and it was expunged from his record.
But they did tell him it could still be a problem later.
“At the time, he was not considered deportable to Vietnam because they would not accept his request for travel documents, because they would not accept deportees who had arrived in the United States before 1995,” Forster-Nguyen said. “So, since he had come in ’93, he thought, you know, OK, this is my chance to be able to stay. I’ll continue to work.”
He has held a job ever since and graduated from the University of Oklahoma. He married Forster-Nguyen, and they have been together for 18 years.
“He’s a very hard worker, and he loves his work. His best and most favorite job is being their dad 100%. His kids are his best friends. He loves that so very much,” Forster-Nguyen said.
ICE pursues new groups of people
Now, this week has changed everything.
“We are in a different era of immigration enforcement. We’re also in a different era of immigration processing. This administration is attacking the immigration base through all angles,” said Lorena Rivas with Rivas & Associates.
Rivas, who is not working on Nguyen’s case, said she is seeing a lot of cases that weren’t pursued before that are now. This includes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security targeting Vietnamese nationals.
“ICE is all about just detaining individuals without properly knowing all the context. So, it’s like different heads to the same animal or attacking a different means, and they are causing a lot of confusion,” Rivas said.
What happens next for him?
The Nguyens have an attorney, and they said they are doing their best.
“We would try to manage living there at least part time so that the children would be able to be with him. I can’t and I won’t not let him be in their life. That’s not a possibility. I couldn’t possibly keep him from them,” Forster-Nguyen said.
At this point, Rivas said it is unlikely something happens to stop Nguyen’s deportation. It would take something like a governor’s pardon to take away the marijuana charge.
