A BOOK ON U.S. APPLICABLE LAW

Deacon San Nguyen

A SMALL VIETNAMESE SOCIAL GROUP IS ABANDONED BY VIETNAMESE-AMERICAN COMMUNITIES

Until now, I do not know the exact number of Vietnamese people who are detained in America’s jails. Through an INS high ranking official, I only know that about 500 Asian criminals including Vietnamese, Laos, and Cambodians are temporary held in custody, waiting to be deported. The majority of these groups, about 70%, are Vietnamese people. Luckily, the Vietnamese government does not accept those former criminals, so they still stay in America.

The reason I called them “former criminals” is that they had good records in detaining centers. They were released early to their families so that they could live in normal lives again. However, thing did not go well with them. Few years ago, there was a new law applied on criminals who were not citizens yet: regardless they committed felony or misdemeanor, the people who were in custody had to be deported back to their own countries.

About a month ago, INS called on those former criminals and interviewed them personally. INS wanted to review each file before they could report to the Judiciary Section of INS, so that INS could temporarily release them to their families waiting for the deportation to be carried on.

The conditions to be released were stated as followed:

1. Having good records in jails.
2. Having recommendation letters from Representatives of Community organizations or Religious Leaders confirming that the concerned persons were not threats to the community.
3. Having employment promises from some companies.

Besides, they should have bail bonds setting from their families. Whenever they were called on for a deportation, they had to report immediately to INS without delay. In that case, the bail bonds would be returned to the families.

Usually, the bail bonds were set at minimum $5,000.00 and maximum $25,000.00. However, there were some cases in which, no bail bond was required. On the other hands, even though somebody had enough bail bonds but still not released.

Generally speaking, the crimes that former criminals committed were various. Their ages and their social classes were very different, too.

The most crimes reported were heroin using or selling, robbery, rapes, violent fights with firearms caused wounds or deaths, storing firearms illegally, attacking government officials, being jealous and torturing spouses or children… Criminal’s ages were varied from 18 to 45 and took approximately 80% of all. Some were in jails 3 years, others 15 years. The young ones belonged to all different social classes. That meant they might be very poor or vey rich.

During the years I worked as a Chaplain at Oklahoma County Jail, visiting many persons in custody in state prisons as well as in federal prisons, I did a research and found out that 30% of them were orphans, or lived with only one parent. 60% belonged either to divorced families, or parents not divorced yet but always argued with each other. In those families, the parents did not make good samples for their children to follow. 10% of them belonged to good families but the parents were workaholics and did not spend much time with their children since their children were at junior highs.

To prove what I just wrote, I will tell you three stories:

1. An orphan
   Anh arrived in America when he was 10. He lived with his uncle’s family. Anh did not graduate from high school. When he was 15, Anh joined a gang that usually robbed people, committed burglaries, tortured home owners to rob money, gold, or precious things. Sometimes, they stole car radios, CD, car tires, or something valuable that was left in cars… Anh was arrested many times but because he was a teenager, he was released after a short time in jail. As Anh turned 19, he was booked due to a robbery that he and his gang committed. Anh escaped but one of his friends reported him to police. Now he had to serve his time rather long.
2. Parents made bad examples for their children.
   Bob, now 28, was caught due to his selling marijuana. When he was still in high school, he was addicted to marijuana. His father was a heavy alcoholic.
   Everyday, after coming home from work, he drank a lot and then went to bed. Very rarely, his father communicated with Bob. His mother was a gambler. She opened a small casino right at her home every weekend. To keep him silence about her gambling, his mother gave him some money. With such money, Bob bought marijuana for himself. When he was at 11th grade, Bob left school to be a peddler selling marijuana to other school boys. Then, 9 years ago, he was caught when his link was discovered. Bob was in custody until now.
3. A good family that lacks communication with each others.
   Can was booked when he was 22 year old. He already finished his sophomore at a famous college. Can was the only son in a family that had 3 children. His two sisters, now married, loved him and his family very much but they seldom had time with him or with their parents. Rarely, they did not have chance to see their parents much because their parents worked until late at night. The parents came home after their children went to bed already. At the weekend, the parents went to shopping or to buy food, or attended wedding parties, anniversary parties… and so on. Therefore, parents and children seldom ate in the same table.
   A year before Can graduated high school, Can was invited to try a puff of marijuana. Gradually, he became an addicted. With his parents’ money, he bought heroin and marijuana for himself until he got to college. Things went bad when Can had a room-mate who was an addicted, too. Both shared with each other experience about smoking like two brothers. Can’s friend was also a big brother of a gang that liked to steal things in big department stores then sold it for their marijuana. One day, they were caught with a pick up truck full of stealing cigarettes. Both now faced a long time in jails.

Reading these stories, we surely know that all three criminals were either victims of social influences or victims of their own families where parents neglected their duty that was to raise their children with their best effort. All of those criminals had done felony things when they were too young to understand the results of their actions.

Above all, through these stories, I would like to say about a need that was to help the former criminals to come back to their normal lives after they served their time at jails.

Through many years working with criminals especially with Vietnamese ones, I found out that they were very lonely and needed to be cared by anyone besides their own families.

Regardless where the caretakers came from, the criminals would find comfortable with the tenderness that the caretakers gave them. Food or gifts were not necessary for them. They just needed advices, so that they could turn their hearts to the Right Ways. Practically, all those former criminals whom I visited many times at jails, after being released, had lived well and nothing could take them back to the wrong way again. Anyone whom I visited less than the others, after being released a short time, went back to the old and bad roads. The reason that made them bad again was they always thought that they were useless to the society. Thus, if they did bad things, they never regretted what they had done.

Last year, I attended a training course for Chaplains nationwide organized at Denver, Colorado. Meeting with other Chaplains, I knew that in some other prisons, many Vietnamese, Laos, Cambodians were in custody. The other Chaplains told me that besides criminals’ families, no any community organization visited them. Things happened similarly with everyone and everywhere.

Therefore, I may say: Vietnamese criminals are nearly forgotten in jails. I believed that Vietnamese Community cared for their safety when visiting the criminals more than the well-beings of criminals. So did I. When visiting criminals the first time as a Chaplain, I did have the same feeling.

To conclude, I would like to rephrase Matthew 25:34-40:

“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ”

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