Local Cambodian refugees with criminal convictions from decades ago are being ordered to report to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to begin the deportation process this week — causing an outcry from Asian American activists who plan to band together for a rally in Boston Monday.
Five of the refugees who received notices for deportation live in Lowell, the city with the nation’s second largest Cambodian community.
“This is so unfair to them,” said Lowell’s Paul Ratha Yem, who came to America from Cambodia in 1979. “They arrived here at such a young age, some ended up doing some stupid stuff as teenagers, but they served their time and now have families here.
