A 47-year-old Hmong refugee who has lived in Michigan since he was 8 months old was freed Wednesday, Dec. 3, from the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after spending several months in prison.
Lue Yang, 47, was transferred Wednesday morning from North Lake Correctional Facility in Baldwin, a private prison that houses many ICE detainees, and driven to an ICE center in Grand Rapids, where he was later released and greeted by family members. Yang, an engineer who works for an auto supply company, spoke to the Free Press by phone as he drove back to his home in St. Johns, a suburb of Lansing. He said he’s glad he will be able to spend the holidays with his wife and six children.
“It feels good to be with the family,” said Yang, who is president of the Hmong Family Association of Lansing. “It feels good to know that I’m not going to get separated from them. … It feels good. I can’t express that enough.”
Arrested by ICE after he left work in July, Yang was one of 16 Hmong and Laotian refugees in Michigan detained by immigration agents; all were deported except for Yang. The past four and a half months in prison were an anxious time for him.
“You didn’t know when you were going to get out,” Yang told the Free Press. “It’s almost like you were just traveling down the dark tunnel and not seeing the light at the end of it. The good thing was, I had a lot of support from the outside. They were the strength to me when I was inside there. So if it wasn’t for them, I think I’d be broken by now.”
Yang, who had a criminal conviction decades ago, was released about five weeks after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pardoned him. Immigrants with criminal records are eligible for deportation. ICE has previously said that Yang, born in a refugee camp in Thailand, had a conviction for home invasion in the second degree and was ordered removed in 2001; immigrant advocates have said Yang was ordered removed in 2002 after a 1997 conviction.
Yang said the conditions he faced in the Baldwin prison were not bad compared to what he experienced in detention centers in southern states. Yang was transferred at times to other ICE jails or prisons in other parts of the country.
“I can honestly say it wasn’t as bad as the facilities where they moved me around down south, between the states of Louisiana, Arizona, Texas,” he said. “Those states, they’re rough.”
After Yang and others were detained in July, several groups, such as Rising Voices and Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, and elected officials mobilized for his case.
“I am so relieved and happy that Lue Yang has been released by ICE and is reunited with his family!” state Sen. Stephanie Chang, D-Detroit, told the Free Press in a statement. “Our country is better because of immigrants and refugees — and people like Lue Yang deserve to continue contributing to our state rather than being deported. Today is a giant rare win for dignity for immigrants and refugees.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, who met with Yang in Grand Rapids on Wednesday after he was released, also applauded the release of Yang.
“I’m so thankful that Lue will be reunited with his family,” Barrett said in a statement emailed to the Free Press by his office. “As soon as we heard of his arrest my staff aggressively sought more information.”
President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have been outspoken this year on immigration issues, calling for increased deportations. But Barrett said Yang’s case was different.
“Lue is not and never has been an illegal immigrant, and does not present a threat to our community, so I worked tirelessly to see him released from custody,” the Republican congressman said. “I have consistently said that I believe we need to be firm, fair, and humane in how we enforce immigration law, and I’m proud that I could effectively advocate to get Lue released.”
Barrett said the Trump administration listened to his concerns.
“I appreciate the willingness of the administration to listen to my concerns about Lue’s case and to reach this outcome,” he said.
The release comes as the administration cracks down on Afghan refugees, many of whom helped the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan. Hmong and Laotian refugees helped the U.S. during the Vietnam War. In the 1960s, the CIA recruited Hmong people in Laos to battle Communist forces in southeast Asia. Many of them sacrificed their lives to help the U.S. and saved the lives of American soldiers. After Communist forces won, the Hmong were persecuted for allying with the American military and many fled, some admitted into the U.S. as legal refugees.
Ancy Vue, Lang’s wife, said she’s glad to have her husband home for the holidays.
“The kids are ecstatic,” Vue told the Free Press by phone as they were driving home. “I just can’t wait to get him home, just so he can shower and come out of the same outfit that he’s been wearing since July 15. And it feels good that he’s going to be home right in time for the holidays, to be with the babies, our kids.”
Yang recalled the surprise he felt when he was arrested by ICE in July.
“It was a shock for me when it happened,” Yang said. “I wasn’t prepared for it. I was afraid of losing a lot more than what I have now. The biggest loss I have now is time with my family. I feel like I need to make up a lot of ground for that.”
He said the auto supply company he works for, which supplies to GM, has been supportive.
“Work has been real supportive with me,” Yang said. “They’re working with me. They’re welcoming to have me back. So that’s a good thing that I didn’t lose my position there. I love my workplace. I love the people there.”
Yang still has some technical requirements to meet to avoid future deportation, Vue said. Yang has a pending motion to reopen his case. Once that’s hopefully granted, his attorneys will fight to remove his final order of deportation. Whitmer’s pardon will help with that since he will no longer have a criminal record.
Vue said she’s missed her husband.
“It has been devastating,” she said. “You can just feel the shift of the energy in the home without his presence. I will say that as independent as I am … I just really missed him during that time because when things break, he can quickly fix it. And we missed his presence in the morning, because he does our breakfast. … You could just tell that there was someone missing in the home. I barely slept … maybe three hours a night.”
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com, X @nwarikoo or Facebook @nwarikoo
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Hmong refugee in Michigan freed by ICE after several months in prison
Reporting by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
