County of Santa Clara Closely Monitoring the Federal Administration’s Recent Move to Place Vietnamese Refugee-Immigrants at Risk of Deportation
SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF. — The County of Santa Clara is committed to protecting immigrants and is closely monitoring the federal government’s recent efforts to place Vietnamese community members at risk of deportation. The Office of Immigrant Relations has read reports that the United States Department of Homeland Security is in conversation with representatives from the Vietnamese government to reinterpret a decade old agreement, the 2008 Repatriation Agreement Memorandum of Understanding (2008 MOU), that protects certain groups of Vietnamese refugee-immigrants from deportation.
The Trump Administration’s latest move to put Vietnam War refugees at risk of deportation goes against the County of Santa Clara’s values. The County welcomes all immigrants and has one of the largest populations of Southeast Asian immigrant-refugee residents in the country. Reports of renegotiations relating to the 2008 MOU is causing fear in a number of our County’s communities (Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, and more).
The County currently funds deportation relief efforts that can be of assistance to community members who are in fear of or at risk of being detained and/or deported. The list of funded relief efforts can be found here:
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/oir/Documents/Immigration Legal Services Flyer OIR December 2017.pdf
The Office of Immigrant Relations will continue to closely monitor whether there have been or will be changes to the 2008 MOU.
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About the County of Santa Clara, California
The County of Santa Clara government serves a diverse, multi-cultural population of 1.9 million residents in Santa Clara County, the sixth largest county in California. With a $7 billion budget, more than 70 agencies/departments and 20,000 employees, the County of Santa Clara plans for the needs of a dynamic community, offers quality services, and promotes a healthy, safe and prosperous community for all. The County provides essential services including public health and environmental protection, medical services through Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC), child and adult protection services, homelessness prevention and solutions, roads, parks, libraries, emergency response to disasters, protection of minority communities and those under threat, access to a fair criminal justice system, and scores of other services, particularly for those members of our community in the greatest need.
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Media Contact: Laurel Anderson/Marina Hinestrosa, Office of Public Affairs, (408) 299-5119; Carolyn Lê, Office of Immigrant Relations, (408) 299-6414; 299-6817.
Posted: December 17, 2018