In honor of World Refugee Day, SEARAC hosted a virtual event on Thursday, June 24, at 6 pm EDT / 3 pm PDT with SEAA community leaders. The discussion centered on changing the narrative around deportation, and we rolled out a new series of deeply moving PSAs on immigration and anti-deportation.
Featured on our panel were three SEAA refugees and community leaders impacted by the American deportation system:
- Somdeng Danny Thongsy (he/him) is a community organizer and a coordinator for the Justice Reinvestment Coalition-Alameda County, a 1.5 generation Lao/Thai refugee, and a formerly incarcerated community leader.
- Ke Lam (he/him) is a re-entry coordinator for the Asian Prisoner Support Committee in Oakland.
- Bunthay Cheam (he/him) does work for the Khmer Anti-Deportation Advocacy Group and is from the Seattle-Tacoma area.