Luke Duggleby

CAMBODIA: Returned to Sender

Chhin Toeun, 24, or Hawaii to his friends, sits in his flat with his soon-to-be Khmer wife Sor; 21. Although he has an American wife and three children by her; he knows he will never see them again and refuses to 'stop living'. After escaping the Khmer Rouge regime to the US as refugees; many young American Cambodians are being sent back to Cambodia never to return to the US again. A new policy in 2002 meant that any US-Cambodian who still had not applied for US citizenship and had been convicted of a felony would be deported back to Cambodia after living in the US all their life. Over 1400 convicted felons are proposed to be sent back in the next few years and naturally the re-adjustment to a life they don't know or understand is a difficult one.
Chhin Toeun, 24, or Hawaii to his friends, sits in his flat with his soon-to-be Khmer wife Sor; 21. Although he has an American wife and three children by her; he knows he will never see them again and refuses to 'stop living'. After escaping the Khmer Rouge regime to the US as refugees; many young American Cambodians are being sent back to Cambodia never to return to the US again.

A new policy in 2002 meant that any US-Cambodian who still had not applied for US citizenship and had been convicted of a felony would be deported back to Cambodia after living in the US all their life.

Over 1400 convicted felons are proposed to be sent back in the next few years and naturally the re-adjustment to a life they don't know or understand is a difficult one.