April 14, 2018
/From one of our members, Phi Nguyen:
I met Tin at the Adelanto ICE Detention Center in January of this year. He had just completed 20 years in prison for crimes he committed when he was 17. The amount of deep and transformative introspection he had done while incarcerated became clear to me in the hour that we spent talking.
Immediately after Tin finished his prison sentence, he was ordered deported to Vietnam. He then sat in an ICE detention prison for over six months even though he can’t be deported under a longstanding agreement between Vietnam and the United States.
Tin was finally released this past week. When he texted me to share the good news, he also sent me a picture of him with his mom, whom he hadn’t seen in two years, and the dim sum lunch that he got to enjoy with her.
When I asked if I could share these pictures and his story, he said “Sure, you can share my story with anyone you think might benefit from my experience.”
May the release of one of our brothers, his reunion with his family, and his enjoyment of a decent meal for the first time in years be a salve for the daily onslaught of heartbreaking news about the current state of our world.
