Thousands of Southeast Asians, many of them long spared from deportation since the end of the Vietnam War, are being sent back as part of a Trump administration push.

随着特朗普政府推行大规模驱逐行动，数以千计自越战结束以来长期免于遣返的东南亚移民正被遣送回原籍国。

As of early March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement had deported more than 1,200 people to Vietnam and 400 to Laos, far more than in the past three presidential terms combined, according to a New York Times analysis of official records released by the Deportation Data Project.

根据《纽约时报》对“驱逐数据项目”公布的官方记录的分析，截至3月初，美国移民与海关执法局已向越南遣返了逾1200人，向老挝遣返了逾400人，远远超过此前三届总统任期内遣返人数的总和。

Among them is Mong Tran.

其中就包括陈梦（音）。

Born in Vietnam, she arrived in the United States in 1993 as an 11-year-old after living in a refugee camp in the Philippines. Her family settled in Fairfax, Va.

她出生于越南，1993年，11岁时的她从菲律宾的难民营随家人来到美国，在弗吉尼亚州费尔法克斯安家。

But at 18, she upended her life, stealing thousands of dollars from her workplace, a doctor’s office. She ended up serving four months in jail and losing her permanent residency status.

但18岁那年，她的人生走了样——她从工作的诊所偷了数千美元。最终，她被判入狱四个月，并因此失去了永久居留身份。

Normally, she would have been quickly sent back to her home country. But Vietnam and Laos had long refused to take refugees back. And the United States did not aggressively press the issue, even for those who had committed serious felonies — partly in recognition of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War and other regional conflicts that had displaced these refugees in the first place.

通常情况下，她本应很快被遣返原籍。但越南和老挝长期以来拒绝接收遣返难民，美国也没有积极向其施压——即便面对那些犯下严重重罪的人也如此。这在一定程度上是因为，美国自知对越战等区域冲突负有责任，而正是这些战争令这些难民流离失所。

But the Trump administration, in both its first and second terms, has pressured Vietnam, Laos and other countries into accepting more deportees.

但两届特朗普政府都向越南、老挝等国施压，要求它们接收更多被遣返人员。

Ms. Tran, 44, was sent back last November. She left behind her husband, four children and a nail salon business. Her record was otherwise clean, said her lawyer, Vicky Dobrin.

44岁的陈梦于去年11月遭到遣返，被迫抛下了丈夫、四个孩子和一家美甲店。她的律师维基·多布林表示，陈梦此前的记录并无其他不端之处。

Now in a country she barely knows, Ms. Tran, who also goes by the name Melissa, is living with distant relatives outside Ho Chi Minh City.

如今，身处一个自己几乎不了解的国家，陈梦（英文名梅丽莎）借住在胡志明市郊区的远亲家中。

Her husband and children remain in Hagerstown, Md.

丈夫和孩子们仍留在马里兰州的黑格斯敦。

“Although this is the country where I was born,” she said in an interview, “I don’t feel like it’s home.”

“尽管这是我出生的国家，”她在采访中说，“但我并不觉得这里是家。”

陈梦（音）的女儿瑞秋在给妹妹莱莉梳头。因为遣返带来的压力，瑞秋暂时中断了本科学业。

The Trump administration’s aggressive deportation push has revived a painful question about America’s historical obligation to these Southeast Asian refugees. Should those who fled here decades ago as children and committed crimes — including nonviolent offenses — be subject to permanent exile?

特朗普政府强硬推动遣返的做法再次提出了一个关于美国对东南亚难民历史责任的痛苦问题。那些几十年前还是孩子时逃到美国、后来犯过罪——包括非暴力犯罪——的人，是否应该被永久放逐？

There are an estimated 15,000 Southeast Asian refugees in the United States with final removal orders.

据估计，目前美国约有1.5万名东南亚难民收到最终驱逐令。

Like Ms. Tran, many of these deportees fought or had parents who fought alongside U.S. troops, endured years in Communist re-education camps or fled the chaotic aftermath of the fall of Saigon. They came legally as refugees when they were children and have called America home for decades.

和陈梦一样，许多被驱逐者本人或者他们的父母曾与美军并肩作战；有些人曾在共产党设立的再教育营中度过多年，或在西贡陷落后的混乱中逃离。他们年幼时以合法难民身份来到美国，并在这里生活了几十年，早已将此地视为故土家园。

But compared to the broader deportee population, these Southeast Asian deportees were much more likely to have a past criminal conviction, the data shows. And the 400 or so Vietnamese deportees who entered before 1995 all had past criminal convictions. Their crimes range in severity, from check fraud to homicide, which are grounds for revoking green cards.

然而，数据显示，与更广泛的被驱逐群体相比，这些东南亚裔被驱逐者有犯罪前科的比例要高得多。在1995年前入境的约400名越南被遣返者无一例外都有犯罪记录，罪名轻则支票欺诈，重至杀人罪，而这些都是吊销绿卡的法定依据。

Some lawmakers and immigrant groups point out that most served their sentences and were then left in limbo for years, even decades, because of diplomatic reasons beyond their control. And, they note, some people facing imminent deportation were born in refugee camps elsewhere and have never been to their home countries. Others have faint memories, and English is the only language they speak fluently.

一些议员和移民权益团体指出，大多数人已经服完刑期，却因为他们无法控制的外交原因，被置于悬而未决的尴尬境地长达数年甚至数十年。他们指出，一些面临驱逐的人出生在其他地方的难民营，从未去过自己的祖国。还有一些人对故国仅剩下模糊记忆，而且英语是他们唯一能够流利使用的语言。

To deport them decades later, advocates argue, is effectively a second punishment.

权益倡导者认为，数十年后再将他们驱逐实际上是一种二次惩罚。

“We have laws against double jeopardy,” said ThaoMee Xiong, executive director for the Coalition of Asian American Leaders, a nonprofit based in Minnesota.

“我们有禁止一罪二罚的法律，”明尼苏达州非营利组织亚裔领袖联盟的执行主任熊韬美说。

The Trump administration has argued that expelling criminals is necessary to maintain the rule of law and protect the safety of Americans.

特朗普政府则认为，驱逐有犯罪记录的人是维护法治、保障美国公民安全的必要举措。

“Every single illegal alien removed on these flights had full due process,” said the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration enforcement, in a statement. The department credited President Trump’s “strong leadership” for convincing the Southeast Asian countries to take back the deportees.

负责移民执法的国土安全部在一份声明中说：“这些航班上被遣返的每一名非法外国人都经历了完整的正当程序。”该部门还将说服东南亚国家接收被遣返者归功于特朗普总统的“强有力领导”。

Some supporters of immigration enforcement also say that the United States has already repaid these refugees by resettling them and offering pathways to citizenship.

一些支持加强移民执法的人士也表示，美国已通过安置这些难民、为其提供入籍途径对他们给予了充分的回馈。

“These individuals have already been accorded significant grace by the United States,” said Matthew O’Brien, deputy executive director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which lobbies for curbing immigration. “Does that mean that the United States is also obligated to turn a blind eye to criminal behavior?”

“美国已经对这些人给予了相当大的恩惠，”主张收紧移民政策的游说组织美国移民改革联合会副执行主任马修·奥布莱恩说，“这是否意味着美国还有义务对他们的违法行为睁一只眼闭一只眼？”

Between 1975 and the late 1990s, more than 1.3 million refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were resettled across the United States, in what was the largest humanitarian resettlement initiative in modern U.S. history.

1975年至20世纪90年代末，全美各地安置了130多万名来自越南、老挝和柬埔寨的难民。这是美国现代史上最大规模的人道主义安置行动。

Once in the United States, adults, with little schooling or savings, often scraped out a living in low-paying jobs. Many resettled with their children in high-crime neighborhoods.

抵达美国后，那些几乎没受过多少教育、手头积蓄寥寥无几的成年人只能靠低薪工作勉强维持生计。许多人带着子女落脚在治安不佳的社区。

Mark Phommachanh was 5 when he and his mother landed in the United States from Laos around 1980. They eventually settled in Fresno, Calif., which later experienced high crime rates related to crack cocaine.

大约在1980年前后，年仅五岁的马克·蓬马占与母亲一起从老挝来到美国。他们最终定居在加利福尼亚州弗雷斯诺。这里后来因快克可卡因泛滥犯罪率居高不下。

“I became part of a gang, to protect myself and to kind of find my own family,” he said.

“为了保护自己，也为了寻找归属感，我加入了帮派，”他说。

Mr. Phommachanh said that like many refugees at the time, his mother, who worked full time at a doughnut shop, did not realize the advantages of acquiring citizenship. Most thought that permanent residency was all they needed.

蓬马占说，和当时许多难民一样，他在甜甜圈店全职工作的母亲并没有意识到入籍的重要性。大多数人都认为，拥有永久居民身份就已经足够。

In 2003, Mr. Phommachanh was in the process of applying for citizenship when he was arrested on charges of trafficking marijuana. In 2006, after serving more than three years in prison, he was ordered deported. Laos would not take him, and he was allowed to remain on supervised release.

2003年，蓬马占在申请入籍期间因涉嫌贩卖大麻而被捕。2006年，他服刑三年多后被下令驱逐出境。老挝拒绝接收，他获准以监督释放身份留在美国。

马克·蓬马占去年11月被遣返回老挝。他在YouTube上记录自己在万象的新生活。

The number of deportations of Southeast Asian refugees remained low over the years, until Mr. Trump’s first term, when deportations increased significantly.

多年来，对东南亚难民的驱逐人数始终维持在较低水平，直至特朗普第一任期，驱逐人数才大幅增加。

But the Trump administration still faced obstacles.

但特朗普政府依然面临重重阻碍。

The Laotian and Vietnamese governments continued to resist pressure to take back large numbers of people with old removal orders like Mr. Phommachanh.

老挝和越南政府继续抵制美国压力，不愿接收大量像蓬马占这样持有多年前的驱逐令者。

Vietnam in particular had long refused to accept people who first entered the United States before 1995, seeing them as more likely to be loyal to the former South Vietnamese government. On the U.S. side, there was also widespread criticism, including from the U.S. ambassador to Vietnam, who resigned from the State Department in protest.

越南尤其长期拒绝接收1995年前入境美国的人员，认为这一群体更可能效忠于前南越政府。在美国内部，此举也遭到广泛批评，甚至引发美国驻越南大使辞职以示抗议。

But in 2020, at the end of the Trump administration, U.S. officials quietly reached a new agreement with Vietnam to allow the deportation of people who first entered the United States before 1995. The agreement laid the groundwork for Mr. Trump’s second-term deportation campaign.

然而，2020年特朗普第一任期结束之际，美国官员悄然与越南达成新协议，允许驱逐1995年前入境的人员。这一协议为特朗普第二任期的驱逐行动奠定了基础。

Since last year, the administration has deported more than 400 people in this pre-1995 group to Vietnam. Under the first Trump administration, only 26 people in this group were sent back over four years.

自去年以来，政府已将400余名属于“1995年前”群体的人员遣返越南。而在特朗普第一任期的四年里，这一数字仅为26人。

Laos, too, has been accepting deportees in much greater numbers during the second Trump administration.

在特朗普第二任期内，老挝接收的被驱逐者人数同样大幅增加。

Mr. Phommachanh was working as a manager at an R.V. company in Virginia last fall when he learned that immigration authorities wanted to see him, even though he had just had his annual check-in.

去年秋天，在弗吉尼亚州一家房车公司担任经理的蓬马占得知移民部门想见他，尽管他刚刚完成了例行的年度报到。

“I was out shopping for steaks to grill for me and my wife, and I just dropped everything,” Mr. Phommachanh, 51, recalled in an interview.

“我当时正在买牛排，准备回家和妻子吃烤肉，结果就这样扔下一切，”51岁的蓬马占在采访中回忆道。

In November, he was deported to Laos. He considers himself one of the lucky ones. So far, he has been able to live off savings. And his wife, who had never traveled abroad until she recently came to visit, plans to join him. He documents his new life in Vientiane, the capital city, on YouTube.

去年11月，他被驱逐到老挝。他自认为已是幸运的一个：目前尚能靠积蓄维持生计。他的妻子此前从未出过国，最近已经来老挝探望他，并计划在这里定居。蓬马占还通过YouTube记录自己在老挝首都万象的新生活。

Other deportees have had a much harder time, said Chanida Phaengdara Potter, director of ROOTS Laos, which helps people resettle in Laos. Separated from their families, some have struggled to find jobs or medical care. Depression is common.

其他被遣返者的处境要艰难得多，帮助人们重新在老挝安顿下来的“老挝之根”负责人查尼达·潘达拉·波特说道。他们与家人天各一方，许多人在求职和就医方面面临很大困难，抑郁症状十分普遍。

“There’s a lot of uncertainty and isolation,” Ms. Potter said. “America was supposed to be their safe haven.”

“存在很多不确定性和孤立感，”波特说，“美国本来应该是他们的避风港。”

Some refugees facing imminent deportation have found ways to stay by applying for state-level pardons or reopening their old criminal cases. But for most, the options are limited.

部分面临驱逐命运的难民通过申请州级赦免或重新审理旧案找到了留下的办法。但对大多数人而言，选择空间十分有限。

陈梦（音）很担心她的丈夫丹尼，他现在既要经营美甲店，又要独自照顾孩子。

Ms. Tran is trying to adjust to her new life in Vietnam.

陈梦正努力适应在越南的新生活。

She is studying Vietnamese while working toward her English teaching certification. She plans to learn how to ride a motorbike for local transportation. She talks to her family every day and helps her younger children, ages 11 and 8, with their homework via FaceTime.

她一边学习越南语，一边备考英语教学资格证书，并计划学习骑摩托车以便出行。她每天与家人通话，还通过FaceTime辅导两个年幼的孩子（一个11岁，一个八岁）做作业。

But she is up at night. She worries about her husband, Danny, who now has to run the nail salon on his own while solo parenting. She worries about her daughter Rachel, who recently paused her undergraduate studies because of stress from the deportation. And there is Jacob, her son with autism.

但她常常夜不能寐。她担心丈夫丹尼，现在他不得不独自经营美甲店，同时还要独自照顾孩子。她也担心女儿瑞秋，瑞秋因为遣返带来的压力暂时中断了本科学业。还有她的儿子雅各布，他患有自闭症。

“For the last 20 years, I tried to be a better person and teach my children that there are always consequences,” Ms. Tran said. “But being apart from them now, that’s the hardest part for me to accept.”

“过去20年里，我一直努力成为一个更好的人，也一直教育孩子们，告诉他们做任何事情都要承担后果，”陈梦说道。“但现在要和他们分开，这是我最难接受的事情。”