'' For the past 27 years, the only family Vuthy Bou has known is his son. The two clung to each other for two years in a refugee camp after fleeing the brutal Khmer Rouge in their native Cambodia. When they arrived in Indianapolis, he and his son, then 6, saw snow for the first time in their lives.

But the boy grew into a troubled teenager, getting involved in a gang and selling marijuana. He spent most of his senior year at a juvenile detention center on drug charges, and went to prison for several months at age 19.

Now, seven years after he did his time, Phanny Bou could soon be punished again. He's one of about 1,500 Cambodians who are expected to be deported to their homeland under an agreement signed this week between the US State Department and the Cambodian government because they committed felonies on US soil.

[....]

'We've already lost so many family members to the Khmer Rouge, to the war. This will do more damage to families that have already been broken,'' said Samkhann Khoeun, the director of the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association, a private social service group.

[....]

''I have had faith in the US justice system, but I don't understand why they would do this,'' Bou said. ''How can you hand over people to a country that is unstable? If they want to deport people who are dangerous, I could understand that. But don't deport people who committed minor crimes and served their time. That's not the American way.'' ''

- Boston Globe