To address the urgent needs of our Southeast Asian communities facing detainment and deportation, we must bolster the work of local organizations and support networks who know how to navigate their local conditions. That is why The Southeast Asian Freedom Network (SEAFN) along with Transforming Generations (TG), ManForward and Immigration Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM) is launching the Southeast Asian Defense Response Project, a combination of community organizing, education, and legal representation – a model for deportation defense that harnesses collective power in different locations across the US. “In the moment of intense attacks that try to divide our community, we are rising up and getting creative with interagency resource sharing to defend our community,” said SEAFN’s Co-Executive Director, Chhaya Chhoum.
We are starting in Minnesota due to the urgent community needs there. As of August 2025, there are over 33,000 people with pending immigration court cases in Minnesota, with almost half without legal representation. This makes defending their cases all the more challenging, with many community members less likely to understand their rights, qualify for relief, or receive fair hearings. From January to mid October of 2025, approximately 970 Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian individuals were deported by ICE. For Laos specifically, deportations in 2025 more than doubled compared to prior years, including the deportation of refugees, marking the highest level of Hmong and Lao deportations in the last 15 years. These removals have immediate ripple effects. Spouses and children lose caregivers and primary wage earners, families face abrupt economic and emotional crises, and community institutions lose long-standing members who are deeply rooted in Minnesota.
“The Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota recognizes that every person deserves human dignity and due process,” said Tracy Roy, Legal Director at ILCM. “Our Southeast Asian neighbors, friends, and colleagues continue to be targeted by immigration enforcement, often unlawfully detained and transferred far from their homes and families. This has a detrimental impact on our entire community in Minnesota – when some of our community is hurt, we all hurt. We are joining this project to continue to support Southeast Asian immigrants and refugees in Minnesota to keep our communities strong, safe, and together.
Intertwining ILCM’s legal expertise with the culturally responsive and vital work of Transforming Generations and ManForward, the project aims to provide support to families in Minnesota in community outreach and education, legal screening and representation and community advocacy through a gender & queer justice lens.
Xay Yang, Executive Director of Transforming Generations (TG) emphasized that solidarity is the solution to state violence. “Since 2015, we have been on the frontlines supporting Southeast Asian families targeted by immigration enforcement, from survivors of abusive international marriages to mothers and wives impacted by removal and those returning after unjust deportations. In Minnesota, where Hmong people are the largest Asian community, this moment demands solidarity. When state violence escalates, we must show up for our people, together and without hesitation.” The Southeast Asian Defense Project is an effort to foster such solidarity work.
For more information, please contact:
Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota
450 Syndicate St N #200, St. Paul, MN 55104
www.ilcm.org | (651) 641-1011 | development@ilcm.org
Transforming Generations
St. Paul, MN
www.transforminggenerations.org | info@transforminggenerations.org