SEAFN condemns the deportation of Pang Nhia Hang Bailey. As we honor her life, we also hold our outrage knowing her deportation was unjust and ultimately deadly. Pang Nhia passed away in Laos after being deported less than a year ago.
Pang Nhia Hang Bailey was a Hmong woman born in Laos in 1972. When she was 5 years old, she was brought to the US by way of France as a refugee when the war in Southeast Asia displaced her and her family. For over 46 years, this country was her home where she planted deep roots with family and community. She raised four children with her husband of more than three decades. At 53 years old, living with Type 2 diabetes and with no history of violent or dangerous offenses, she was nonetheless taken by ICE in July 2025 and forcibly deported to a country she had never known.
Her past conviction did not warrant what became a death sentence. Deportation was not justice. It was a disproportionate punishment that ignored her humanity, her health, and her deep ties to this country. The U.S. government sent her away knowing her medical vulnerability, knowing the risks, and failing to ensure her safety. Her untimely death was preventable.
Too often, we do not ask what happens after deportation. In Pang Nhia’s case, that silence is part of the violence. ICE no longer tracks or publicly reports deaths that occur after deportation beyond a limited window, effectively erasing accountability for the long-term consequences of its actions. Her death exposes a system that deports people into danger and then looks away.
Xay Yang, Executive Director of Transforming Generations, a queer-gender justice organization in St. Paul, MN emphasized, “This is what systemic failure looks like: a refugee who survived displacement only to be cast out decades later; a mother separated from her children; a woman forced to die far from home, without her family, in a country where she had no roots, no familial support, and limited language to navigate a new life.”
Chhaya Chhoum, Co-Director of SEAFN offers her condolences: “we extend our deepest condolences to her family – her children, her husband, and her loved ones – who now carry the unbearable weight of this loss. Their grief is compounded by injustice: the inability to say goodbye, the financial and emotional burden of navigating death in a foreign country, and the lifelong trauma of a loss that should never have happened.”
This is not an isolated tragedy. It is part of a broader pattern of state violence against Southeast Asian communities. We have seen too many families torn apart by deportation policies that fail to account for US- inflicted wars and displacement. This is precisely why SEAFN has been committed to ending deportation in our community for over two decades.
We call on our communities and our leaders to act. We demand the passage of legislation. The Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act (SEADRA) would provide pathways for return and prevent future deportations like this one. If such protections had been in place, Pang Nhia Hang Bailey might still be alive today.
Her life mattered. Her death was preventable. And we will not be silent.
To support the Bailey family, consider donating to their GoFundMe.