No. They really did not need to arrest 76-year-old Loreto Javar. Not because of his age nor his Stage 4 cancer, but because he had literally shown up for an appointment to complete an interview and become a U.S. citizen. ICE knew where he was, and that interview ended with him in custody for more than two months. He’s finally out, but his deportation case is far from over.
Activists in Los Angeles, meanwhile, are asking whether Rep. Ted Lieu has done enough for constituents detained by ICE, despite being one of the agency’s loudest critics in Congress. We also have a Korean American Purple Heart veteran getting another shot at coming home, a pro-democracy icon facing more prison time and a country that produces barely a fraction of the world’s emissions asking major polluters to help foot the bill after a disaster that killed more than 1,200 people.
Featured
ICE releases cancer patient from detention amid deportation case
Loreto Javar, 76, spent nearly three decades living in the U.S. as a green card holder, renewing his status repeatedly without trouble. Despite now having Stage 4 prostate cancer, he showed up for his naturalization interview hoping to become a U.S. citizen. But neither his age, his condition nor his willingness to go through the legal process stopped ICE from taking him into custody. He was released Sept. 1 after the Philippine Consulate General in Seattle appealed to ICE on humanitarian grounds, but his deportation case remains open.
What else we’re tracking
Activists are putting Ted Lieu’s anti-ICE record to the test
Rep. Ted Lieu has been one of the more vocal Democratic critics of ICE and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign. But activists in Los Angeles say those positions don’t mean much if constituents who end up in immigration detention can’t get meaningful help from his office.
Pardon revives Purple Heart veteran’s hope of returning to the US
Could a governor’s pardon finally bring Sae Joon Park home? The Korean American veteran earned a Purple Heart after being shot in the spine and lower back while fighting for the U.S. in Panama, but two later convictions eventually forced him to self-deport to South Korea last year. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has now pardoned the two convictions that led to his removal order, giving Park his best shot yet at returning to the U.S.
5,000 US sailors come ashore in Pattaya amid prostitution crackdown
Thai authorities conducted a prostitution crackdown in Pattaya just days before some 5,000 U.S. sailors and Marines arrived in the city for shore leave. The timing certainly raised eyebrows, but officials say the raids had nothing to do with the USS Abraham Lincoln’s visit. Up to 50 people were reportedly detained before the carrier docked Wednesday.
Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong pleads guilty to conspiracy
Joshua Wong’s international campaign for Hong Kong democracy may now cost him several more years of his freedom. In a Hong Kong court Wednesday, the 29-year-old activist pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. Among the evidence prosecutors used against him was the very work that made him an international face of Hong Kong’s democracy movement: lobbying governments abroad for support.
The world can no longer avoid 1.5°C of global heating, UN report finds
Remember the 1.5°C climate target that nations agreed to pursue in 2015? The UN now says the world is going to blow past it. Even under its most optimistic pathway, global heating is expected to reach about 1.8°C above preindustrial levels. Is that the end of the world? No. But some of what we lose on the way there may never come back.
Nepal says major polluters should pay for its climate losses after deadly floods
Nepal barely registers on the list of countries responsible for global emissions, but it is staring at a rebuilding bill of as much as $5 billion after devastating floods killed more than 1,200 people. The government is now asking the world’s biggest polluters to help foot that bill, singling out China, the U.S. and India as countries with what its foreign minister called a “legal and moral liability” for climate losses suffered elsewhere.
Why read Issue #254?
The world doesn’t make sense anymore, does it? Then again, when did it ever? We just keep getting reminded that the rules on paper and what actually happens to people can be two very different things. Maybe certainty was always a bit of an illusion. Still, we can’t leave it all to fate.
This issue has a lot of that kind of madness going on, but trust us when we say there is still some good news buried in all this. Not knowing what happens next is exactly why what we do next matters.
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The Rebel Yellow is supported in part by funding from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). Funders do not influence story selection, reporting, or editorial decisions. All editorial content is independently produced by The Rebel Yellow team.