Gavin Newsom pardons 3 immigrants facing deportation from California

Gov. Gavin Newsom granted pardons to four Californians on Friday, three of whom were considered at increased risk of deportation because of criminal offenses they committed when they were younger than 20.

Newsom’s office said the pardons recognized that the men had transformed their lives, and that the clemency actions would “remove barriers to employment and public service, restore civic rights and responsibilities, prevent unjust collateral consequences of conviction, and encourage those still in the criminal justice system to find their pathway out.”

Among the pardon recipients were a Cambodian genocide survivor and two refugees from Vietnam who came to the U.S. as children.

The fourth pardon recipient, John DiFrenna, 55, from Orange County, was convicted of possession for sale of a controlled substance at age 24 in 1990 and was sentenced to probation. DiFrenna was awarded a certificate of rehabilitation from the Superior Court of California last year.

The Trump administration has escalated deportations to Southeast Asia over the past two years. In the 2018 federal budget year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported 110 people to Cambodia, up from 29 in 2017.

Since then, Democratic governors have paid special attention to pardon requests from Southeast Asian immigrants, many of whom came to America as children. Newsom, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and former California Gov. Jerry Brown each have pardoned Cambodian refugees over the past two years.

Newsom’s latest pardons went to:

• Saman Pho, 44, of Alameda County, who was convicted of attempted murder after firing a weapon during a fight two decades ago at age 19. He served 11 years in prison and was temporarily in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has worked multiple jobs, received honors through the Cypress Mandela apprenticeship program that gives job opportunities to disadvantaged men, and become married with four minor children. Before arriving in the U.S. at age 6, Pho and his family spent three years in concentration camps under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia and suffered from the loss of his brother due to starvation.
• Quyen Mai, 36, of Santa Clara County, who was pardoned in 2005 for a conviction of being an accessory after a shooting during an fight when he was 19. Mai is now the executive director of the Vietnamese Voluntary Foundation, a nonprofit that offers social and cultural services to support refugees and low-income immigrants. He entered the U.S. legally as a refugee when he was 11.
• Vu, also from Santa Clara County, was charged of assaulting three men in two separate incidents and threatening a witness in 2000 at age 19. Now 38, Vu is married with two young children. He immigrated to the U.S. lawfully in 1991 fleeing Vietnam as a refugee.

This story was originally published November 15, 2019 at 3:36 PM.