Urgent Support Needed for a Hmong Family in Threat of ICE!

Calling for support towards a Hmong community leader and his family! After decades of fighting his deportation case alone, Tou Lee and his family are left with no choice but to turn to the community. A couple of months ago Tou Lee and Mai Cheng closed down their business in fear of ICE showing up. It was a difficult decision considering they have 6 children together. Please read their story and consider donating any amount to help him and his family with basic living costs. All donations go directly to Tou Lee and Mai Cheng (name changed for confidentiality).

Tou Lee and Mai Cheng also raise kittens outside their home! If you are able to donate $50 or more and would like to adopt a kitten, please send a message through the ‘Contact’ button on this fundraiser to inquire about adopting a new fur baby!

From Tou Lee: I came to the United States with my mom, brothers, and sister as refugees seeking asylum. When we got here, I felt like I was finally safe but life was very hard due to the new language and culture. We grew up on welfare and we were very poor. The children outside of the refugee community were bigger than us, mocked our language, the way we talked, stole our money, took our things, and hit us. I felt angry and lonely. I felt betrayed and abandoned by the system for putting us in a place we thought would be safe.

As a young teenager, I was tired of getting bullied but I didn’t know what to do. There were no resources or support systems at the time. The only people I could turn to were others like myself, other refugees, so we started forming groups to protect ourselves and one another. We just wanted to live a normal life like everyone else. But one day, my friends and I were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I caught my case when I was 17 in December of 1992. I got charged and sentenced. They made my case gang related because we were a group of refugee kids and this maximized my time in prison.

When I was going through the conviction process, they threatened to hold me longer if I didn’t sign all the paperwork. I didn’t know what I was signing. I just wanted to go home and be with my family. They took advantage of that and they told me I could go home if I signed the papers. So I signed it, but without knowing, I signed my freedom away. Even decades after I already served my time, I am now being punished again with deportation and family separation weighing heavy on me. I feel tricked and betrayed by the system again.

I am losing hope that I will ever be safe. I mostly worry for my family as my youngest child is only 2 years old. Any day now, ICE can pick me up and it’s scary to think that tomorrow I might not be here. I’m scared of leaving the house, even to just go grocery shopping. When I think about deportation, I feel anxiety, fear, and nervousness. I have so much to lose. I get sad and I go into depression thinking about what will happen to my family, all of my young kids, and my wife. I just want to live a normal life and not be seen or treated differently, or watch over my shoulder because of my immigration status.

From Mai Cheng, Tou Lee’s Wife: We have been together since 2015 and have 6 children together and 3 from his previous marriage. Tou Lee is a huge figure in my life, my biggest motivator and supporter. He is the reason why I was able to go back to college and finish my education. With our children, Tou Lee does his very best to raise and protect them at all costs, even starving himself and letting his children eat the last piece of meat on the table. I’ve seen him stay up past 3 AM to watch our children while they were sick; continuously warming up wet towels to put over their heads. He gives them medicine, cooks, and tends to their needs.

We’ve never been at peace with his deportation order weighing heavy on us but we still persevered. We’ve started our family, opened a business, and were living somewhat normally but today’s recent news has changed everything for us. The drastic increase of Hmong and Southeast Asian people being deported has heightened our sense of danger and uncertainty. It feels like we just started rebuilding our lives, especially from a previous financial crisis, but the recent news has been like a living nightmare. It’s been torture knowing that ICE could show up at the business whenever, never knowing if it’s our last moment together. This led us to the very hard decision to close down our business. Without an income, we are scraping by and trying to find ways to make ends meet. This fundraiser has been our last resort.