Koreans fall victim to American discriminative deportation law

Kim Jun-hyun, The Korea Herald, Asia News Network, Seoul

In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed a controversial deportation law, under which any non-citizen, illegal immigrants and legal residents (i.e. green card holders) alike, can be deported back to his or her country of origin for committing any felony that is punishable for up to a year or more in state prison.

Now this is supposedly the general guideline, but the actual criterion for deportation is, in reality, rather ambiguous and based on the whims of a judicial system where expediency almost always precedes justice. I have seen cases where deportees have been deported for such minor infractions and misdemeanors as possession of marijuana and parole violation, after having only served a few months' time in a county jail.

As a result, as reported in your Nov. 22 article "Record number of South Koreans expelled from U.S.," hundreds upon hundreds of my fellow Korean-American brothers have fallen prey to Uncle Sam's "clean-out" program and been deported out here to Korea for crimes committed in America.

Just as the Israelites in the Bible were exiled to Babylon for their wicked practices and transgressions of the Holy Law, one may argue that our lifetime deportation sentences are likewise justified because of our criminal acts and violations of U.S. laws.

However, as former legal residents of the United States, we have fully paid our dues to society for any and all criminal acts perpetrated on American soil by dutifully serving and completing our prison sentences.

To revoke our green cards and banish us to a strange, unfamiliar country is a travesty of justice, a slap-in-the-face to men who have already "done the time for the crime." This additional punishment is totally uncalled-for and nothing but bureaucratic bullying on the part of the American government.

The Koran government's indifference to our plight arouses just as much indignation. We may be Korean by blood, but the fact is most of us were raised in America for nearly our whole lives, and therefore, have a weak grasp of the Korean language, as well as little understanding of Korean culture and society.

Casting us out into uncharted, hostile territory without any safeguards is like throwing a pack of wolves into a playground with little children.

The wolves cannot be expected to get along with the children; eventually, they will turn on the kids, attacking and tearing them to pieces.

Where are the government-funded outreach, counseling and language programs that are supposed to help us adjust to and smoothly assimilate into Korean society so that we, too, can be productive and law-abiding citizens?

Is it not the government's responsibility to offer a helping hand and provide solid bases on which we can grow and flourish? With no family to support us, no "Big Brother" to look after us, and with such apathy to our plight, how can we NOT revert back to our old lifestyles of crime? Should it surprise anyone that the wolves have viciously resurfaced and are hungrily roaming about, tearing into the very moral fibers of our society like a cancerous plague?

The chickens have come home to roost, and it is only a matter of time before the problem escalates and exposes itself like an ugly hidden scar across the belly of an otherwise beautiful woman. Everywhere I look, I see the same cycle of criminal behavior that landed us here in the first place beginning to manifest itself in the streets and entertainment establishments of Korea.

Both America and Korea, for all their ostensible beauty, lands overflowing with riches and prosperity, have shunted us aside on a lonely island of despair and poverty. Out of utter frustration and hopelessness, our young Korean-American brothers are resorting to violent and illegal means to achieve their end - the end being simply to survive while trying to retain a little dignity. Hopelessness breeds despair, despair produces bitterness, and bitterness eventually hardens itself into blind rage and hostility.

To combat these insidious and latent feelings of bitterness and hostility before they manifest themselves in the worst possible ways, what needs to be done is for the leaders of our communities and governments to come forward and offer assistance and guidance to our wayward brothers.

The Bible says that "love overlooks all wrongs" and "always protects" and "always loves." Likewise, we must also readily forgive our brothers for their sinful pasts and seek to embrace and protect them so that they can reciprocate that love instead of spreading hate and chaos into the world.

If any lesson can be learned from the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 in America, it is that men, when driven to extreme states of despair and frustration by the circumstances surrounding them, will more often than not resort to violent means to express their raging sense of injustice toward the powers that be. Korea must not make the same mistake and be exposed to a similar rude awakening.

Outreach programs to instill a sense of worth and job opportunities should be implemented. Counseling programs to help our brothers cope with the hardships of assimilating into a new culture and society should be instituted.

Korean language courses should be offered so that frustrating and degrading communication barriers can be broken through. And education-based reforms in colleges and universities that allow us the opportunity to pursue a higher education are essential to providing a strong basis for intellectual and emotional growth.

Caged up and stuck like a pig in this muck and mire of a prison, I often feel a gnawing sense of hopelessness myself, but I still believe that we can remedy this social ill through the aforementioned solutions in spite of whatever difficulties may arise. And I know that each and every one of us can truly make a difference by making ourselves aware of the problem and by lending helpful hands to our brothers in need.

In some small, miniscule way, if I have been able to shed even a tiny speck of light on our plight and arouse others awake to make our situation better understood, then I will have done my duty as a Christian ought, and my existence, even behind these bars, will not be for naught.