The educational experiences of Lao Americans impacted by deportation

In February 2020, Southeast Asian community organizations learned that the Government of Laos and the US State Department and the Department of Homeland Security made a verbal agreement to accept Lao deportees from the US (Southeast Asian American and Asian American Organizations Across the Country Denounce Trump Administration's Move to Increase Deportations to Laos 2020). Lao Americans with orders of removal had been waiting in limbo, because Laos previously did not accept deportees from the US. This development brought more urgency to Lao American deportation, and rallied organizing, advocacy, and research efforts. Unique to the experience of Lao American deportation is the fact that many are facing deportation today because of crimes that they committed in their adolescent to young adult years. As much of adolescence in the US is spent in school, it is important to examine the possible connections between the experiences of schooling and deportation of Lao Americans impacted by deportation. Through semi-structured interviews, three Lao Americans impacted by deportation shared their experiences of migration, K-12 education, incarceration, and facing deportation. This study will examine their experiences through the lenses of critical race theory in education, critical refugee studies, and Southeast Asian critical theory. Their stories present counternarratives (Solórzano & Yosso, 2006) that resist dominant narratives that simultaneously designate Lao Americans the model and deviant minority (Ngo, 2006; Chung, n.d.), and share alternative narratives of resistance, success, and hope. These counternarratives diversify the current understandings of Asian American identities, lived experiences, and education. This study will broaden the understanding of Lao American, Southeast Asian American, immigrant and refugee education, and presents implications for school educators, youth and immigration advocates, and immigration and education policymakers.