SAN QUENTIN, Calif. - A refugee who served a 25-year-sentence at San Quentin Prison is now slated to be deported back to Cambodia, despite the pleas of activists who say he has changed his life for the better and doesn't even have memories of the homeland he fled as a child.Phoeun You, 47, could be deported any day. "I have anxiety and fear," You said Wednesday in a phone call from the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield. "I'm waking into the unknown.
All my family is here." As he is stuck in detention, friends like Borey "Peejay" Ai are now working with the Asian Prisoner Support Committee to fight for You's release. "I know him personally," Ai said. "He's a longtime friend.
I have watched him mentor other people. He has dedicated his life to helping people and being held accountable." The Asian Prison Support Committee and others are now trying to highlight You's story, putting pressure on Gov.
Gavin Newsom to pardon him and the California Department of Corrections to stop ICE transfers."That's the magic wand," said Chanthon Bun, a community advocate for Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus. "A pardon from the governor." It's not clear their efforts will work.