Families, lawmakers plead California governor to pardon inmate firefighters poised for deportation

Inmate firefighters ask for pardons

Families of inmate firefighters ask to be pardoned so they can avoid being deported to ICE.

SAN FRANCISCO - Families and lawmakers made a public plea on Thursday to California Gov. Gavin Newsom to pardon two inmate firefighters who have completed their sentences but are now poised to be deported by ICE to their native Laos.

Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymembers David Chiu, Rob Bonta and Ash Kalra, along with Asian Law Caucus attorneys and family members, held a virtual Zoom conference to urge for the release of Bounchan Keola and Kao Salee, who are being held in ICE detention facilities in Kern County and Louisiana, respectively.

Both men had been incarcerated in California and both had battled wildfires as part of the prison firefighting program. And at the end of each of their sentences, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation notified ICE that Keola and Salee had lost their legal status as residents of the United States and were ready for deportation. If they had been U.S. citizens, they would have simply finished their sentences and gone home.

"It's just common sense," Wiener said. "There is no obligation to turn them over to ICE. We don't have to facilitate with ICE. People have done the time, paid their debt, and have undergone rehabilitation. We should be integrating them back into society, not facilitating the Trump deportation machine."

Keola's mother said it more simply: "I want Boon to come home."

Kao Salee is set to be deported to Laos. Photo: Change. org petition to have have pardoned

Inmate firefighter injured battling California blaze now set to be deported to Laos

While California is a sanctuary state, CDCR is exempt from SB 54, which forbids most help between local law enforcement and the federal immigration agency. In addition, authorities are allowed to alert ICE about convicted felons when their sentences are up and their crimes were considered violent.

This year alone, the state has transferred an estimated 1,265 inmates to federal immigration authorities, according to Sarah Lee, community advocate for the Asian Law Caucus.

Democratic leaders have been dismayed by Newsom’s policy of transferring inmates to federal immigration authorities. They have repeatedly asked him to stop, even passing a bill last year to effectively ban the practice. But Newsom vetoed it, saying he was concerned it would “negatively impact prison operations.”

The issue comes down to the CDCR believing they must call ICE and Democratic lawmakers saying this type of call is voluntary.

At a Senate hearing on Thursday, Heidi Dixon, chief of case records services for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, cited a law that says the state “shall cooperate with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service ... for the purpose of conducting and expediting deportation hearings and subsequent placement of deportation holds.”

“It’s our responsibility to notify ICE of the offender’s release date. “It’s up to ICE on whether or not they choose to pick up the offender,” Dixon told lawmakers during a public hearing.

Wiener disagreed, saying the Newsom administration was interpreting the law “as broad as someone could possibly stretch the language.”

In terms of pardoning either man, Newsom's spokesperson, Jesse Melgar, sent out a pat response via email: "We are unable to discuss individual clemency applications, but can assure that each application receives careful and individualized consideration."

This year alone, the state has transferred an estimated 1,265 inmates to federal immigration authorities, according to Sarah Lee, community advocate for the Asian Law Caucus.

The issue comes down to the CDCR believing they must call ICE and Democratic lawmakers saying this type of call is voluntary.

Wiener disagreed, saying the Newsom administration was interpreting the law “as broad as someone could possibly stretch the language.”

Both men were arrested and charged when they were teens.

Keola was convicted of attempted murder when he was 16 and part of a Richmond gang, which his family said he joined because he was bullied and poor. He had two weeks to go left on his 28-year sentence when CDCR alerted ICE about his upcoming transfer.

When he was growing up in Fresno, Salee got involved with the wrong crowd and got caught up in an armed robbery where he fired a shot in the air and was arrested in1998. Eventually, the Guardian reported he signed a plea deal for second-degree robbery, firearm assault and attempted second-degree murder, agreeing to a 25-year sentence. There is a petition signed by nearly 200,000 to pardon him.

Both incarcerated men came here as young children after their families fought in the Vietnam War on the side of the United States and fled their home countries as refugees.

Both men also fought on the front lines of the fires this season during their incarceration.

There is not much to do now, the families realize, except hope that Newsom will pardon their sons and allow them to return home. A pardon would expunge their criminal records and allow them not only to return home, but to apply for jobs as firefighters.

Speaking by phone from ICE detention, Keola told reporters that while he was firefighting in prison it was "the first time in my life, I felt good about myself."

However, a bill being considered by Bonta's would likely help people like Keola and Salee in the future. The VISION Act, which didn't get through the Legislature last season because of coronavirus holdups, could be re-introduced in some fashion this year, according to Bonta's office.

The act would make it so that people who served their time and were approved would be able to be released back to their families and not handed over to ICE. The bill's language would also not allow for the California prison system to be carved out of the law.

The Associated Press' Adam Beam contributed to this report. Lisa Fernandez is a reporter for KTVU. Email Lisa at lisa.fernandez@foxtv.com or call her at 510-874-0139. Or follow her on Twitter @ljfernandez