A Maryland businesswoman and mother of four has been deported to Vietnam this week, concluding a case that stretches back more than two decades to crimes she committed as a teenager.
Melissa Tran arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday afternoon, according to her attorney, after being taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in May of this year. The deportation marks the end of a complex immigration case that had allowed Tran to remain in the United States for twenty years despite a standing removal order.
Tran came to America legally in the 1990s as a refugee from Vietnam, holding a Green Card. In 2001, while still a teenager, she admitted to stealing checks from her employer. She pleaded guilty to charges including forgery, larceny, fraud, and writing fraudulent checks. An immigration judge issued a final order of removal in 2003.
However, the Vietnamese government refused to accept deportees who had arrived in the United States before 1995, effectively preventing her removal. Under these circumstances, Tran was permitted to remain in the country with the requirement that she complete regular check-ins with immigration authorities.
According to her legal counsel, Tran complied with these requirements faithfully for more than twenty years. She built a life in Hagerstown, Maryland, where she owns and operates a nail salon. She married Danny Hoang and raised four children.
The situation changed during a routine check-in at the Baltimore ICE office in May. Tran was detained and subsequently transferred through facilities in Louisiana, Arizona, and Tacoma, Washington. In October, a federal judge ordered her release, finding that the government was holding her unnecessarily. Despite this ruling and her reunion with her family, the deportation order remained in effect.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the action in a statement, emphasizing Tran’s criminal record and the length of time the removal order had been outstanding. “An immigration judge issued her a final order of removal in 2004. She had over 20 years to leave and received full due process,” McLaughlin stated.
Tran’s husband now faces the challenge of operating their business alone while raising their four children. The family maintains that Tran had rehabilitated herself and posed no threat to the community.
The case raises questions about the enforcement of decades-old deportation orders against individuals who have complied with immigration requirements and established deep roots in American communities. It also highlights the complications that arise when foreign governments refuse to accept their nationals, creating a category of individuals subject to removal orders yet unable to be deported.
The facts remain straightforward: Tran committed crimes as a teenager, received due process through the immigration courts, and lived under a removal order for two decades while complying with all requirements placed upon her. The Vietnamese government’s policy change apparently made her deportation newly feasible, and federal authorities executed the long-standing order.
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