Lan Le hasn’t seen Vietnam in this century.

Now 52, she left her native land in the post-war chaos of the late 1970s and survived the horrors of a refugee camp in Macau before settling in Boston in 1981. With her relatives, she carved out a life as a refugee amid Dorchester’s three-deckers.

Now, she’s facing the prospect of a one-way ticket back to a country she barely remembers. She is the target of a recently filed deportation case that stems from her conviction for a now-decades-old, non-violent felony— “a mistake” that she says she regrets but paid for in jail time decades ago.

Since that time, Le has raised a family of nine children and works as a community organizer in Fields Corner. Now, she’s bracing for the outcome of a Dec. 11 hearing in immigration court, which could result in her being deported as soon as Dec. 31, she told The Reporter.

“I was sad and kept it inside for a long time,” said Le, a single mother. “At first I didn’t tell any of my family what was happening. At first, I had to keep it to myself. Finally, I let them know what happened.

“When I ask my friends – even my American friends – for letters of support, they’d say, ‘No way, they’ll never deport you.’ But I always have to tell them that they will. It’s only a matter of time.”

Kevin Lam, co-director of the Dorchester-based Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW), says that Le is not alone. Thousands of people with origins in southeast Asia – mainly refugees who fled war and genocide from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos - are at increased risk, he says, since the United States began speeding up deportation proceedings in recent years.

“What we’re seeing in the neighborhood of Dorchester in Fields Corner is that many Vietnamese refugees and immigrants who came after the war and rebuilt their lives here are now at risk,” Lam said. “We started seeing an uptick of deportations and detentions in the Vietnamese community in 2016 and 2017 during the Trump Administration…Across the country, in the past couple of weeks, we actually have seen an uptick in detentions in the Southeast Asian community.”

According to the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), there are about 16,000 southeast Asians nationally with deportation orders that have become very real and imminent – most all of them concerning refugees who resettled here decades ago and who committed crimes in the 1990s.

For years, their status was in limbo, because Vietnam refused to allow deportees to return. That changed in 2008 when the US and Vietnam signed a repatriation agreement.

Le was convicted in 1997 when she was in her 20s and was released from jail two years later. She made a complete turnaround and eventually moved to Quincy while staying connected to and working in Dorchester.

But Le worries that if she is put on a deportation order, she would face many of the same challenges she has helped others in the community to overcome. That includes not being eligible for government benefits that other low-income single mothers are, and having to get a $500 work permit annually. Her driver’s license would only last a year, instead of five. Additionally, she might have to schedule check-ins with ICE from time to time. Already, she has missed traveling to attend family funerals in Vietnam and going on vacations with her family outside the US.

“It’s like we don’t have any chance,” she said. “I’ve been so, so clean up to this day, but I still carry that burden…I work and raised nine children by myself and they all serve the community in good ways…I didn’t get the chance to succeed in America like a normal person or get paperwork so I can apply for things.”

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had no direct comment on the deportation proceedings facing Le. The agency’s most recent statistics show that between Oct. 2020 and Dec. 2023, there have been 1,862 arrests, detentions, deportations, and alternatives to deportation (ICE check-ins) nationwide for Vietnamese-born persons. While 103 have been deported, 1,343 have been arrested or detained. The numbers for Laos and Cambodia are much lower.

Lam said such situations are often a surprise to the public because most people think Vietnamese refugees are “all set” given the circumstances of their arrival – they were forced out after an American-involved war in their homeland. Most think refugees have a different status than immigrants who have crossed the southern border, but in fact they don’t.

“A lot of talk about the immigration system is all about the border and south of the border,” he said. “For us, this is about those left after US military intervention and how in the wake of war we created immigration waves. Folks don’t know because it’s many years ago and folks have forgotten the story of how southeast Asians were brought to the US and settled.”

Said Dianara Rivera of AARW, “It is important to talk about Lan’s fight to stay, but what most people don’t know is whether Democrat or Republican administration, these deportations have been happening. It’s important that we have structural change because it keeps happening to people like Lan whether a Democrat or Republican is in charge.”

“I don’t think they care we are refugees,” Le said. “When I left my country, we were forced to go. It’s not like we decided to leave and come here…If you ask me how is Vietnam, I don’t know. How am I expected to just go back there? It’s been haunting me forever.”

Lan has found common cause and support from groups that are seeking reforms to federal law. A campaign in her name is pushing for a federal pardon so she can stay with her children.

It’s an uphill fight— and it’s why she’s decided to go public at this time. Another reason is to help others like her by aggressively advocating for the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act (SEADRA), currently introduced in Congress, that would stop all such deportations. Both measures would be the “second chance” so many in the Vietnamese community desire.

“The main thing is we need a second chance, and I think everyone needs a second chance,” she said. “A lot of people get out and change. They move forward with their lives…I don’t have the paperwork to be able to have that second chance, even after so long of rebuilding my life.”