A federal judge ruled Friday the Department of Homeland Security must release a 47-year-old father of four whom the government is trying to deport to Laos, a country the man hasn’t seen since he was a toddler.
Alan Phetsadakone left an immigration detention center in Tacoma on Saturday morning.
Phetsadakone, a lawful permanent resident, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in July during an annual check-in, an appointment he had gone to every year without incident for more than two decades.
U.S. District Court Judge Jamal Whitehead ruled Friday evening that the man should be immediately released from the Northwest ICE Processing Center.
Whitehead wrote in the release order that Phetsadakone's case raised serious questions about the Government’s alleged failure to follow required procedures when re-detaining someone released on supervision."
Phetsadakone has been living under a supervision order since 2001 tied to a bank fraud conviction. An immigration judge ordered Phetsadakone be removed to Laos in 1998, a year after he pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud for helping others cash bad checks. Because Laos does not have a formal repatriation agreement with the U.S., and has historically rarely issued travel documents for deportation, a judge released Phetsadakone after serving several months in detention.
At Phetsadakone’s hearing Friday, U.S. attorneys said the federal government had reached an agreement with Laos and had the travel documents required to deport him there within two weeks. His arrest by ICE this July was lawful and his deportation “a certainty,” said U.S. Attorney Michelle Lambert.
But Phetsadakone’s defense attorneys said they had found “smoking gun” evidence that his defense lawyer in the decades-old fraud case had improperly advised him of the risk of deportation should he plead guilty. They have requested a judge vacate that conviction, and Whitehead granted the temporary restraining order that would release Phetsadakone until there is a ruling in the criminal case.
Jennie Pasquarella, one of Phetsadakone’s attorneys, argued ICE unlawfully arrested and detained Phetsadakone this July by not notifying him in advance that his release had been revoked. The Seattle Clemency Project attorney representing him pro bono argued there is also a serious risk that he would be deported to a third country instead of Laos, a country where Phetsadakone knows no one and whose immigration policies seem to be “changing by the minute,” said Pasquarella.
The Trump administration has escalated third-country deportations in recent months, sending people to countries they have no ties to. About a dozen countries, including South Sudan, Uganda and El Salvador, have agreed to receive these deportees.
“I cannot explain why the government is doing this,” Pasquarella said at the courtroom's podium. “If nothing else, it’s unconstitutional punishment. It’s cruel. It’s inhumane. It’s designed to punish.”
The courtroom reached capacity Friday, its benches filled with Phetsadakone’s family and supporters, including neighbors and members of a union. Some family members embraced each other as they sat down, and others waited nervously with their eyes closed.
Phetsadakone sat quietly throughout the hearing, wearing a green uniform and occasionally looking at his children and wife of 26 years, Cheryl Eugenio, who is a U.S. citizen.
Phetsadakone ran into trouble months after turning 18, when several new friends told him about a way he could “get some quick cash,” Pasquarella said. He helped the friends deposit counterfeit and stolen checks, according to federal court records.
Phetsadakone's attorneys argue his lawyer in the fraud case gave him bad legal advice, based on a hearing recording during which the lawyer said deportation was "not certain" if he pleaded guilty. In fact, Congress had passed a law lowering the loss threshold for aggravated felonies from $200,000 to $10,000: granting the government grounds for deportation.
Therefore, his attorneys now argue, his decision to plead is "constitutionally invalid" because his Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel was violated.
After serving eight months in detention and being released on supervision, Phetsadakone attended his annual ICE check-ins “consistently, religiously (and) dutifully” for 27 years, Pasquarella said. He married Eugenio and helped raise their three children while working two jobs at a Seattle wine importer and pillow manufacturer.
Decades after receiving his supervision order, Phetsadakone’s attorneys said he had no reason to fear an unexpected outcome during his annual appointment at the ICE field office in Tukwila on July 21. Eugenio and their three children were waiting in the car, with plans to go to lunch afterward.
Instead, ICE officers arrested Phetsadakone and transported him to the agency’s detention center in Tacoma, where he has been held in custody since.
"His whole life is here," said Eugenio. "His family is here. It's hard. He would have to start all over in a place where he doesn't know anyone." Phetsadakone can't read Lao and is not verbally fluent, Eugenio said. She thanked supporters, including people the couple had not spoken to in years, who donated to a GoFundMe for the family, which had raised nearly $10,000 on Friday.
Kane Vongsavanh, a Virginia-based immigration attorney, said while the government is not providing precise data, he estimates "upwards of 200 deportees" have been accepted by Laos since January. That's a big increase over past years.
Many of them have had removal orders hanging over their heads for years.
"The sad part about that is most of these crimes and most of these issues happened several decades ago, Vongsavanh said.
Several Southeast Asian countries, including Laos and Vietnam, have historically been reluctant to accept U.S. deportees.
He recommends Southeast Asian immigrants who have removal orders get their documents in order, hire an experienced immigration attorney or seek out pro bono organizations if they don't have the financial means to hire representation.
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