After the Vietnam war, Tin Thang’s family fled to China. He was practically a newborn, as his parents made the long journey—sometimes on a bus, but oftentimes on foot. Thang’s earliest memory is from a Hong Kong refugee camp where his family lived for over five years before making the journey to Los Angeles in 1985, when he was eight years old.
A few years later, Thang fell in with the wrong crowd. He got involved with a gang, and before the age of 18, he found himself sentenced to two life sentences in prison.
“I committed a horrible crime. I take full responsibility,” he says. “I can’t justify the crimes I did when I was a juvenile.”
In 2013, California enacted SB260, providing parole hearings to youth offenders who had served at least 15 years of their sentence. Thang followed the process and petitioned successfully. But just before he was about to be released, he received a letter from ICE saying he would be detained because he is not a U.S. citizen.
As soon as he was released from prison on Aug. 22, 2017, Thang was immediately detained by ICE. Comparing it with prison, Thang says the ICE facility is a lot worse. He describes a haphazard intake process with no real psychological or medical evaluation.
“You don’t know if people may have some disease or mental issue,” he says. “But they just put anybody, random people in a cell with you.”
Thang remained in ICE custody for over seven months before finally being released on April 9, 2018. But his immigration status remains in limbo.
Though his family arrived in the country legally, Thang never applied for a green card. And so long as he has a criminal record, he can’t.
To remain in the U.S., he must go every six months for an interview at an ICE office in Los Angeles. He’s been doing that for four years now. The only way Thang can hope to break the cycle and get a green card requires a pardon from the governor.
“I’m working on that petition right now,” he says.
Thang currently makes his living as a tattoo artist. He just opened his own shop in El Monte, California, with a grand opening celebration on April 17, 2022.
Speaking out about his previous missteps and his experiences with immigration, he hopes to inspire others who might be facing similar challenges in their lives.
“I’ve been sharing my story,” says Thang. “I’m trying to advocate for change, for me, for all of us.”
A VR art animation drawn by Thang.
