SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – The Trump administration’s push to crack down on illegal immigration has been felt in cities and communities across the country. Now, it’s hitting close to home for a family in Sioux Falls.
53-year-old Vone Phrommany, who was born in Laos but grew up in Sioux Falls, was detained by ICE in Arizona last month and is now facing deportation. The reason for his detention stems from something that happened over 30 years ago when Vone was a teenager.
The criminal charges
His family tells us that in 1990, just a few weeks after turning 18, Vone was caught selling LSD to an undercover agent and was charged with an aggravated felony.
In 1997, he was issued deportation orders from an immigration judge. However, his family says that, at the time, those orders couldn’t be fulfilled because Laos wasn’t accepting immigrants or detainees from the United States.
In the years since his deportation orders, Vone Phrommany went to college and moved to Arizona where he’s been working as a physical therapist. His family says he’s been an upstanding person and even tried getting his citizenship but couldn’t because of his criminal conviction as a teen.
“You know, he’s been checking in with ICE agents and his probation officer,” Sone Phrommany, Vone Phrommany’s brother, said. “Basically, I think, for the passed 20 years he’s been checking in twice a year for the past 20 years. So, I’m not sure, you know why all of a sudden they need to deport him.”
In an emailed statement to KELOLAND News, a spokesperson for ICE said, in part, quote ‘Phrommany may have made a comfortable life in the United States by absconding a removal order for nearly 20 years but the law finally caught up with him.’
Full statement from ICE
“Keomanivone Phrommany, 53, an illegal alien from Laos, was ordered deported by an immigration judge on Aug. 13, 1997. Records indicate this aggravated felon has a drug conviction which makes him removable as per our immigration laws. Phrommany may have made a comfortable life in the United States by absconding a removal order for nearly 20 years but the law finally caught up with him. As ICE has been clear time and time again, aliens who commit crimes and who violate U.S. immigration law will be subject to arrest and detention by ICE, and if determined deportable by final order, is also subject to deportation from the United States. As part of its routine operations, ICE will execute the deportation order, regardless of the alien’s nationality. Phrommany will remain in ICE custody pending his deportation from the United States.”
KELOLAND News sent a follow-up email to ICE asking about Laos not accepting detainees in 1997, as well as Phrommany’s check-ins through the years. This is the response we received:
“I don’t have much more to offer but 1997 was long time ago, circumstances have changed so I would lean towards that. Also, he does have a criminal conviction and an order of removal so he is in detention facing removal there is nothing unusual about that.”
Fighting for Vone
His family and friends, though, are fighting to keep Vone Phrommany in the United States — where he’s lived since he was six years old.
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Vone Phrommany. Photo courtesy of Sace Phrommany Rydberg -
Vone Phrommany and family. Photo courtesy of Sace Phrommany Rydberg -
Vone Phrommany and family. Photo courtesy of Sace Phrommany Rydberg -
Vone Phrommany and family. Photo courtesy of Sace Phrommany Rydberg -
Vone Phrommany and family. Photo courtesy of Sace Phrommany Rydberg
“They need to look at case by case basis versus just group everybody all in one,” Sone Phrommany said. “You know, there’s murderers out there, there’s bigger drug dealers and just so many other criminals that could be in one spectrum and then there’s Vone, you know. It’s night and day.”
“You know, most of us just make dumb mistakes when we’re young and unfortunately Vone just, you know,” Mandy Phrommany, Vone Phrommany’s sister-in-law, said.
“Just got caught. And he’s been paying the price since,” Sone Phrommany said.
Jill Hanson, who has known Vone since middle school, says she was shocked when she learned her longtime friend was detained.
“It just seemed so unreal like, not Vone. Why him? I mean, he’s like the nicest,” Hanson said. “He’s gentle. He’s always taking care of others.”
“He’s fun, you know, he’s loving, he’s caring. Just very easy to know and he’ll pretty much take the shirt off his back for another guy,” Sone Phrommany said.
In an effort to raise money for legal expenses to help get Vone home, his family has created fundraiser t-shirts and set up both Zelle and GoFundMe accounts. There’s also a change.org petition.
The Phrommany family story
Sone Phrommany tells us his family fled Laos in the 1970s when his dad was in the Laos Army during the Vietnam War.
“So, my dad was allies with the US and then he got captured and he got thrown into a concentration camp. He was actually starting to get sick and needed to go to the hospital,” Sone Phrommany said. “When he went to the hospital he basically told the guards that he, you know, needed to go check up on a few things and they let him go.”
Sone Phrommany says his dad then got the family and they fled to Thailand.
“We were there for a few years and then we applied for sponsorship through First Baptist Church and they helped us come to the US in 1980,” Sone Phrommany said.
He says there four boys and four girls that came to the United States but they still have one half brother in Laos.
