Overview
- Tran arrived in Hanoi on Nov. 19, her attorney said, following a multi-stop deportation flight that departed an ICE facility in Louisiana.
- ICE rearrested her at a Nov. 14 Baltimore check-in, issued a new notice of removal and transferred her after Vietnam approved travel documents.
- An immigration judge ordered her removed in 2004 after a 2001 guilty plea to theft-related charges, but enforcement had stalled because Vietnam would not repatriate people who left before 1995.
- She was detained in May, transferred among multiple facilities and released in October when a judge found the government was holding her unnecessarily.
- DHS publicly characterized her as a criminal and defended the removal, while Sen. Chris Van Hollen and community supporters criticized the decision and are seeking legal avenues for her return.