Kim Luu-Ng was recently quoted in LAist and American Community Media regarding her representation of Sithy Yi, a Cambodian genocide survivor and grandmother of eight, who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a routine check-in on January 8, 2026.
Kim has represented Ms. Yi for more than a decade. She served as Ms. Yi’s attorney in immigration court in 2016, where she successfully argued that Ms. Yi qualified for protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). The immigration judge granted Ms. Yi withholding of removal after it was revealed that she would most likely be tortured if returned to Cambodia.
In the LAist article “Cambodian Genocide Survivor Detained by ICE,” Kim recalls the 2016 immigration hearing. “We literally walked out of court within 30 minutes,” she tells LAist, “Even the government counsel acknowledged the grave humanitarian concerns with this case.”
At 15, Ms. Yi fled the Khmer Rouge genocide after spending her childhood subjected to slave labor and torture. She came to the United States as a refugee in 1981 and has now lived in the U.S. for 44 years. Ms. Yi is currently being detained at the infamous, privately owned Adelanto detention center, despite having a pending visa application and existing protection under CAT.
Kim, assisted by Reeves Immigration Law Group’s Ben Loveman, filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus on January 14th, seeking Ms. Yi’s immediate release from detention. The suit names Attorney General Pam Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and various senior ICE officials.
“I think this case asks a very simple question,” Kim states. “Can the government jail someone when it has no real plan to deport them? The Constitution says no.”
“Individuals who receive CAT withholding typically are allowed to live out the rest of their lives in the United States with a work permit,” Kim explains, emphasizing that she has “never heard of anyone being deported after receiving CAT protection.”
In the American Community Media article “Cambodian Grandmother Faces Imminent Deportation After Four Decades in US”, Kim warns that federal officials have increasingly attempted to circumvent CAT protections by deporting individuals to third countries that may later return them to their country of origin. “In Cambodia, Ms. Yi would have absolutely zero protection,” Kim asserts. “No lawyer would protect her because Cambodia continues to be a very corrupt dictatorship.”
“My client has never been viewed as a threat or danger to the community,” stresses Kim. “ICE has on numerous occasions declared that she was not a danger to the community by not taking her into custodial detention. For 20 years, they’ve had numerous opportunities to deport my client to a third country, to take her into custodial detention, but they chose not to do that.”
AAPI Equity Alliance, Pacific Asian Counseling Services, and Cambodia Town are providing support for Ms. Yi’s immediate release. Ms. Yi’s family has also started a GoFundMe to support her and her family during this troubling time.
Following its reporting, LAist dedicated an episode of its Imperfect Paradise podcast titled, “A Cambodian Genocide Survivor Was Undergoing the Legal Immigration Process and Had Protections Against Deportation. So Why Was She Detained by ICE Indefinitely?” to Ms. Yi’s case.
The episode examines Kim’s case and how recent policy shifts under the Trump administration could impact Yi’s outcome and the legal standing of similarly situated immigrants.
For more of Kim’s commentary and full reporting on the case, read the articles and listen to the podcast below.
