We are thrilled to share a significant legal victory regarding the case of wrongfully detained Cambodian genocide survivor Sithy Yi and to confirm that Ms. Yi has been released and reunited with her family.
Ms. Yi is a grandmother of eight who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a routine check-in on January 8, 2026, despite having a pending visa application and existing legal protections against deportation.
On Friday, February 27th, 2026, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Valenzuela of the Central District of California granted both the Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) in Ms. Yi’s case and ordered her immediate release from ICE detention. The order also prohibits ICE from deporting Ms. Yi without providing her an opportunity to be heard by a neutral arbiter, and bars the agency from transferring her outside the court’s jurisdiction. Ms. Yi was released Monday and has returned to her family.
This is a tremendous win for Ms. Yi, her family, and for upholding the principles laid out in the United States Constitution.
Reeves Immigration Law Group’s Kim Luu-Ng has represented Ms. Yi for more than a decade. In 2016, Kim successfully argued before an immigration judge that Ms. Yi qualifies for protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). The court granted Ms. Yi withholding of removal after finding she would most likely face torture if returned to Cambodia.
Despite these protections, Ms. Yi was taken into custody in early 2026 and held at the Adelanto detention center, a privately operated facility with an infamous record of abuses. Kim, assisted by Ben Loveman of Reeves Immigration Law Group, filed a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus on January 14th, naming Attorney General Pam Bondi, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and senior ICE officials as respondents.
“I think this case asks a very simple question,” Kim told LAist in January, following the filing. “Can the government jail someone when it has no real plan to deport them? The Constitution says no.”
Friday evening, Judge Valenzuela answered that question, agreeing with Kim’s central argument and noting that the government did not oppose Ms. Yi’s motion for release and that ICE had failed to follow the required procedural steps: demonstrating beyond reasonable doubt that Ms. Yi had violated any conditions of her release or that her deportation was likely to happen within the “reasonably foreseeable future.”
As LAist’s most recent article following Ms. Yi’s case “Cambodian Genocide Survivor Released from ICE Custody After Court Order” reports, Kim has raised grave concerns regarding the treatment Ms. Yi endured while detained at Adelanto Detention Center. Despite Judge Valenzuela’s court order on Friday requiring her “immediate” release, ICE did not release Ms. Yi until Monday.
“ICE doesn’t work on the weekends,” Kim tells LAist Airtalk. “Any minute that my client was detained beyond the time that the order was issued was an unconstitutional detention.”
Kim further alleges that Ms. Yi’s Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment was violated during her time at Adelanto. After Ms. Yi communicated her detention conditions to her family, and through them to Kim, who reported those conditions to Senator Adam Schiff and other members of Congress, Kim believes her client was retaliated against by facility staff.
“She was verbally abused, but she was also punished. She was not allowed to use the bathroom. She was not allowed to shower,” Kim states. Ms. Yi also reported being subjected to freezing temperatures and spoiled food alongside fellow detainees.
“These are civil detainees. These are not criminal detainees. And there are laws in this country that are supposed to protect against this type of punitive and cruel treatment,” Kim adds, relaying that in many ways she feels “criminal detainees have even more rights than civil detainees and so this is a real crisis.”
We are deeply grateful to everyone who stood with Ms. Yi during this fight, including AAPI Equity Alliance, Pacific Asian Counseling Services, Cambodia Town, and the many supporters who rallied behind her family.
Kim’s representation of Ms. Yi has been covered by LAist, LAist AirTalk, and American Community Media, and was also the subject of an episode of LAist‘s Imperfect Paradise podcast. We are proud of Kim’s tireless advocacy and unwavering commitment to justice for her client.
