We who don’t know much about deportation might imagine it as quick, almost like a teleportation. I treated Dy Nguyen’s deportation as though I was waiting outside a delivery room, minus the anticipatory joy.

I haven’t spoken with Dy on the phone yet. The man needs a moment to recuperate. We messaged on Facebook, and he gave me permission to share this post that he wrote to update friends and family of his arrival in Viet Nam.

“After living in the United States for 27 years, I was detained for almost 8 months before being deported back to Vietnam. The experience was overwhelming in every sense of the word. I was overwhelmed by the reality of leaving behind the life I had built, my loved ones—including a newborn whom I never had the chance to physically hold—and my church family, as well as the familiarity of a place I had called home for so many years.

“I was overwhelmed by what felt like the unfairness of the current immigration system. There were moments when I wrestled with questions, confusion, and disappointment. The deportation process itself was exhausting—the long journey (35 hours of flights with both hands and feet shackled), followed by another 30 hours of bus travel from north to south Vietnam. The uncertainty, emotional strain, and difficult procedures after landing all added layer upon layer of burden to an already heavy heart.

“Yet in the midst of all this, I discovered something greater than my hardships.”

Read the rest of this essay at teabuoy.substack.com