Immigration Article of the Day: Deportation After Death by Incarceration: A Right to Redemption by Jennifer Lee Koh
Deportation After Death by Incarceration: A Right to Redemption by Jennifer Lee Koh, 114 Kentucky Law Journal 669 (2026)
Abstract
The era of mass deportation brought on by President Trump's second term has resurfaced longstanding questions about the nature and justice of deportation. As calls to deport the so-called "worst of the worst" are increasingly overshadowed by the deportation and detention of the most apparently unblemished noncitizens (as well as United States citizens), where does this leave those noncitizens who have, in fact, committed serious crimes? To reckon with this question, this Essay draws from the lived experience of one of its authors. After being condemned to die in prison, Tin Nguyen's pursuit of personal, educational, and spiritual transformation led to his freedom from incarceration. But Tin came lawfully to the U.S. as a refugee nearly fifty years ago at age six and is not a U.S. citizen. He faces the risk of permanent exile from his family and support network, potentially even to life-threatening conditions in an unknown country. Building on existing scholarly and grassroots interventions, this Essay urges immigration law to acknowledge a right to redemption. Doing so would not only facilitate the redemption journeys of individuals but could also reorient even redeem-the celebration of cruelty that increasingly dominates immigration policy and discourse today.
