President Donald Trump s demonization of Central American migrants took center stage ahead of the midterm elections. Meanwhile, the U.S. governments hard-line immigration policies continued to affect a diverse range of people, including Asian-Americans, who are often left out of the discussion.

Many who are targeted for deportation came here as refugees, said Katrina Dizon Mariategue, the director of national policy at the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center. Theyre legal permanent residents. Theyre not undocumented. Theyre being deported for old convictions. Thats why theyre more invisible when were talking about immigration issues.

Somdeng Danny Thongsy has never been to Laos, the country his family fled as refugees during the Vietnam War. But that hasnt stopped the U.S. government from attempting to deport him there.

Its hard to live with that fear of the unknown, he said. Every day I wake up with that.

Thongsy, 39, is one of 16,000 Southeast Asians with permanent U.S. residency to receive final deportation orders. Many of these people committed crimes in their teens, served their sentences and turned their lives around, and are now in their 30s and 40s, said Anoop Prasad, staff attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, a civil rights nonprofit in San Francisco that represents Thongsy and other refugees and immigrants.