Ferguson denies pardon for WA immigrant facing deportation to South Sudan

SEATTLE – Gov. Bob Ferguson declined to grant a pardon to a Vietnamese national who grew up in Tacoma, likely clearing the way for his deportation to South Sudan.

The denial of Tuan Thanh Phan’s pardon application comes as the U.S. Supreme Court clarified in a ruling Thursday the federal government can, without notice, deport immigrants to so-called “third countries” – places other than their countries of origin and where they have no connections – while legal challenges in a lower court proceed.

Phan was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents immediately after he was released from state prison in March after completing a 25-year sentence for first-degree murder and second-degree assault. He is one of eight men being held in a converted shipping container at a U.S. military base in Djibouti.

Without a full and unconditional pardon for Phan – which would have allowed him to reinstate his lawful permanent resident status – his deportation to South Sudan appears likely.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Thursday that the eight men would be in South Sudan by the Fourth of July.

“With the governor, I feel betrayed,” said his wife, Ngoc Phan, in an interview Thursday. “He pretty much sided with Trump. He’s complicit in this administration’s relentless and vicious attacks on vulnerable and immigrant communities.”

Ferguson was concerned a full and unconditional pardon would allow Phan to return to civilian life without the conditions that typically accompany a release from long-term incarceration for violent offenses, according to a letter by his office’s chief legal counsel Kristin Beneski sent to Phan’s pardon attorney Thursday.

Those release conditions include reporting regularly to a community custody officer, being subject to home and employment visits by the state’s Department of Corrections and being barred from contacting the victim’s family. The letter also noted infractions Phan committed while incarcerated, including “strongarming/intimidation” in 2023 and possessing drugs with the intent to distribute in 2018.

Earlier this week, the state’s Clemency and Pardons Board declined to recommend granting a pardon to Phan. The board issues advisory opinions to the governor that are nonbinding.

“The Governor agrees that Mr. Phan should be deported to Vietnam, not South Sudan,” Beneski wrote.

“That said, Mr. Phan was convicted of very serious crimes – killing one innocent teenage victim and injuring another when he fired a gun multiple times into a crowded area – and he completed his 25-year prison sentence only a few months ago.”

Phan and his family came to the U.S. from Vietnam as refugees when he was 9 years old in 1991, settling in Tacoma as legal permanent residents.

In 2000, Phan, then 18 years old, fired a gun in self-defense while he was being assaulted by a group of strangers in a Tacoma park, his wife said. Michael Holtmeyer, a 19-year-old passerby who was not involved in the dispute, was shot and killed, according to news reports and court records at the time.

Ngoc Phan said her husband accepted a plea deal, but he was never told of the immigration consequences of pleading guilty. Because of his criminal conviction, he lost his lawful permanent resident status and was given a deportation order in 2009.

Under more typical circumstances, Phan may have been able to vacate his criminal conviction over a prejudicial error that he was not properly notified how his plea would impact his immigration status. But that would take time, said his pardon attorney Angélica Cházaro, and “we’re out of time.”

Phan is one of eight men with criminal convictions who were placed on a deportation flight to South Sudan in May that was detoured to Djibouti, generating national headlines and legal challenges.

Third country removals have become a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s expanding immigration crackdown. A federal judge previously ruled immigrants, including convicted criminals, must be given an opportunity to challenge their deportation and raise safety concerns.

Immigration lawyers have heavily criticized the Trump administration’s third-country deportations, citing a lack of due process and the brutal treatment reported by deportees in prisons abroad. The U.S. has issued a “do not travel” advisory for South Sudan, a country on the brink of civil war where violence and kidnappings are rising.

In her dissent Thursday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the Trump administration’s no-notice removals “are undoubtedly illegal.”

“What the Government wants to do, concretely, is send the eight noncitizens it illegally removed from the United States from Djibouti to South Sudan, where they will be turned over to the local authorities without regard for the likelihood that they will face torture or death,” wrote Sotomayor, who was joined by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The administration has been working with several countries to accept expelled immigrants from the U.S. regardless of their country of origin, with federal officials arguing the deportations are necessary to remove the “worst of the worst.”

In recent months, hundreds of immigrants have been sent to or are expected to be sent to El Salvador, Costa Rica, Libya and other countries under third country removals.

Not everyone swept up in third country deportations are people with criminal convictions. None of the roughly 200 people sent to Costa Rica in February had a security flag, according to Costa Rican officials, and about 80 were children.

It’s unclear whether immigration officials tried to deport Phan to his home country and were refused by the Vietnamese government. The day before Phan was placed on the plane to South Sudan, Ngoc Phan said her husband’s ICE case officer told her he had not yet submitted paperwork to the Vietnamese government required for deportation travel documents to be issued.

Historically, Vietnamese nationals who arrived in the U.S. before 1995 – overwhelmingly refugees – were not subject to deportations. During Trump’s first term, under political pressure, the U.S. and Vietnam signed an agreement making it easier to deport pre-1995 arrivals. Since January 2025, ICE has deported pre-1995 immigrants to Vietnam, according to legal advocacy groups.