Deported by Biden: a Vietnamese refugee separated from his family after decades in US

Tien Pham, 38, who fled violence in Vietnam as a child, was sent back to an unfamiliar country due to teenage conviction: America is my home'

The passengers on Tien Pham's 15 March flight were scared and anxious. Some were distraught or in denial. Many seemed lost.

In the months leading up to his deportation, Pham, a 38-year-old California resident, had held out hope that he'd be able to stay in the country his family had called home since he was 13. But when he saw the 30 other Vietnamese Americans who would be flying with him from Texas to Vietnam that day, he knew it was over.