Southeast Asian Philadelphian Tuan Van Bui was found dead while being held in ICE custody on April 1. Now, the family of the dead man demands a secondary evaluation, proper legal review and repatriation of Bui’s body from Indiana to Philadelphia to fulfill his burial wishes.
Bui immigrated to the United States from Vietnam under the Amerasian Homecoming Act.
He attended a routine ICE check-in last year on August 18. During this appointment he was detained by ICE agents who then discarded all his personal documents.
“Tuan Van Bui was ordered to receive deportation, yet he received death,” said the Bui family in a statement.
For seven and a half months Bui was transferred to two separate facilities, including the GEO Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania and the Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana. He was the 15th person to die in a detention facility this year.
“Southeast Asians have never faced this level of ICE detention and deportation over the last 20 years,” said VietLead Executive Director Nancy Nguyen. “Deportations to Vietnam have increased over 1500% from 2024, and we only expect this to rise.”
VietLead is a grassroots community organization that serves Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. Their goal is to heal trauma in their communities through programs such as civic engagement and intergenerational farming.
“ICE detention is cruel to all of us,” said Elena Emelchin Brunner, the Asian Americans United immigrant justice organizer. “It endangers the state of safety of all in Philadelphia and across this country and mirrored across the world, and exacerbates the pain every immigrant, refugee and survivor has experienced from decades of physical, mental and generational trauma.”
READ: ICE and the Trump Administration’s War on Immigrants Have Caused a Youth Mental Health Emergency
Asian Americans United, an advocacy group, focuses on immigrant rights and anti-Asian violence. They help strengthen communities and create multiracial coalitions.
The Bui family is seeking:
- Additional forensic testing and secondary review of cause of death
- Financial support for transporting Tuan Van Bui’s body from Indiana back to Philadelphia, honoring his funeral and memorial wishes, and assisting his wife — who suffered a stroke after witnessing his detention — with ongoing medical and living expenses.
