Das Good Owner, Anou Facing Deportation

FROM GERMANTOWN INFO HUB FACEBOOK PAGE

For nearly five decades, Anou Vongbandith has called the United States home.

He runs Das Good Café with his wife, Anh, a bright spot on W. Chelten Avenue known for its fusion of Asian and Hawaiian cuisine — and their generosity.

But this past weekend, Anou was detained by ICE and now faces deportation to Laos, which he left as a young child. He doesn’t speak the language, and his health is uncertain due to a faulty heart.

His deportation order stems from a decades-old plea deal tied to charges his family says were based on manipulated allegations and legal pressure.

What they didn’t know then — and what lawyers failed to tell them — is that pleading guilty would mean losing Anou’s green card and putting his future at risk.

Now, the family is turning to a potential legal lifeline: the Padilla motion, a challenge rooted in a 2010 Supreme Court decision that says non-citizens must be warned of immigration consequences before taking a plea.

Read the full story on how a local family’s quiet resilience has become a call to action.

The family is asking for a stay, per the GoFundMe page. 

FYI: A stay–that we ask elected offices to get ICE to stop moving forward with the deportation.

For how you can help by writing to state reps: https://drive.google.com/…/1zLDiKFJwMzsEtZMPk75…/view…

Questions to elected:
1. Can your office help with my friend’s immigration case?
2. Will you submit a letter or support or a private bill to help stop this deportation?;
3. What is your stance on ICE enforcement in our community?
4. Will you advocate for updates to immigration laws that protect long-term residents and mixed families?

Suggested template you can follow: https://drive.google.com/…/1XsJOO_pY0wjpPKvmQ…/view…