Son Krouch’s Story

By Brooke Kaufman | Communications Specialist

Son Krouch with his attorney Braden Penhoet of the firm DLA Piper

Before Son Krouch met Louise Bush, Seattle Clemency Project (SCP) had already become part of his family. Son's brother, Sok, received a pardon from Governor Inslee in 2019 with the help of the SCP Immigrant Post-Conviction Relief (IPCR) Project. Son had a conviction of his own stemming from a fight that occurred in 2005. Louise, who runs the project, was introduced to Son at a picnic celebrating Sok's successful pardon. Soon after, the two began work on what would ultimately be a two-year effort to vacate Son's conviction, which would allow him to remain in Seattle with his wife and four children.

Son, who is soft-spoken and deliberate with his words, says it wasn't hard to trust Louise and his SCP volunteer attorney Braden Penhoet of DLA Piper, since he knew people from his community who had received support from SCP.

Braden immediately began work on learning Son's life story and subsequently negotiated with the King County prosecutor, who agreed to withdraw Son's original plea and enter a new, "immigration-safe" plea in its place. After a successful hearing in King County Superior Court in April 2021, Son's immigration attorney, vacate in hand, was able to reopen his case in immigration court and have his removal order terminated.

It's difficult for Son to describe how much has changed since that moment. His family, who he provides for as the owner of an auto repair shop in Mount Baker, used to hug him each time he left for a check-in appointment with ICE. Son says it's hard to explain the feeling of not knowing whether you'll come back out, the constant anxiety, and wanting to spend all the time you have left with your loved ones. Since his removal order to Cambodia — a country he's never been to — was terminated, "life has opened up" for Son. His kids, the older of whom understood the threat of deportation Son was facing, are "really happy." As he speaks about them, you can see in his eyes and through his smile how the relief granted to one man gave rise to that of so many others in his family and his community.

Last week, Son applied for citizenship, a process he says should take about seven months to complete. His vacate is one of sixteen successful outcomes for the IPCR project, the most recent of which was a 5-0 unanimous vote by the Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board to recommend a pardon for client David Ros on September 9 of this year. Son says if he had known about the immigration consequences of his guilty plea, which he signed at 22 years old on the advice of his attorney, he never would have pled guilty. Many non-citizens didn't receive this advice, he says, and weren't aware of the intersection between a conviction and threats to their immigration status.

"[We weren't told that] if something happens [and you commit a crime], you're going back to a land you've never been to," Son said. "Nobody tells us that."

Now that the weight of deportation has been lifted, the first place Son wants his family to visit is Japan, and maybe, after that, he'll finally visit Cambodia — by choice, this time. Son's mother fled Cambodia on foot while pregnant with him. Son was born in a Thai refugee camp and has never set foot in Cambodia. The thought of being deported to a country he's never been to, and one that holds such significant trauma for his mother and other family members, was unfathomable.

"It's about going somewhere, and you can't come back home," Son said. "That's the thing; that's what [the threat of] deportation is like. You get caught doing something, but [now] you're doing good. But then they send you to a place, saying you can't come back. And all your family is still here. I don't know how to explain it."

Before his hearing, Son had been on the deportation list for over ten years, checking in with immigration officials every three to six months. It's hard, he says, to let go of that routine and even harder to move past the emotions of the time.

"It's a memory that will stick with you for life," Son said.

His mom, though, is more than happy to have her sons here. Son says she told him, "God is giving you another chance."

As for Louise, Braden, and his other advocates, Son believes "they'll be in [his] life forever." Distance will never be an issue, as Son has no plans to leave Seattle anytime soon. "Why go anywhere else?" he said.