this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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The daughter of a woman murdered by a man from Laos who is among those controversially deported from the US to South Sudan has spoken out about her family’s pain but also to decry the lack of rights afforded to those who were expelled to countries other than their own.

Birte Pfleger lives in Los Angeles and was a history student at Cal State University in Long Beach when her parents came to visit her from their native Germany in 1994 and ended up shot by Thongxay Nilakout during a robbery while on a sightseeing trip. Pfleger’s mother, Gisela, was killed and her father, Klaus, wounded.

Nilakout, now 48, is Laotian and was among eight convicted criminals from countries including Mexico, Cuba, Vietnam and Myanmar who were deported to the conflict-torn African country, amid uproar over Donald Trump’s extreme immigration policies.

In an interview with the Guardian, Pfleger said: “It’s been 31 years living with the irreparable pain and permanent grief, so, on the one hand, I wanted him gone. On the other hand, I’m a historian and I have taught constitutional history. He was denied due process and that’s a constitutional problem.”

top 18 comments
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[–] forrgott@lemmy.sdf.org 72 points 6 days ago

Wow. That's some courage and strength. Mad respect.

[–] thedruid@lemmy.world 36 points 6 days ago

Strong, strong human being right there. She's a real one

[–] faythofdragons@piefed.social 27 points 6 days ago
[–] Boddhisatva@lemmy.world 22 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Makes sense. Without a trial, without due process, can we really know that he was the murderer. For all anyone can say, the killer could still be among us and an innocent man was deported.

[–] Railcar8095@lemmy.world 18 points 5 days ago

Ehh, he was investigated and found guilty 30 years ago. Even the summary makes it clear he was sentenced long ago.

This is shitty, but not for this reason.

[–] wagesj45@fedia.io 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

And there's no guarantee of justice once they leave our jurisdiction. Even assuming they got the right guy... what? He murders someone and gets to go home with no punishment? That's a travesty.

[–] womjunru@lemmy.cafe 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] wagesj45@fedia.io 1 points 5 days ago

I was speaking generally about the concept of deporting "the criminal illegals".

Or rather, he gets to go to an active war zone 5,000 miles from his country of origin. A war zone where he speaks at most one of the over 60 officially recognized languages.

That's not treatment anyone who IS guilty of murder deserves, let alone all the innocent people and minor offenders the fascist kakistocracy is ALSO sending to South Sudan.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 13 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Id feel the same. No due process means no truth about the situation. Justice is due process and proper sentencing.

[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

In case you missed it, he was convicted for the murder. He didn't have due process for the deportation.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

It still does not matter as we should not be shipping off criminals willy nilly to other countries without due process. I mean we should not be doing it at all without talking with the country they do have citizenship in and certainly not sending them to some random country.

[–] Ajen@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago

Agreed, I was just pointing out that the woman in the article got "truth about the situation" a long time ago.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world -1 points 5 days ago (2 children)

The real question is how the fuck he wasn't legally deported ages ago. Convicted murderer is a slam dunk case, why they gotta do shady shit?

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 4 points 5 days ago

Why the fuck are we deporting everyone in the first place?

He went to prison, and now that he's served his time it's time to make as hard as possible to survive? Just infinite extra punishment because of where he was born?

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 5 days ago

Its problematic if they can't identify where he is from.

[–] Bonesince1997@lemmy.world 16 points 6 days ago

Apparently, we don't listen to the experts, in so many ways.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 9 points 5 days ago

But in a 7-2 ruling, the US supreme court paused Murphy’s orders, clearing all obstacles preventing the Trump administration’s plan.

Wait. TWO? I guess I missed at the time that Kagan completely shit the bed on that one.