Green Card Holder Deported Over Crimes She Committed as Teenager

A lawful permanent resident who had lived in the United States for more than two decades has been deported to Vietnam, her attorney told Newsweek.

Melissa Tran, 43, arrived in the U.S. as a child refugee from Vietnam in the 1990s, according to The Baltimore Banner. The outlet reported that Tran, whose full name is Mong Tuyen Thi Tran, came to the United States on a green card at age 11 and has spent nearly half her life living in Hagerstown, Maryland.

In 2001, she pleaded guilty to stealing checks from her employer. The Department of Homeland Security said that in 2004, an order of removal was issued against her by an immigration judge. At that time, Vietnam refused to accept her return because it did not repatriate immigrants who left the country before 1995.