{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://barrett.house.gov/media/press-releases/barrett-facilitates-release-st-johns-resident-ice-custody-reuniting-hmong", "Barrett Facilitates Release of St. Johns Resident from ICE Custody, Reuniting Hmong-American Family", "2025-12-03", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "MI", "Tom Barrett", "B001321", "barrett.house.gov", "barrett", "https://barrett.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "Grand Rapids, Mich. \u2014 Today, Congressman Tom Barrett (MI-07) reunited Lue Yang with his family after months of advocacy that facilitated his release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.\n\nYang \u2014 a father of six, resident of St. Johns, and leader of Michigan\u2019s Hmong-American community \u2014 came to the United States legally as an infant in 1979 after his father aided the CIA during the secret war against communism in Laos. Yang was born stateless in a refugee camp in Thailand.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m so thankful that Lue was reunited with his family. As soon as we heard of his arrest, my staff aggressively sought more information,\u201d said Barrett. \u201cLue is not and never has been an illegal immigrant, and he does not present a threat to our community, which motivated me to work tirelessly to see him released from custody. I have consistently said that I believe we need to be firm, fair, and humane in how we enforce immigration law, and I\u2019m proud that I could effectively advocate to get Lue released. I appreciate the willingness of the administration to listen to my concerns about Lue\u2019s case and to reach this outcome.\u201d\n\nBarrett and his staff worked closely with Ann Vue, Yang\u2019s wife, to advocate for his release since ICE detained him this summer. Yang was convicted for sitting in the car during a home break-in during his youth, but he served his 10-month sentence and remained in the country lawfully. In the decades since his conviction, Yang has remained a law-abiding, productive member of the community. His conviction was expunged several years ago, and he received a full pardon this fall.\n\nIn October, Barrett hand-delivered a letter to the ICE office in Detroit advocating for Yang\u2019s release and coordinated directly with senior administration officials. Although Lue doesn\u2019t have a permanent immigration status, he has always maintained a lawful presence in the United States.\n\nImage\n\nClick here to watch the full video.\n\nClick here to download the full video.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://barrett.house.gov/media/press-releases/barrett-facilitates-release-st-johns-resident-ice-custody-reuniting-hmong"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8728781249374151, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}