This year marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. wars in Southeast Asia. For many families, the aftereffects of war continue today in the form of deportations, displacement, and separation. In this setting, Minnesota 8 (MN8) has emerged as a powerful community-rooted organization defending Southeast Asian refugees’ right to stay, heal, and thrive.
In this conversation, Montha Chum, Executive Director of MN8, shares the deeply personal roots of the organization, her family’s story, and how MN8 transformed pain and urgency into a system of advocacy and long-term power-building.
Q: Can you share the story of how MN8 started?
On August 29, 2016, my life changed forever. My brother went in for what should have been a routine ICE check-in. He kissed his daughter goodbye, hugged his wife, and thought it was going to be a normal day. Instead, he was detained.
When we arrived at the ICE facility, we realized it wasn’t just him. Seven other Cambodian men in Minnesota had also been detained as part of a national wave of arrests. Families like ours were being torn apart.
Families like mine – mostly women, children, and queer folks – had never organized before, but desperation pushed us into action. We held press conferences, started petitions, and knocked on the doors of senators and representatives. We became known for the “Release Minnesota Eight” campaign.
Some were released, including my brother. But five were deported. That campaign didn’t end with these cases – it birthed MN8. Out of love and grief, we created a movement.
Q: How did your family’s story shape your vision for MN8?
As an older sister, I was heartbroken and furious about my brother’s detainment – he had already served his time and had followed all protocol. It was hard to see my parents cry; my father passed away eight months after my brother’s release.
My family, like many others, had already survived the genocide, the refugee camps, and the displacement. I was in my mother’s womb when she fled the Khmer Rouge. That intergenerational trauma is in my body. And then to see my youngest brother – the baby of the family – targeted for deportation lit a fire in me. When you watch someone you love be criminalized and targeted by a system that is designed to disappear our people, you can’t help but be changed and activated.
My experience showed me how Southeast Asians are largely invisible in the deportation conversation. Most people think of it only as a Latinx issue. But thousands of Southeast Asians live under final orders of removal.
Reflecting on the intersections of the criminal, legal, and immigration systems (what we call “crimmigration”), it’s clear that these struggles are deeply rooted in racial justice. I also saw that we needed an organization that could not only respond to crises but also build long-term power and healing for justice-impacted people, especially within the Southeast Asian community.
I never wanted another family to go through what mine did. That conviction, rooted in love, is what MN8 stands on and builds from.
Q: MN8 is known for its holistic approach. What does that mean in practice?
From day one, we realized this fight wasn’t only legal. It was human. Thus, our approach is rooted in the lived experience of a justice-impacted person. When someone reaches out, we don’t just ask, What’s your case? We ask, What does your family need? What support will you need if you’re deported?
We provide community intakes, Know Your Rights trainings, mutual aid, care packages, and cultural reintegration support. We walk with families through ICE check-ins. We also stay in touch with people after deportation by sending care packages overseas, helping them find sponsors, and making sure their families here aren’t left behind.
At the same time, we fight for systemic change. We’ve worked with local community leaders in the Twin Cities to help mitigate hundreds of cases to prevent deportation. That’s the kind of structural shift we want.
Every system we fight is connected to a real person, a real family, and it exposes the cruelty of the larger system.
Q: You’ve carried so much personally and professionally. What keeps you going?
I have a lot of survivor’s guilt. My brother came home, while others didn’t. I carry that with me every day.
What keeps me going is remembering my mom. Before she passed, she shared how the Khmer Rouge once forced her to dig her own grave because they thought she was Vietnamese. She pleaded for her life. Somehow, she survived.
Her resilience grounds me. Our community’s resilience grounds me. I think of families breaking bread together in the middle of crisis, men crying with each other, children clinging to their parents. I see the ways we support each other and how much this space is needed.
At MN8, we’ve also created intentional practices for rest and care. We close every quarter for a week so our staff can recharge, because this work is overwhelming. And yet, it’s also life-giving. It’s the heart’s work, and we do this because we love our people.
Q: What message do you want people to take away from MN8’s story?
Deportation is not just about mistakes or “criminals.” It’s about families, histories, and humanity. My brother almost lost everything over a broken window in a bar fight when he was young. He had already served his time, rebuilt his life, and become a father, yet the system tried to erase him.
I believe in second chances and our right to belong here. Southeast Asian refugees did not all choose to come here. We were displaced here. And 50 years after the U.S. wars in our homelands, we’re still fighting for our place.
I was recently at a panel where a judge said that advocates like us oftentimes have the ability to humanize community members. Although storytelling is a core advocacy tool, our stories are simply human. We have families and people who love us, and we have a right to thrive.
Montha (she/her) was born in the Khao-I-Dang refugee camp in Thailand after her family fled genocide in Cambodia, immigrating to the U.S. at age four. Her advocacy began in 2016 when ICE detained her youngest brother and seven other Cambodian Minnesotans. She co-created the ReleaseMinnesota8 Campaign, which grew into MN8, where she now serves as Executive Director and Co-founder.
At MN8, Montha leads efforts to fight deportations and family separation in Southeast Asian American communities while providing resources and support to those impacted by unjust immigration policies. As a 1.5-generation Cambodian American, she brings lived experience of war, displacement, and resettlement to her work.
Her leadership spans deportation defense, grassroots organizing, youth leadership, civic engagement, and cross-racial solidarity. Montha also serves as Board Chair of the Minnesota Freedom Fund’s C4 arm and as an Advisory Board Member of The People’s Collective for Justice and Liberation, advancing racial and immigrant justice in solidarity with BIPOC communities.
Known for her compassionate approach, Montha bridges impacted families with legal resources, ensuring access to justice. Outside of advocacy, she enjoys time with her grandkids, reading, and playing board games with loved ones.
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As the U.S. marks 50 years since the end of its wars in Southeast Asia, organizations like MN8 remind us that history is not past. Deportation flights continue this year, sending refugees back to countries they hardly know. MN8 stands as living proof of what’s possible when impacted families organize with fierce conviction and deep tenderness: a future where no one is disposable, and everyone has the right to belong.
Learn more about MN8 and support their work at:
Website: https://minnesota8.org/
Instagram: @releasemn8
Linktree: linktr.ee/minnesota8