Hundreds rally in Germantown in support of Anovsack ‘Anou’ Vongbandith, a cafe owner being held in ICE detention center

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Community members, activists and family members gathered Saturday outside Das Good Cafe in Germantown to show solidarity and rally in support of owner Anovsack “Anou” Vongbandith, who was detained by federal immigration officials last month.

Vongbandith’s wife, Anh, told Germantown Info Hub that on July 28, her husband was detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is currently being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center.

Protesters brought signs and chanted “Who’s our neighbor? Anou’s our neighbor” and “Care not cages.” Some attended because they knew Vongbandith. Many, like Chris Hoepner, came because they wanted to fight back against deportation efforts.

“The idea that they can, you know, they arrest people that have been living here and fighting for their rights,” Hoepner said. “We have to stand up for immigrants no matter where they’re from.”

He was hopeful, however, that the rally could lead to a positive outcome.

“We’ve had amnesties that we’ve won in the past,” Hoepner said. “So I think it’s totally realizable.”

Dozens of speakers, including Vongbandith’s wife Ahn, state Sen. Art Haywood and state Rep. Chris Rabb, local advocacy groups and Rev. Greg Holston, addressed the gathering.

Holston called out what he termed as the hypocrisy of the “American dream in today’s context,” saying that “if we’re really about that, then we have to stand with Anou.”

Vongbadith came to the U.S. when he was 5, fleeing Laos with his parents to escape the communist regime. He was on his way to citizenship, but ran into legal troubles when he and his wife were accused of sexual misconduct, which resulted in Vongbandith’s children being removed from their custody, as reported by Germantown Info Hub.

His wife previously said that Vongbadith was in custody while his kids were in foster care, so the plea deal was given as the fastest way out. Vongbadith would continue checking in with ICE every six months while he remained in the country, according to Heyward.

“Like so many others before him, Anou took a plea,” Ahn said. “When your resources are drained, when you’re exhausted, and when you want this nightmare to end, you just take what you think is the only way out.”

Ahn said that she and Vongbandith worked hard to make a good life, yelling that she couldn’t watch the person she loves being “taken away for the second time.” She spoke about the family’s efforts to bring Vongbandith home. She said her husband does not know much about Laos, can’t speak the language and has only loose connections to family in the country. She said he has an enlarged heart and is battling health issues and the family doesn’t know if he is getting the care he needs to survive.

Ahn said that Vongbandith wants to return home and rebuild his life with his loved ones.

“But when the system fails you and gives you not the right information and you’re not fully told what the choices are, the nightmare doesn’t end, it just hides until it burst open again and here we are, living the consequences over again.”

State Rep. Rabb, D-Philadelphia, said he showed up “because Anou is my neighbor.”

“America has never been great,” said Rabb, who is running for U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans’ seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Evans announced earlier this year that he is retiring. “I know it’s gonna get me in trouble. This country has never been great. And it never will be great until it is good.”

Rabb’s said deportations cannot be pegged as a Republican problem.

“This has been going on for multiple administrations and not just Republican ones,” he said,

He said that if he becomes a congressman, he will continue his effort to stand against deportation, pointing to his history of trying to make Pennsylvania a “sanctuary commonwealth.”

Rev. Holston ended the rally by asking the crowd to touch one another, connecting the mass of people into one, something he emphasized made a community stronger.

Organizers said they expected around 100 people to show up on the sidewalk outside the cafe, but the crowd was at least 500 strong, spilling out into the street and causing the police to shutdown W. Chelten Avenue for the block surrounding Vongbandith’s restaurant.