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Lao National Arrested in Boston After Child Molestation Conviction

This Week

On 20 August, the United States immigration authorities arrested 58-year-old Viroth Phannavong in Boston, concluding a long legal battle following his conviction for child molestation in Rhode Island. 

A Lao national who was living unlawfully in the United States, Viroth is now facing deportation. He remains in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Viroth had been found guilty on three counts of first-degree child molestation involving his former girlfriend’s daughter in Providence. 

During his trial, he submitted an unauthenticated map of his previous residence, which the judge excluded from evidence. After the conviction, he appealed for a new trial, but the motion was denied. The Rhode Island Supreme Court upheld the ruling, citing the lower court’s proper evaluation of both evidence and witness credibility.

His arrest formed part of a broader ICE operation that targeted individuals convicted of serious or violent crimes. 

The Department of Homeland Security described the men as the “worst of the worst”, citing the severity of their offences as grounds for immediate removal. All five individuals now await deportation proceedings.

These arrests are part of a larger immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump, who returned to office in January 2025 with a renewed pledge to intensify removals of criminal migrants. 

Since then, deportations have increased sharply, not only targeting those with criminal convictions, but also long-term residents with deep roots in American society.

In July, five individuals, including one Lao national, were deported to Eswatini under the administration’s third-country deportation policy. 

Two months earlier, in May, eight others were removed to South Sudan. Among them was Thongxay Nilakout, a Lao man who had spent nearly 30 years in prison after killing a German tourist and injuring her husband in Los Angeles at the age of 17. 

Though released in 2023, Thongxay was later ordered deported.

Since Trump’s return to power, more than 4,800 Lao-Americans have been placed on deportation lists, marking one of the most extensive removals of Southeast Asian migrants in U.S. history. 

One of the most widely publicised cases occurred on 6 March, when ICE deported Ma Yang, a 37-year-old Hmong-American mother of five. Born in a Thai refugee camp following the Lao civil war, Yang had been brought to Milwaukee as an infant and lived there her entire life.

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