ICE Arrests Vietnamese Man Convicted of Attempted Murder

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has apprehended a Vietnamese man, Dinh Quy Nguyen, who had been living in the U.S. for over 15 years after being convicted of attempted murder of a police officer. This situation arose because his native country, Vietnam, had refused to take him back.

Nguyen, who originally faced charges of attempted murder and robbery on June 28, 1989, was taken into custody in Houston, Texas, on May 5, 2026. Although he received a deportation order in 1997, he was released in 2011 after Vietnam declined to accept him.

For more than a decade, he was seen as “untouchable” by immigration officials. Given a prior agreement, the U.S. was unable to deport Vietnamese nationals who arrived before July 12, 1995. Since Nguyen entered the U.S. on December 15, 1977, he was effectively shielded from removal, despite his criminal history.

Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Biss remarked, “As we celebrate Police Week, this illegal alien, who was convicted of attempted murder, is being removed from our communities so he can no longer victimize Americans.” She emphasized support for ICE agents committed to apprehending violent offenders.

Nguyen’s criminal history is quite extensive; he was first admitted into the United States in 1977 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His deportation order was finalized by an immigration judge on December 30, 1997, and upheld by the Board of Immigration Appeals on May 26, 1998.

In March 2011, he was placed into ICE custody by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, but he was released on June 22, 2011, after the refusal of Vietnam to accept his deportation.

The Department of Homeland Security has explained that these enforcement efforts represent a significant shift in policy, focusing on the removal of violent criminals. Nguyen is currently being held at the Montgomery Processing Center in Conroe, Texas, awaiting transfer to Vietnam.