Bounchan Keola is with his parents. Their family fled Laos more than 30 years ago. PINOLE, Calif. - An incarcerated firefighter who battled a California blaze is now in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody awaiting likely deportation to Laos, a country his family fled three decades ago.And until then, the fate of Bounchan Keola, 39, who grew up in Richmond, Calif., is in the hands of Gov.
Gavin Newsom. He has asked for a pardon from his prison sentence, showing that he has changed for the better and that his service to the state battling wildfires should count for something."He made a mistake as a child.
He came here impoverished and he was resettled as a refugee when he was 6," said his San Francisco Asian Law Caucus attorney,.