GEOFF BENNETT: As President Trump intensifies his sweeping crackdown on immigration, more longtime residents, people who have lived in this country for years, are being caught up in the effort.

Stephanie Sy has more.

STEPHANIE SY: We have seen over and over again this year the detention of U.S.

residents who were previously not at risk of deportation.

This has included Laotian refugees displaced after the Vietnam War.

Students of history might recall that Laos was bombed relentlessly by the U.S.

in the 1960s and 70s.

In the tumultuous years that followed the end of the war, thousands of Laotian families were resettled in the U.S.

as refugees.

Now, a criminal conviction can threaten a refugee's legal status, but, for decades, Laotians in that situation were allowed to remain here because there is no repatriation agreement between the U.S.

and Laos.

That has changed.

In recent months, deportation flights to Laos have resumed for the first time in years.

One of those affected is Alan Phetsadakone.

He arrived in the United States as a toddler.

And today he faces the threat of deportation.

Alan, thank you for being with us.

ALAN PHETSADAKONE, Laotian Refugee: Thank you for having me.

STEPHANIE SY: I want to go back to what happened over the summer, when you were detained.

It's July.

You go in for an annual appointment with immigration officials that I understand you have gone to without incident for years.

But you end up being detained for nearly two months.

Alan, what was your immediate reaction when you were arrested?

What were you told about why this was happening to you?

ALAN PHETSADAKONE: First of all, I was shocked, scared, worried.

I was just speechless.

And I couldn't think of anything else.

Everything was taken away from me.

Just in the blink of an eye, I lost everything, just not knowing what's going to happen next, not knowing what's going to happen to my life, my family, my kids, just all the loved ones, not knowing what's going to happen to myself.

The ICE agent had mentioned to me that my supervision had been revoked, and that was all I was told.

STEPHANIE SY: OK, and so then you're in this facility in Tacoma for two months.

What were conditions like?

How were you housed?

And were you able to see your children and your family?

ALAN PHETSADAKONE: Yes, I was fortunate enough to see my family, my life, my kids, just because I'm local here in Seattle.

The housing unit I was in, we -- they housed around 70 to 80 detainees at any given time.

It's an open unit.

The light stays on 24 hours a day.

You just have four walls, no windows, limited time to be in the outdoor yard.

It's frustrating.

It leaves you hopeless, stressed.

STEPHANIE SY: I want to talk a little bit more about your distant past, because, when you were detained back in July, you were already under a deportation order that dated back to 1998, and that was because you had been convicted on bank fraud.

Alan, what do you want people to understand and know about that old conviction and that time in your life?

Because you were only 18 at that time, and, from what I have read, you had had a really tough childhood.

ALAN PHETSADAKONE: Correct.

I had a tough childhood growing up, losing my brother from committing suicide, losing my grandma that raised me, not having a stable household.

It was just tough growing up, having a baby, a newborn, when I was 17.

I made a mistake.

And moving forward, I'm an adult now, and a responsible adult with a loving family.

I have built my whole entire life here with my family.

STEPHANIE SY: So you were released, Alan, by a federal judge a few weeks ago, last month.

Your lawyers, from what I understand, are working on getting that old case vacated in federal court.

How much time do they have?

Do you know how much time you have before you may wake up and have to get on a plane and be deported?

ALAN PHETSADAKONE: I have no idea.

This is one of the uncertainty that's -- that I feel as if I'm a lost soul.

And I don't know what's going to happen to me tomorrow or two months from now or a year from now.

I don't know.

And it puts my life on hold, and my family's life and everybody that's close to me.

That's stressful.

And even though -- however, I'm released.

I'm thankful.

But the stress and the uncertainty is -- it's never going away.

STEPHANIE SY: And your wife and your kids, they are U.S.

citizens, right?

How are they coping with all of this?

And is there sort of a worst-case scenario that you can prepare for?

ALAN PHETSADAKONE: We haven't prepared, because we never thought that this day would come.

After 25 years, 30 years, we just never thought back of it.

We have never prepared for this.

Kind of talked more about it this year because of what we see on the news of what's going on.

It never got out of our sight since this year.

STEPHANIE SY: Alan, what worst-case scenario might you be preparing for at this point?

Could you start over in Laos?

Have you thought about that?

ALAN PHETSADAKONE: I have not thought about starting over in Laos, as I -- I don't know where to start and where to begin.

I don't have any family.

As -- you know, if I got sent back to Laos, I would just be on my own.

I wouldn't know where to begin.

It'll be a brand-new country, a brand-new life at such an old age.

So I don't know where to begin.

I don't know where to start.

Everything I have known, that's here.

STEPHANIE SY: I understand you have been getting a lot of support from people who have heard your story, including those... ALAN PHETSADAKONE: Yes.

STEPHANIE SY: ... who have raised money for your family on GoFundMe.

Can you talk about what that support has meant to you and your family and what else you feel you really need right now?

ALAN PHETSADAKONE: You know, that support has been tremendous.

It's been everything.

It's been a reflection of me just being a good person, moving on from my past, building a community, having my family around.

What I need now is just the support and the fight to prevail from this -- from this immigration madness.

STEPHANIE SY: Alan, thank you so much for agreeing to share your story with us.

We wish you the best of luck.

ALAN PHETSADAKONE: Thank you, Stephanie.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, late today, the "News Hour" received a response from the Department of Homeland Security about this case, saying he has four convictions for larceny and fraud, going on to say -- quote -- "Thanks to an activist judge, this criminal is now loose on America's streets."