Federal immigration officials have removed Phai You, a Cambodian citizen previously convicted of second-degree murder, from the United States. Authorities identified You as a former leader within the Asian Boyz street gang.

In 1995, Massachusetts courts sentenced You to life in prison with the possibility of parole following his second-degree murder conviction. Decades later, federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement tracked him down in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he had been living despite an active removal order against him. ICE Boston officers placed him under arrest in August.

Beyond the homicide conviction, You’s criminal record stretches back to earlier weapons offenses in California. Court records show separate convictions there for carrying a concealed weapon and exhibiting a firearm.

Following his arrest in Worcester, federal authorities completed deportation proceedings and flew You back to Cambodia to carry out his final order of removal.

The Asian Boyz gang formed in Southern California in the late 1980s, primarily among Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Laotian immigrants, before expanding into nationwide chapters throughout the 1990s.

Federal and state law enforcement targeted the group through extensive racketeering and homicide prosecutions over the subsequent decades.

Under federal immigration law, non-citizens convicted of aggravated felonies—including murder and certain firearms offenses—face mandatory deportation upon completing their prison terms or upon being apprehended while residing in the country under an existing order of removal.