被驱逐者转向社交媒体分享在陌生国家的生活在TikTok上，被遣返回国后在美国生活过的男性和女性正在记录重新开始生活的现实——并找到了观众。
Deportees Turn to Social Media to Share Life in Countries They Barely Know On TikTok, men and women sent back after living in the United States are documenting the reality of starting over — and finding an audience.
去年八月，当Laymone Khambounleung被遣返回老挝时，他的亲属在一个拘留设施接他。他不认识他们的长相。
When Laymone Khambounleung was deported to Laos last August, his mother’s relatives met him at a holding facility. He did not know what they looked like.
在被从美国驱逐出境时，Khambounleung先生面临了许多未知：他因包括入室盗窃和威胁家庭成员在内的定罪被驱逐出境，这是他唯一真正了解的国家。
It was one of many unknowns Mr. Khambounleung faced when he was removed from the United States, the only country he had really known, over convictions including burglary and threatening a family member.
现在，他正在学习在四年前作为婴儿离开的那个国家里如何过日常生活。Khambounleung先生成长于路易斯安那州，会说老挝语，但无法阅读或书写这门语言。他结识了其他像他一样，童年时离开该国并在美国融入的男士们。
Now, he is learning to navigate daily life in a country he left four decades ago as a baby. Mr. Khambounleung, who grew up in Louisiana, can speak Lao, but he cannot read or write in the language. He has befriended other men who, like him, left the country as children and assimilated in the United States.
正如拉美、非洲及其他亚洲地区的许多被驱逐者一样，他也正在社交媒体上分享自己生活的片段，希望提高人们对人们被遣返到不熟悉的家乡国家或没有任何联系的三方国家的挑战和机遇的认识。对一些人来说，他们网上的帖子也提供了收入。
And like deportees across Latin America, Africa and elsewhere in Asia, he is sharing glimpses of his life on social media, hoping to raise awareness about the challenges and opportunities people face when they are removed to unfamiliar home countries, or third countries to which they have no ties. For some, their online posts also provide an income.
在Khambounleung先生的视频中，他用路易斯安那州的口音为老挝的见闻配上解说，吸引了数百万次观看。
In Mr. Khambounleung’s videos, his reactions to sights in Laos, narrated in his Louisiana accent, have attracted millions of views.
“我也一切都是新的，”41岁的Khambounleung先生在一次采访中说道。“我想让全世界看到老挝文化，和我一同体验我正在体验的东西。”
“It’s all new to me too,” Mr. Khambounleung, 41, said in an interview. “I wanted to let the whole world see the Lao culture also, experience it with me while I’m experiencing it.”
据非营利智库移民政策研究所的分析，在2025年1月特朗普总统就职至7月底期间，国土安全部大约遣返了98万人。其中大多数是在边境拦截的，但相当数量的是居住在本国的移民。
Between President Trump’s inauguration in January 2025 and the end of July, about 980,000 people were deported by the Department of Homeland Security, according to an analysis by Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. While most were intercepted at the border, a substantial number were immigrants residing in the country.
通过他们在TikTok、Instagram和YouTube上的视频，那些曾长期居住在美国的人们的生活，以“后美国”的新篇章被讲述出来。社交媒体上的观众由此获得了一个独特的窗口，得以窥见驱逐出境颠覆一个人的人生之后，接下来会发生什么。“你其实不属于任何地方”对一些人来说，被驱逐出境意味着回到一个自己几乎没有记忆的国家。
Through their videos on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, the lives of people who dwelled in the United States for a long time are told in new post-American chapters. Viewers on social media are offered a unique window into what comes after deportation upends a life. ‘You Don’t Really Fit Into Anywhere’Being deported for some people means returning to a country of which they have little memory.
坎邦伦先生说，他的家人是来自老挝的难民，1987年他3岁时，全家抵达路易斯安那州新伊比利亚。因一项入室盗窃定罪，一名法官于2007年下令将他驱逐出美国。
Mr. Khambounleung was 3 when his family, refugees from Laos, arrived in New Iberia, La., he said. After a burglary conviction, a judge in 2007 ordered his removal from the United States.
由于当时老挝接收的被驱逐者很少，坎邦伦先生继续处于监督释放状态，之后又因抢劫和威胁一名家庭成员等更多罪行被定罪。他说，去年美国移民和海关执法局拘留他时，他正在得克萨斯州做管道焊工。
With Laos then accepting few deportees, Mr. Khambounleung stayed on supervised release, and was convicted of additional crimes, including robbery and threatening a family member. He was working as a pipe welder in Texas when Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained him last year, he said.
国土安全部在一份声明中表示：“犯罪的非法外国人在美国不受欢迎”，并提到了坎邦伦先生的犯罪记录。他搬去与老挝首都万象郊外的姑姑和姑父同住。
“Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement, noting Mr. Khambounleung’s criminal record. He moved in with an aunt and uncle outside Vientiane, the capital of Laos.
“要不是他们，老兄，我真不知道在这里该怎么办，”他说，“我会迷失的。”他说：“我总是想捕捉有趣的瞬间。”他希望自己的帖子能帮他谋生。
“If it wasn’t for them, man, I don’t know what I’d do out here,” he said. “I’d be lost.”“I always want to catch a funny moment,” he said. He hopes his posts will help him make a living.
但也有一些挑战不会出现在社交媒体上。坎邦伦先生把家人留在了美国，其中包括一个年幼的女儿。
But there are challenges that do not make it to social media. Mr. Khambounleung has left family behind in the United States, including a young daughter.
“视频里的每个人——他们都在微笑、大笑什么的，”他说，“但内心深处，我们都很悲伤。”30岁的布莱恩·巴斯克斯也在适应一个陌生的祖国生活。他于2020年被驱逐到萨尔瓦多。
“Everybody in the video — they all smile and laugh and everything,” he said. “But deep down we’re all sad.”Bryan Vasquez, 30, is also adjusting to life in an unfamiliar home country. He was deported to El Salvador in 2020.
巴斯克斯先生也是被亲属带到美国的。2007年，一名法官在他还是孩子时下令将他驱逐。但巴斯克斯先生说，他并不知道有驱逐令，直到2020年他因合谋运送一名无证移民被定罪后，该命令才被执行。
Mr. Vasquez, too, had been brought to the United States by relatives. A judge ordered his removal as a child in 2007. But Mr. Vasquez said he was unaware of the deportation order, and it was not enforced until 2020, after he was convicted of conspiring to transport an undocumented migrant.
“我记得我只是看着那些街道，就哭了起来，”巴斯克斯说。“我真的为了快钱毁了自己的生活。”巴斯克斯起初住在圣米格尔市的亲戚家，两年前搬到首都圣萨尔瓦多。“那时我终于能够感觉到，‘好吧。我喜欢这里，’”他说。
“I remember just looking at the streets and just crying,” Mr. Vasquez said. “I literally messed up my life for quick money.”Mr. Vasquez first stayed with family in the city of San Miguel before moving two years ago to San Salvador, the capital. “That’s when I was finally able to feel like, ‘OK. I like it here,’” he said.
去年，受到类似视频的启发，巴斯克斯开始在TikTok上发布关于萨尔瓦多的内容，也希望借此赚取收入。他记录了生活成本，从iPhone到普普萨饼，以及他认为美国人会感兴趣的景象。
Last year, inspired by similar videos, Mr. Vasquez began posting about El Salvador on TikTok, also hoping to earn an income. He documented the cost of living, from iPhones to pupusas, and sights he thought would interest Americans.
“这是一种奇怪的感觉，好像你在哪里都不太融入，”他说。他说，在美国时，他觉得自己是萨尔瓦多人。但在萨尔瓦多，人们把他看作美国化了的人。
“It’s a weird feeling, like you don’t really fit into anywhere,” he said. In the United States, he said, he had felt Salvadoran. But in El Salvador, people see him as Americanized.
巴斯克斯说，他想念家人，想念自己作为医疗助理的工作，也想念Chick-fil-A这样的舒适便利。
Mr. Vasquez said he missed his family and his job as a medical assistant, and comforts like Chick-fil-A.
但他说，他觉得萨尔瓦多的生活压力更小。“就目前而言，我在这里感觉很好，”他说。
But, he said, he finds life in El Salvador less stressful. “As of right now, I feel good over here,” he said.
直播墨西哥的生活 其他被驱逐者，比如劳尔·埃尔南德斯，利用社交媒体来消化一个他们从未想象过的处境：被驱逐到一个第三国。
Streaming Life in Mexico Other deportees, like Raúl Hernández, use social media to process a situation they never imagined: being deported to a third country.
“我的驱逐是我自己挣来的，”埃尔南德斯说。他是古巴公民，曾因多项毒品罪名以及入室盗窃被定罪。去年8月，他被驱逐到墨西哥，这符合特朗普政府的一项政策，该政策也已将人送往并非其本国的非洲国家，如埃斯瓦蒂尼、南苏丹和卢旺达。“我没有挣来的是，在没有正当程序的情况下被送到一个第三国，”他补充说。
“I earned my deportation,” said Mr. Hernández, a Cuban citizen who was convicted of several drugs charges as well as burglary. He was deported to Mexico last August, in line with a Trump administration policy that has also sent people to African countries not their own, like Eswatini, South Sudan and Rwanda. “What I didn’t earn was getting sent to a third country without due process,” he added.
国土安全部在一份声明中表示，他确实获得了正当程序。该部门为其使用第三国遣返的做法辩护，称这是“一项至关重要的公共安全工具”，并主张已有保障措施到位。
The D.H.S., in a statement, said he did receive due process. It defended its use of third-country removals as an “essential public safety tool,” arguing that there are safeguards in place.
29岁的埃尔南德斯被带到美国时年仅7岁。他的定罪导致其居留权被撤销，并于2020年收到驱逐令。2025年5月，他被移民和海关执法局拘留。
Mr. Hernández, 29, was 7 when he was brought to the United States. His convictions led to revocation of his residency and a 2020 removal order. In May of 2025 he was detained by ICE.
他说，他和其他被拘留者一起被大巴从亚利桑那州的一个拘留中心送到墨西哥塔巴斯科州。埃尔南德斯现在住在坎昆，他的父亲退休后住在那里。他无法工作，因为他在墨西哥没有合法身份。他也无法被送回古巴，因为古巴经常拒绝接收遣返人员。
He said he and other detainees were bused from a detention center in Arizona to Tabasco, Mexico. Mr. Hernández now lives in Cancún, where his father retired. He cannot work because he lacks legal status in Mexico. And he cannot be returned to Cuba, which has often refused repatriations.
“你在这里的处境比你来之前更糟，处于更进退两难的境地，”他说。
“You’re here in a worse limbo than you were in before you came,” he said.
他说，他开始发帖是为了让其他古巴人了解第三国遣返的情况。现在，他大多数日子都在TikTok上直播，并分享对其他被遣返古巴人的采访。
He began posting, he said, to educate other Cubans about third-country deportations. Now, he streams on TikTok most days and shares interviews with other deported Cubans.
他说，他从社交媒体上赚到的钱，包括同情他的观众的捐款，帮助他维持生计。他补充说，他的社交媒体工作也让他有了目标感。“老实说，这是我一生中做过的最有成就感的事情，”他说。“我仍然认为那边才是家”社交媒体也在记录遣返对家庭造成的伤害。
The money he has made from social media, he said, including donations from sympathetic viewers, has helped him make ends meet. His social media work has also given him purpose, he added. “Honestly, it’s been the most fulfilling thing I’ve done in my entire life,” he said. ‘I still consider that home over there’Social media is also documenting the toll of deportation on families.
33岁的美国人凯瑟琳·科在丈夫圣地亚哥·贝尼特斯去年9月被遣返后，开始在TikTok上分享自己的经历。
Catherine Coe, 33, an American, began sharing on TikTok after her husband, Santiago Benitez, was deported last September.
“我必须让人们知道正在发生什么，”她说，包括让那些没有因严重犯罪被定罪的人知道。
“I had to let people know what was happening,” she said, including to people not convicted of serious crimes.
37岁的贝尼特斯2013年作为无证移民从墨西哥来到美国。这对夫妇住在阿拉巴马州，结了婚，并在贝尼特斯被移民当局拘留时一直为他申请居留身份。科女士和一名律师说，除了与非法入境相关的指控外，他没有犯罪记录。（《纽约时报》发现了与交通相关的违法行为，但没有发现贝尼特斯先生的其他犯罪记录。）面对孩子可能与父亲分离的前景，科女士决定全家搬到蒂华纳。
Mr. Benitez, 37, arrived from Mexico in 2013 as an undocumented immigrant. The couple lived in Alabama, married and had been seeking residency for Mr. Benitez when he was detained by immigration authorities. He had no criminal record aside from charges related to illegal entry, Ms. Coe and a lawyer said. (The Times found traffic-related offenses but no other criminal record for Mr. Benitez.) Faced with the prospect of her children being separated from their father, Ms. Coe decided to move with the family to Tijuana.
现在，在等待贝尼特斯签证申请结果的同时，科女士正从墨西哥通勤到南加州，从事护士工作。
Now, as they await the outcome of Mr. Benitez’s visa application, Ms. Coe is commuting from Mexico to Southern California to her job as a nurse.
在TikTok上，她记录下了她所说的“她人生中最艰难的一年”：在自家打包纸箱；儿子在美国上学的最后一天；他们在蒂华纳家中的新日常。
On TikTok, she documented what she called “the hardest year of her life”: packed up boxes at their family home; her son’s last day of school in the United States; new routines in their home in Tijuana.
尽管生活发生了种种变故，在社交媒体上分享生活正帮助被驱逐者维持与美国的联系，即便他们如今生活在遥远的国家。
For all the disruptions, sharing their lives on social media is helping deportees maintain their ties to the United States, even if they now live in distant countries.
“我仍然把那边当作自己的家，”坎邦伦先生说，“我是被迫待在这里的。”珍妮弗·詹金斯对本文有研究贡献。
“I still consider that home over there,” Mr. Khambounleung said. “I’m forced to be here.”Jennifer Jenkins contributed research.
伊莎贝拉·夸伊是《纽约时报》驻伦敦记者，报道突发新闻及其他趋势。
Isabella Kwai is a Times reporter based in London, covering breaking news and other trends.