have been able to stay in the United

States for so long — and that her

lawyers had come up with a solution

they believed would end her night-

mare for good.

Immigration experts say hundreds

of thousands of immigrants — many of

them longtime legal residents charged

with minor, nonviolent offenses —

have been deported since 1996, when

Congress enacted immigration laws

that limited judicial discretion and

broadened the range of offenses for

which a person could be deported. For

many, deportations are so quick that

families can’t say goodbye.

Khoy’s lawyers ultimately relied on

an ancient writ in Virginia law and a

sympathetic prosecutor’s office, pro-

viding a path for her in a system that

immigration reform advocates say is

broken.

“Her only memories are of the Unit-

ed States,” her attorney Sterling

Marchand said in court, making an

argument he initially feared was a long

shot.

In a brief ruling from the bench that

surprised both sides with its speed,

Circuit Court Judge William T. New-

man Jr. in December declared Khoy’s

plea vacated.

Khoy reached for her lawyer’s arm

in disbelief. Was the nightmare really

SEE KHOY ON B5

BY RACHEL CHASON

For nearly two decades, Lundy Khoy

lived with the fear of deportation.

Born in a Thai refugee camp after

her parents fled genocide in Cambo-

dia, Khoy came to the United States as

a toddler, never thinking much about

the difference between herself and her

two American-born younger siblings.

But a teenage mistake thrust her

into the crosshairs of federal laws

passed amid an immigration crack-

down, leading her to spend half her life

looking over her shoulder, striving to

prove her worth in the only country

she’d ever known.

Her fight began quietly — kept

secret even from extended family. Ulti-

mately, it led her to testify in Congress

and write a widely shared letter to

then-President Donald Trump before

ending in recent months where it had

begun: in an Arlington County court-

room.

By then, more than 20 years had

passed since she was caught with

seven ecstasy pills in her purse, and it

was more than 16 years since a resul-

tant conviction triggered a final order

of deportation. She was 41, with a

5-year-old son and a husband facing

serious medical challenges depending

on her. She knew that relative to many

in similar situations, she was lucky to

KLMNO

METRO

MONDAY, MAY 2 , 2022. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/LOCAL EZ RE B

JOHN KELLY’S WASHINGTON

People are irritated by the

weirdest things. For him,

those are mourning doves

and Argus C3 cameras. B3

THE REGION

One bite from this tick,

found in the D.C. area, can

cause a lifelong adverse

reaction to red meat. B6

OBITUARIES

Harrison Birtwistle, 87 ,

was a celebrated

composer of daringly

63 ° 73 ° 79 ° 73 ° experimental music. B7

8 a.m. Noon 4 p.m. 8 p.m.

High today at

approx. 4 p.m.

79

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Precip: 0%

Wind: W

6-12 mph

20 years of dreading deportation

An old Va. law and a sympathetic prosecutor helped end a woman’s ordeal decades after a drug offense

BY TEO ARMUS

Earlier this year, housing ad-

vocates in Alexandria celebrated

one of their biggest victories yet

when city lawmakers had put

their money and votes behind a

plan to build a 475-unit afford-

able apartment complex in Ar-

landria, an area of Central Amer-

ican immigrants that had long

been seen as a prime target for

development.

Three months later, that plan

is facing a legal challenge by one

of its neighbors, which also hap-

pens to serve many of the resi-

dents who m ight b enefit from t he

two-building complex: the local

Catholic church.

Bishop Michael Burbidge, who

oversees parishes across North-

ern Virginia from the Catholic

Diocese of Arlington, filed a law-

suit on April 8 against the city of

Alexandria, alleging that it did

not properly vacate an alley that

divides the development from a

private Catholic school and a

72-year-old church building.

The lawsuit, which has not yet

been served, argues that Saint

Rita Catholic Church has a pri-

vate right to use the alley above

that of the general public. City

SEE DEVELOPMENT ON B4

N.Va. diocese files suit

over planned housing

PHOTOS COURTESY OF LUNDY KHOY

TOP: Lundy Khoy holds an aunt’s hand on the

National Mall in an undated photo. ABOVE: Khoy

with her husband, A.J. Acosta, and son, Gabriel, at

their home in 2019 before a birthday brunch.

BY HANNAH NATANSON

Online learning, already of-

fered only to students with medi-

cal needs in many D.C.-area

schools, will shrink even further

in the Washington region next

academic year — and will be

eliminated entirely in some

schools.

School systems throughout

Maryland, Virginia and the na-

tion’s capital adopted online

learning in spring 2020 almost

overnight in response to the

coronavirus pandemic. Schools

spent thousands in funds and

hours of labor to deliver laptops,

tablets and Internet hotspot de-

vices to families in need.

Students in many places began

returning for part-time in-person

learning in the 2020 -2021 school

year as vaccines became avail-

able for school-age children, and

the vast majority of districts

reopened full time this academic

year. Still, school officials in most

places offered a virtual option,

although many required that stu-

dents prove a documented need,

medical or otherwise, to enroll in

online classes.

As this school year draws to a

close, however, some school offi-

cials are announcing that online

learning will not be an option

next year, or will be capped at

low numbers. They are arguing

that students fare poorly in an

online environment, an assertion

SEE VIRTUAL ON B3

Districts

will trim

virtual

learning

IN-PERSON CLASSES’

RESULTS SPUR MOVE

Some D.C.-area schools

to cut programs entirely

BY JASMINE HILTON

Two teens died within a two-

day period in Prince William

County in what police say could

have been overdoses connected

to fentanyl-laced counterfeit

drugs.

Prince William County police

issued a youth community aware-

ness warning Wednesday about

illicit drug use following the

deaths.

First Sgt. Jonathan Perok said

police do not know whether the

death of a 15-year-old boy from

Woodbridge and that of a 14-year-

old boy from Dale City are con-

nected. But police say the reports

from Sunday and Tuesday both

appear to involve counterfeit

forms of Percocet, sometimes

known as “Perc30,” laced with the

synthetic opioid fentanyl.

Fentanyl, in even its smallest

dose, can be deadly, Perok said.

The deaths of the teens come as

authorities in the region continue

to warn against rising deaths as a

result of drug overdoses involv-

ing fentanyl.

“We’ve been harping on, just

like every jurisdiction I think

across the country has been harp-

ing on, the opioid epidemic, that

hasn’t gone away,” Perok said.

SEE FENTANYL ON B6

Fentanyl

suspected

in deaths

of 2 teens

Pr. William authorities

remind community that

opioids crisis persists

BY REBECCA TAN

Marc Elrich, 72, has had a

35-year political career. Yet, to

many of his supporters, the sit-

ting county executive in Mary-

land’s largest jurisdiction has

never been a traditional politi-

cian: He doesn’t care for wearing

neckties or cleaning up for pho-

tos, he’s nonchalant about fund-

raising and he’s known for ram-

bling and going off-script, often

to the surprise of his own commu-

nications team.

This authenticity helped Elrich

build a devoted army of support-

ers even as it made him a divisive

figure in deep-blue Montgomery

County, a D.C. suburb teeming

with political ambition. In 2 018, it

helped him stand out in a crowd-

ed Democratic primary and

clinch the nomination by 77 v otes.

But as he seeks a second term,

attacked from multiple sides on

unfulfilled campaign promises

and his post-pandemic plans, El-

rich is struggling to defend a

record he says is misunderstood.

He’s reviled as a “petty tyrant”

by conservative talk show hosts

for pushing coronavirus vaccine

passports and a “NIMBY” by lib-

eral activists for opposing new

development; he’s beloved by

unions, who credit him with rais-

ing the county’s minimum wage,

and loathed by “smart growth”

advocates, who don’t understand

why he so often opposes building

housing near transit.

Elrich “is not a salesman. He

doesn’t try to sell you on himself,”

said Tony Hausner, one of his

longtime supporters.

Scott Schneider, a retired labor

organizer volunteering for El-

rich’s campaign, put it more

bluntly: Elrich’s communication

skills are a “handicap,” he said.

“He’s trying,” Schneider added.

“But there are so many people

gunning for him.”

SEE ELRICH ON B4

Elrich calls his record misunderstood

The Montgomery county

executive’s reelection bid

faces shots from all sides