[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 76 (Wednesday, May 19, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E884]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          COMMENDING TAM TRAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 19, 2010

  Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Madam Speaker, as the Chair of the 
Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, 
and International Law, I rise today to honor the life of Tam Tran.
  Tam and her family overcame great odds to come to America. The 
Vietnamese government sent Tam's father, Mr. Tuan Ngoc Tran, to a ``re-
education'' camp for anti-communist activities. Mr. Tran and his wife, 
Ms. Loc Thi Pham, escaped political persecution in Vietnam by fleeing 
in a boat and were rescued at sea by the German navy. They lived in 
Germany as refugees where Tam and her brother, Mr. Thien Ngoc Tran, 
were born.
  The Tran family came to the United States when Tam was 6 years old to 
reunite with family members who had settled in California. Her parents 
applied for political asylum. Their asylum request was denied, but the 
family received withholding of deportation because they would have 
faced persecution if they were sent to Vietnam. But withholding does 
not lead to a green card or U.S. citizenship. Tam and her brother were 
born in Germany, but were not German citizens. They were stateless, 
trapped in immigration limbo.
  In the meantime, Tam and her brother grew up in Garden Grove. She 
graduated from Santiago High School, and was accepted into the 
University of California at Los Angeles. She worked multiple jobs while 
carrying a full load of classes, but still managed to graduate from 
UCLA in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in American Literature and 
Culture and with Latin, Departmental, and College honors.
  Tam also became one of the leading advocates for the ``Development, 
Relief and Education for Alien Minors'' Act, commonly known as the 
DREAM Act. The DREAM Act would provide a path to citizenship for 
undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as 
innocent children, if they graduate from a U.S. high school and serve 
in the military or attend at least two years of college. The DREAM Act 
would finally allow Tam to officially become what she always felt 
herself to be--an American.
  I had the pleasure of meeting Tam when she testified before the 
Immigration Subcommittee on May 18, 2007, on the DREAM Act. Tam 
described growing up in California, ``watching Speed Racer and Mighty 
Mouse every Saturday morning.'' She described her frustration at the 
work permits that never arrived on time even though she was in the 
country legally, and at not being able to afford the $50,000 out-of-
state tuition and living expenses a year for the Ph.D. program at UCLA, 
even though she had grown up in California and had been accepted into 
the program. Tam nonetheless hoped that she would overcome these odds 
and become an ``academic researcher and socially conscious video 
documentarian.'' The poise and eloquence of Tam and the other student 
witnesses at the hearing was the best evidence of how America would 
benefit from their skills and talents by the passage of the DREAM Act.
  Tam came one step closer to achieving her dream when she was accepted 
into the Ph.D. program in American Civilization at Brown University. 
She was excelling in her studies and continuing her leadership and 
advocacy on the DREAM Act, when she was tragically and unexpectedly 
taken from us. Tam and one of her close friends, Cinthya Felix, also a 
DREAM Act student, died in a car crash on May 15, 2010.
  My heart goes out to the Tran family at their unthinkable loss. I 
have no doubt that Tam would have contributed much to America. Even 
though our broken immigration system constantly threw roadblocks in her 
way, Tam always persevered and fought to live the American dream. I 
will redouble my effort and commitment to pass the DREAM Act in her 
memory, so that other innocent children in her predicament will not 
have to suffer the hardships that Tam had to endure just to become a 
productive member of this country.

                          ____________________