[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 26, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H3829]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING THE LIFE OF TAM NGOC TRAN

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
remember an extraordinary young woman, a scholar, a student activist, 
Ms. Tam Ngoc Tran of Garden Grove, California, who was recently killed 
in a head-on collision with her close friend, Cinthya Perez.
  Tam was the daughter of a refugee couple who fled Vietnam over two 
decades ago after escaping from a communist reeducation camp.
  She graduated from Santiago High School, attended Santa Ana College, 
transferred to UCLA, earned a bachelor's degree in American literature 
and culture and was a doctoral student at Brown University.
  Tam was also a courageous leader who inspired many through her 
personal story of immigration. In 2007, the U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement Agency raided the Tran home and subsequently 
arrested Tam and many of her family members.
  Representatives Lofgren, Smith, and I then wrote a letter to then-
Secretary Rice urging her to uphold the U.S. policy regarding the 
return of refugees to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. That allowed 
them to remain in the United States.

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