[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 146 (Tuesday, September 4, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1199]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  URGING FOR RELEASE OF MICHAEL PHUONG MINH NGUYEN FROM DETENTION IN 
                                VIETNAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, September 4, 2018

  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge our government to use 
all of its available resources to ensure the safe and timely release of 
United States citizen Michael Phuong Minh Nguyen from detention in 
Vietnam.
  Michael was captured by Vietnamese authorities on July 7th while 
touring Vietnam and visiting elderly relatives. He is being 
investigated for ``engaging in activity against the People's 
Government'' and is being held at the Phan Dang Luu Detention Center in 
the Binh Thanh District of Ho Chi Minh City.
  Despite having been detained for almost a month, the Vietnamese 
communist government has not brought any formal charges against 
Michael. He has only been allowed to visit with the United States 
Consulate once and has not been allowed to communicate at all with his 
family and friends. The Vietnamese government may continue its 
investigation for several months, during which time Michael will have 
limited due process rights, including limited communication privileges, 
according to Vietnam's laws.
  Michael's wife, Helen, wrote to me from our home state of California 
where she and Michael have raised four children, to ask for assistance 
with her husband's case. In her letter to me, Helen said: ``Our biggest 
concern is that without representation, the Vietnamese government will 
continue to hold him without probable cause, assess bogus and 
unwarranted charges, resulting in serious ramifications.''
  The government of Vietnam has a history of arbitrarily detaining 
those who have peacefully exercised their legal rights and has been 
cracking down even harder, recently, with longer sentences. Michael 
Nguyen's case is a disturbing example of this, but this time the 
Vietnamese authorities have detained and captured one of our own 
citizens. As a beacon of freedom and democracy, we cannot let such 
arbitrary detention of one of our own citizens to stand.
  I join my colleagues, who have also called for Michael Nguyen's 
release, in urging our government to make Michael Nguyen's release a 
priority and ensure his safe return home to the United States.

                          ____________________