[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 12, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H4439]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   FAIR TREATMENT FOR MICHAEL NGUYEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Lowenthal) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues, 
especially led by Representative Katie Porter in support of her 
constituent Michael Nguyen.
  I have stayed involved in this case for just about a year, just 
slightly less than a year, and I want to thank Representative Porter 
for keeping the Members of Congress involved in this by having 
periodic, almost monthly, calls with the U.S. Consul office in Vietnam.
  I want to thank Ambassador Kritenbrink for making this a high 
priority of the U.S. mission in Vietnam to attend to the case of 
Michael, to visit Michael Nguyen in jail.
  And what am I talking about?
  Michael Nguyen, who was a citizen of the city of Orange, was on a 
trip in July of 2018, as he frequently did during the past, to visit 
relatives in Vietnam. On his way from the city of Da Nang to Ho Chi 
Minh City, or what was known as Saigon, government security officials 
removed him from his bus and took him into custody. He was detained; he 
was imprisoned, repeatedly interrogated; and when the U.S. Consul and 
Members of Congress asked why he was being charged, they were told, 
almost a year ago: He is under investigation. When we complete the 
investigation, we will tell you what the charge is.

  Michael's family was not notified about his detention, even for 10 
days after he was arrested. This violated the agreement between the 
United States and Vietnam, which said that the Vietnamese Government 
must notify the United States and our consul within 96 hours whenever 
there is an arrest of an American citizen.
  When he did not return home, Michael's family began to contact U.S. 
Representatives, including myself from Orange County, asking for help, 
but we learned very little in this past year about why Michael was 
arrested and detained.
  Some thought that the Vietnamese Government said that he had posted 
something on Facebook about a plot to overthrow the government, but 
they have not provided any evidence or any proof of this posting, just 
what has been said.
  As was pointed out earlier, he was arrested for violating article 109 
of the Vietnamese penal code, which accuses people of conspiring to 
overthrow the government. The penalty for just posting is from 14 years 
to life imprisonment.
  While he has received the indictment--he knows exactly why he is 
being charged, what the issues are--neither his family, the U.S. 
mission in Vietnam, or Members of Congress who have talked about this 
over the past year have been told what are the specifics of the case or 
what he has done.
  He hasn't had contact with his family while he is in jail. He doesn't 
have an attorney; he is not allowed to have an attorney; and most 
likely, later this month, just before the case comes to court, he will 
be assigned an attorney.
  His wife works for UC Irvine Medical Center. They have four young 
children. They don't know what is going on.
  It is just another example of the egregious actions by the Government 
of Vietnam.
  I call upon the Government of Vietnam to close this case; return 
Michael to his family. No American citizen should be charged because 
they publicly criticize a government or fear that, when they visit 
Vietnam, especially because of speaking out in the past, they are going 
to be arrested, detained, and tried.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the Members of Congress to have a serious 
reevaluation of our economic and diplomatic relationships with Vietnam. 
Vietnam should know that the U.S. Congress is watching its actions and 
we expect Michael Nguyen to be freed and returned to his family.

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