[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 98 (Wednesday, June 12, 2019)]
[House]
[Page H4440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             GIVE MICHAEL NGUYEN FAIR TREATMENT IN VIETNAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Porter) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Mr. Michael 
Nguyen, an American citizen and resident of my home district, 
California's 45th Congressional District.
  Mr. Nguyen left Vietnam in 1975, 44 years ago. The Vietnamese 
Government arrested Michael last summer, almost a year ago, while he 
was traveling and visiting elderly relatives. Michael has now been 
detained in Vietnam for over 11 months.
  We still don't know what crime he is alleged to have committed or 
what, if any, evidence the Vietnamese Government has to justify his 
detention and his upcoming trial.
  My office has asked repeatedly for this information, but we have been 
told that we won't know these basics until Michael is taken to court 
later this month. His family won't know these basics until then.
  To make matters worse, for the vast majority of these past 11 months, 
Michael was being detained without formal charges at all. We now know 
that Michael is being charged for allegedly violating article 109 of 
the Vietnamese Criminal Code, activities against the government. This 
is a charge that Vietnamese officials have used in the past for 
arbitrary arrests.
  By all accounts, Michael is a good man. He was an active member of 
his community and church in Orange County. I have met his family 
numerous times, and his wife, Helen, was my guest for the State of the 
Union.
  He has four beautiful daughters, all school age, who miss their 
father very much. He is a dad who makes breakfast for his girls in the 
morning and was their primary caretaker.
  He was a small business owner, and he is an American citizen with no 
criminal record here in the United States.
  He hasn't been able to speak to his family during this entire time, 
nearly 1 year. Instead, the Vietnamese Government permits only monthly 
visits by the U.S. State Department. I thank our State Department 
officials for visiting him, enabling him to hear messages from his 
loved ones, and working to ensure his health during this long 
detention.
  But that isn't enough. His family is suffering. Michael's wife, 
Helen, has taken on a second job while acting as a single mom to their 
four young girls. His daughters have trouble sleeping and focusing at 
school.

  This entire situation is unjust. Michael was held without formal 
charges for over 9 months, and we still have been presented with no 
evidence. That is not how an American citizen should be treated abroad. 
We expect our partners to show respect for human rights and the rule of 
law.
  I am grateful that so many of my colleagues, Republicans and 
Democrats, continue to join me in calling on the Vietnamese Government 
to do what is right. This is not a partisan issue.
  Respectfully, I demand that the Vietnamese Government provide Michael 
with a fair resolution to his case and return him safely to the U.S. 
and to his family as soon as possible.
  I will continue to work to secure Michael's release until he is 
reunited with his family and brought home to his country, the United 
States of America.

                          ____________________