Under Trump Administration, Some Vietnamese Immigrants Face Uncertain Fate

Vietnamese immigrants attend a public forum at VietAid in Dorchester to learn more about changes to immigration policies under President Trump. (Shannon Dooling/WBUR)
Vietnamese immigrants attend a public forum at VietAid in Dorchester to learn more about changes to immigration policies under President Trump. (Shannon Dooling/WBUR)

It’s a Saturday afternoon at a community center in Dorchester. More than a dozen people sit in metal folding chairs, organized in a circle and leaning forward, listening to the free legal advice being offered.

Some people are at the workshop alone; others have young children with them. They’re all part of Dorchester’s large Vietnamese community. And, like Van Nguyen, they’re all here because they’re worried.

“I mean it’s kind of, like, hitting home because my husband does not have citizenship and he’s got a past so we’re just kind of very nervous too,” Nguyen says.

There’s increasing anxiety among Vietnamese immigrants across the country.

For more than a year now, the Trump administration has been quietly renegotiating an agreement between the United States and Vietnam. The agreement has allowed some Vietnamese immigrants to live here for more than 20 years.

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U.S. seeks to deport thousands of Vietnamese protected by treaty: former ambassador

April 12, 2018 / 2:28 AM / Updated 11 hours ago

HO CHI MINH CITY (Reuters) – The United States is seeking to send thousands of immigrants from Vietnam back to the communist-ruled country despite a bilateral agreement that should protect most from deportation, according to Washington’s former ambassador to Hanoi.

U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius, speaks during a news conference in Hanoi, Vietnam November 2, 2017. Picture taken November 2,2017. REUTERS/Kham

A “small number” of people protected by the agreement have already been sent back, the former ambassador, Ted Osius, told Reuters in an interview.

Osius said that many of the targeted immigrants were supporters of the now defunct U.S.-backed state of South Vietnam, and Hanoi would see them as destabilizing elements. Tiếp tục đọc “U.S. seeks to deport thousands of Vietnamese protected by treaty: former ambassador”

Trump’s immigration crackdown hits Vietnam

An ICE officer is pictured. | Getty
Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently ranks Vietnam as third among countries it lists as “recalcitrants” — meaning their governments fail to issue the necessary travel papers or passports needed to enable the execution of a deportation order. | Getty

Trump’s immigration crackdown hits Vietnam

Inside the case of one man who feared torture because of his Montagnard roots, but was deported last month.

President Donald Trump’s “get tough” approach to immigration is now impacting — of all people — the Montagnard hill tribesmen who fought alongside the Green Berets in the Vietnam War.

The son of one such Montagnard veteran was deported back to Vietnam in July, a stunning move for many in the refugee community because of their history in the war and the continued evidence of political and economic mistreatment of Montagnards in Vietnam. Tiếp tục đọc “Trump’s immigration crackdown hits Vietnam”