“I have to prove that America is my country, my homeland, and that I don’t want to go anywhere else. I have to be the perfect American.”
Those are claims I, and most college students, have never had to prove.
But for Tam Tran, a recent UCLA graduate who is an undocumented immigrant, the pressure to prove her “Americanness” has never been more of a reality. She and her family have always faced the threat of deportation. But the recent Repatriation Agreement between Vietnam and the United States will impact nearly 1,500 Vietnamese individuals currently living in the U.S.
Announced Jan. 22, 2008, by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, this agreement affirms the repatriation of Vietnamese citizens who arrived in the U.S. on or after July 12, 1995, and who have violated any U.S. laws (including criminal and immigration violations). This agreement should be critically scrutinized because of its unfair implementation and lack of case-by-case consideration.
Underneath the Homeland Security Act, the agreement will deny due process to individuals who are not yet citizens. It eliminates judicial consideration of individual circumstances of those facing deportation. It wrongfully expands the definition of what constitutes an “aggravated felony” to misdemeanors. This agreement makes deportation policies so encompassing that more and more immigrants will be in Tran’s situation.
Tran graduated from UCLA in 2006 with a degree in American literature and culture and a minor in Asian American studies. She knows firsthand the feeling of persecution and the fear of deportation. Born in Germany to Vietnamese expatriates who fled by boat, Tran was 6 years old when she came to the U.S. Her family was denied asylum (which would have given them permanent status in the U.S.), but Tran and her family did gain protective legal status to reside here. However, their status is subject to change.
For the past 18 years, she lived in Orange County. She has never been to Vietnam. She considers herself American. But Tran didn’t realize her status as an undocumented immigrant until she began applying to colleges and discovered she was unqualified for financial aid and unable to pay out-of-state tuition for Californian institutions. It was not until the passing of AB 540, which allows U.S. citizens, permanent residents and undocumented students who meet certain conditions to pay in-state tuition at California’s public universities, that Tran was able to attend UCLA.
Last October, Tran received a collect call from her mom, who told her ICE had come to their house that morning and were detaining both her parents at a detention center. Tran contacted the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, verified that all their paperwork was in order and called a congresswoman she met while at a hearing on the Dream Act in Washington in 2007. With her connections, Tran was finally able to locate her parents and have them released from detention.
“I was really scared because there was no procedure on how to get people out of ICE and that there isn’t a direct number you could call. I couldn’t go down there to help them because I also could have been taken in,” Tran said.
While Tran managed to avoid deportation, most undocumented immigrants affected are systemically challenged. There is a glaring lack of support systems focusing on integration and legalization.
It’s alarming how not only communities, but also friendships and families will be devastated should this agreement continue to be enforced. Tran was a tutor and teaching assistant at UCLA. She had students who, should she have been deported, would have greatly felt her loss.
Currently, Tran works at UCLA through a nonprofit organization that directly assists undocumented immigrants. She checks in once a month at the ICE agency in Los Angeles. Sure, her frequent travels across the United States look suspicious, but Tam assures agency workers that she was just checking out graduate schools. She chose Brown University in Rhode Island ““ a worthy choice for a worthy doctoral candidate in American studies.
“My plan is to use media as a means to attain social justice and to create more pathways toward higher education for everybody,” Tran said. Her optimism and unfailing determination are inspiring. Facing adversity, she still strives to give back to everyone unjustly facing deportation.
“You have a fear of this place that you’d be sent to, because it’s supposedly where you came from. I don’t have the privilege to say I want to go there and visit. I have to be the perfect American.”
Believe in fairness and justice in immigration policies? E-mail Do at ndo@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.