Nguyen Quoc Lan |
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Seeking Refuge in America
Q: After your father was released from “re-education camp” in 1990, how did he reunite with the rest of the family in the U.S.?
A: After we escaped, keep in mind we were now reactionary but we were gone, my father was still in reeducation camp because of the prior illegal escape. They said, well, they could punish him, but what can they do? His family was already gone. So they let him out and released him. But now he lost all his status in society. He lost his household registration. He was deemed a dangerous element and a reactionary. He went out to make a living by himself when he was out. Our family was over here in the refugee camp and went to the US. We would be able to sponsor him, but the Vietnamese government would not allow him to go as a sort of punishment for him by not granting him an exit visa for the immigration program.
But then eventually during that time, when the Eastern bloc countries were collapsing. The Soviet Union broke apart and Berlin, the wall dividing West and East Berlin fell. There was a safe passage between East Berlin and West Berlin at that time. In Vietnam, someone came up with the idea of having a tour of tourists to visit East Germany, or East Berlin. It was set up as a tourist or tour group. Someone told him (my father) of that and he was able to pay bribery to buy a ticket for that. Normally the tour’s cost was about $1000 but he paid about $4-5000 so with that he got a tourist visa to travel to East Germany to East Berlin. We were unsure if he was able to get out. But knowing that he may be able to get out, I was able to communicate with him to say that if he ever got to East Berlin, he should to try to get to make his way into West Berlin.
At that time, we had our petition to sponsor him into the US already. So I contacted the US embassy in West Berlin and said would you transfer his petition from Thailand to West Berlin and when he shows up at your door at the US embassy in West Berlin, can you process him and bring him here? So we contacted the US embassy in West Berlin. Then the airplane did take off and landed in East Germany, East Berlin. On the same day he got his way out and tried to get his way to a train to get across to West Berlin. To his surprise that he got through and he couldn’t imagine he got through in West Berlin. I got my cousin who was studying in West Berlin to pick him up at the airport and to take him to the American Embassy in West Berlin. And that’s it. They connected the file and processed him as a refugee there. He become a refugee and join Vietnamese refugees in West Berlin to be able to process him so he was eventually allowed to come to the US. It was a rare case that we could bring him in that way.
Object Description
| Profile of | Nguyen Quoc Lan |
| Title | A Child of the Vietnam War to a Strong Advocate for the Viet Kieu |
| Profile bio | Nguyen Quoc Lan is an accomplished attorney and strong advocate for the Viet Kieu (Vietnamese Diaspora). He is often at the forefront of issues around political empowerment, refugee rights, and human rights in Vietnam. As chairman of the Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers (LAVAS), he dedicates hundreds of hours each year helping refugees find sanctuary outside of Vietnam. Because of his advocacy projects, the current Vietnamese government has branded him as an “overseas extremist.” Although Mr. Nguyen believes he is on Vietnam’s “hit list,” he considers it a “badge of honor.” Mr. Nguyen is also active in a variety of civic endeavors, such as improving educational and economical opportunities for the Viet Kieu. He is currently the Vice President of the Board of Education at the Garden Grove Unified School District. Mr. Nguyen graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Riverside, and earned his Juris Doctor from the University of California’s Hasting College of Law. He owns a private law firm in Little Saigon, CA. |
| Profiler bio | Ian Antrim, Ziyi Liu, Edison Ong, Harmony Phuong |
| Subject |
Vietnam Vietnam War reeducation camp sponsorship escape |
| Profiled by | Antrim, Ian ; Liu, Ziyi; Ong, Edison; Phuong, Harmony |
| Profile date | 2014-04-11 |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Berlin; Little Saigon |
| Geographic subject (county) | Orange |
| Geographic subject (state) | California |
| Geographic subject (country) | Vietnam; Thailand |
| Coverage date | 1990 |
| Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/nguyen-quoc-lan/ |
| Type |
images video |
| Format | 1 image; 5 video files (00:15:03); 5 transcripts |
| Language | English |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Part of collection | An Other War Memorial -- Memories of the American War in Viet Nam |
| Filename | quocnguyenlan |
Description
| Profile of | Nguyen Quoc Lan |
| Title | Seeking Refuge in America |
| Format | 1 transcript, 1p. |
| Filename | quocnguyenlan-vid2_tr2.pdf |
| Full text | Seeking Refuge in America Q: After your father was released from “re-education camp” in 1990, how did he reunite with the rest of the family in the U.S.? A: After we escaped, keep in mind we were now reactionary but we were gone, my father was still in reeducation camp because of the prior illegal escape. They said, well, they could punish him, but what can they do? His family was already gone. So they let him out and released him. But now he lost all his status in society. He lost his household registration. He was deemed a dangerous element and a reactionary. He went out to make a living by himself when he was out. Our family was over here in the refugee camp and went to the US. We would be able to sponsor him, but the Vietnamese government would not allow him to go as a sort of punishment for him by not granting him an exit visa for the immigration program. But then eventually during that time, when the Eastern bloc countries were collapsing. The Soviet Union broke apart and Berlin, the wall dividing West and East Berlin fell. There was a safe passage between East Berlin and West Berlin at that time. In Vietnam, someone came up with the idea of having a tour of tourists to visit East Germany, or East Berlin. It was set up as a tourist or tour group. Someone told him (my father) of that and he was able to pay bribery to buy a ticket for that. Normally the tour’s cost was about $1000 but he paid about $4-5000 so with that he got a tourist visa to travel to East Germany to East Berlin. We were unsure if he was able to get out. But knowing that he may be able to get out, I was able to communicate with him to say that if he ever got to East Berlin, he should to try to get to make his way into West Berlin. At that time, we had our petition to sponsor him into the US already. So I contacted the US embassy in West Berlin and said would you transfer his petition from Thailand to West Berlin and when he shows up at your door at the US embassy in West Berlin, can you process him and bring him here? So we contacted the US embassy in West Berlin. Then the airplane did take off and landed in East Germany, East Berlin. On the same day he got his way out and tried to get his way to a train to get across to West Berlin. To his surprise that he got through and he couldn’t imagine he got through in West Berlin. I got my cousin who was studying in West Berlin to pick him up at the airport and to take him to the American Embassy in West Berlin. And that’s it. They connected the file and processed him as a refugee there. He become a refugee and join Vietnamese refugees in West Berlin to be able to process him so he was eventually allowed to come to the US. It was a rare case that we could bring him in that way. |
| Archival file | Volume3/quocnguyenlan-vid2_tr2.pdf |
