I’m confident that the historic Senate vote to pass S.744 would have been impossible without so many strong leaders raising their voices for immigration reform. One way you’ve reached thousands of people at a time has been through op-eds, and today I’m especially pleased to share one such piece by Lt. Cmdr. Chris Phan, our Walk of Courage Award winner.
Published in the important Vietnamese-American newspaper Viet Bao, the op-ed, “Thay Đổi Dự Luật Di Trú Đem Lại Nhiều Hy Vọng Cho Người Tị Nạn,” (Immigration Reform Holds Out Hope for Refugees) covers key reasons why S.744 is critical to refugees and other vulnerable migrants. We’re grateful to the editors of Viet Bao for publishing this crucial piece of commentary.
Here are a few of the highlights, translated from Vietnamese:
I’m grateful that America was there for my family when we needed shelter from persecution. Today, many more lives depend on the United States keeping its commitment to protect refugees. Those of us who benefited from the hand of welcome should make sure it continues to reach out.
In conversations with my Orange County residents, I know that the problems caused by our broken immigration system need to be fixed immediately. There is good news in this regard. Our senators are debating S.744, an immigration reform bill with strong bipartisan support that would help fix that system.
S. 744 contains provisions that create more efficient and humane processes to protect and welcome refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless people.
We owe it to ourselves to never forget that a good part of our present prosperity rests on a vision of America as a global beacon of hope for refugees.
S.744 would help that beacon burn brighter. I hope you’ll join me in calling on our senators to pass the bill as it is, without weakening changes, and in asking our representatives in the House to show similar leadership.
Thank you, Lt. Cmdr. Phan, for your leadership in supporting yesterday’s historic passage of S.744!