Ducson Nguyen

I am outraged by Trump’s executive order on immigration and the effects its chaotic introduction has had on some of the most vulnerable people on Earth. It’s an action that has led to the detention of refugees already approved for admission, already in the country at American airports, already with family waiting for them in the country, and facing persecution in their homeland for working with Americans during American-initiated wars.

It has trapped hundreds of thousands of visa holders inside and outside of the country. It’s leading to rising tensions with countries like Iran right when we’ve been making progress in normalizing relations. It’s providing fuel to violent groups who have been eager to paint the United States as being at war with Islam.

It’s an act of unspeakable cruelty and short-sighted idiocy. But it’s also deeply personal. I can’t even enjoy Tết, the Vietnamese celebration of Lunar New Year, because I’m preoccupied by imagining my parents fleeing war-ravaged Vietnam and having nowhere to go and nobody to take them in.

Fortunately for them and for me, that wasn’t how the story played out. My parents were taken in and given an opportunity to build a good life. Now their son represents a city that welcomes refugees, provides sanctuary for immigrants of any legal status, rallies for women’s and immigrant rights, and fights fascism in all its forms.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to work for you. Together we will #resist.

Op-ed: My refugee parents and our American lives