Urging for Release of Michael Phuong Minh Nguyen From Detention in Vietnam

Floor Speech

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Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge our government to use all of its available resources to ensure the safe and timely release of United States citizen Michael Phuong Minh Nguyen from detention in Vietnam.

Michael was captured by Vietnamese authorities on July 7th while touring Vietnam and visiting elderly relatives. He is being investigated for ``engaging in activity against the People's Government'' and is being held at the Phan Dang Luu Detention Center in the Binh Thanh District of Ho Chi Minh City.

Despite having been detained for almost a month, the Vietnamese communist government has not brought any formal charges against Michael. He has only been allowed to visit with the United States Consulate once and has not been allowed to communicate at all with his family and friends. The Vietnamese government may continue its investigation for several months, during which time Michael will have limited due process rights, including limited communication privileges, according to Vietnam's laws.

Michael's wife, Helen, wrote to me from our home state of California where she and Michael have raised four children, to ask for assistance with her husband's case. In her letter to me, Helen said: ``Our biggest concern is that without representation, the Vietnamese government will continue to hold him without probable cause, assess bogus and unwarranted charges, resulting in serious ramifications.''

The government of Vietnam has a history of arbitrarily detaining those who have peacefully exercised their legal rights and has been cracking down even harder, recently, with longer sentences. Michael Nguyen's case is a disturbing example of this, but this time the Vietnamese authorities have detained and captured one of our own citizens. As a beacon of freedom and democracy, we cannot let such arbitrary detention of one of our own citizens to stand.

I join my colleagues, who have also called for Michael Nguyen's release, in urging our government to make Michael Nguyen's release a priority and ensure his safe return home to the United States.

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