On the recordSeptember 4, 2018
Let me begin by thanking the gentlewoman from California for yielding to me. And I do want to commend my colleague, Mimi Walters, for organizing this Special Order. I want to commend her for her tireless effort here for the release of her constituent by the name of Michael Nguyen, someone whose family I happen to know. I rise today to request that the government of Vietnam release an American citizen. If I could just share with you my observations about this situation. We are really speaking out on behalf of a U.S. citizen from Orange, California, who was detained, as the Congresswoman shared with you, on July 7. And what I wanted to share with you is he was touring Vietnam and visiting elderly relatives. I think it is a very commendable thing that he does, that he stays in touch, he tries to do this once a year, to see his elderly relatives in Vietnam. We have been informed that he is under investigation for engaging in activity against the People's government, which in this case is a spurious charge that the Vietnamese government is using to justify an arbitrary detention of a U.S. citizen. Now, this is an individual who is deeply missed by his wife and four daughters, the youngest of whom is only 8 years old. Michael's family has seen their entire lives turned upside down because of this senseless ordeal.…
