Posted on 02/09/2006 4:14:37 AM PST by quentin
A weeping Kim-Hoan Thi Nguyen kissed her 7-year-old son goodbye at the Ho Chi Minh airport and told him it would be a long time before they would be together again. Little Binh Le boarded the plane and flew off to the States, where his mother hoped he would flourish. It was 1991.
She next saw Le when he visited Vietnam at 12. He cooked her french fries.
He visited again when he was 18 and a recent graduate of Edison High School in Fairfax County. They had a party.
Their next reunion came in December 2004. At his funeral, at Arlington National Cemetery.
Le, a Marine corporal and a Vietnamese citizen, was killed at age 20 while defending his desert base in Iraq. The month after his death, he was awarded U.S. citizenship in a ceremony at which speakers lauded his valor.
Nguyen, who has lived with a friend in Springfield since the funeral, wants to stay. Wracked with guilt that she sent her only child off to a life that was cut short, she wants only to lay flowers on his grave each Sunday. Yet, although parents of immigrants killed in combat are eligible for permanent residency, Nguyen's applications have been denied. (snip)
U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) found their case so compelling that he filed a private bill in Congress last February that would grant permanent residency to Nguyen, Tran, their new spouses and Tran's daughter. But it has been stuck in committee since March. (snip)
[Moran] said he is still pushing the bill, but added: "Any bill that has even a whiff of an immigration-related provision faces a very tough road here in the House." (more ...)
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
DC Address: The Honorable James P. Moran United States House of Representatives 2239 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515-4608 DC Phone: 202-225-4376 DC Fax: 202-225-0017 WWW Homepage: http://moran.house.gov/
I would urge you to contact him--and your own congressional rep--and show support for his bill to allow the mother of this young soldier, who gave his life while in an American uniform, to permanently reside in the country for which he died.
All she asks is to be able to "lay flowers on his grave each Sunday. "
I'm sorry to hear she has "The Village Idiot" in Jim Moron on her side. No wonder the bill's been hung up in committee for nearly a year. What'd he do, tack on a rider blaming "The JOOOS" for AIDS or his alcoholism or something?
Owl_Eagle
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"
Thank you for posting. Welcome to FR.
Bump
Really, is that necessary on such a thread?
Great post!
Welcome to FR!
Probably not. But Moran is an embarrassment to the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Like a broken clock, Jim Moran is right occasionally. I don't think Owl Eagle meant any disrepect for the soldier or his greiving mother, but it is a bit ironic that a Congressman that repeatedly berates the military and their mission is taking on this cause. This one act does not absolve him of all his past efforts to undermine the war on terror and President Bush.
Prayers for this soldier and his mother.
I'm no fan of Moran but I just think someone may show this thread to the family someday. Time and place and all that.
ping
[Congressman that repeatedly berates the military and their mission is taking on this cause]
This makes me wonder if this Vietnamese woman also wants to be a new Cindy Sheehan. I didn't think that way when I first read the article, but the comments on Moran make me wonder why he is doing this. I would assume that she deserves to be a citizen for her son's sake otherwise.
I am obviously not a big fan of Jim moran. I am a recent military retiree that spent 23 years defending this great country that Moron trashes at every opportunity. But I fully support him in this effort.
if this were a case of a mother that gave her child up for adoption at birth and was now trying to cash in on his death, I would be all for the "rules are rules" for a reason road. However, it is obvious in this case that she made the ultimate sacrifice of missing her childs growing up so that he could have a life and opportunity that she never had.
He grew to love his adopted country, and he died fighting for this country. The least we can do is allow his mother to spend her life close to her son's memory.
bump
The man gave his life to win freedom from tyrany to an oppressed people. I'd be proud to have the family of a hero living here, they deserve citizenship without question.
I understand that, but unfortunately Moran's reputation precedes him.
ignore the a**hats.
It's not ironic at all. It's a way for the far left radicals to get their fix of "I hate the military" in an environment where they can't be open about it.
That and Saul Alinsky's rule that says hold the opposition to their own rules/beliefs.
Here he gets to grill/bad mouth the military by association. The military can't make that decision but the casual observer will think it's some how the military's fault.
Similarly, the hearings on body armor, Hummer armor and other issues give the liberal Democrats to look down their noses at the military brass in a very public forum and get away with it because, "hey we love the troops too for the time being." Again, they're applying Alinsky's tactic. Conservatives are the ones who appreciate the military, appreciate the troops. If there's a problem, they get to claim we're hypocrites.
It's disgusting when liberals cry their croc tears when good people's lives hang in the balance. They are grave robbers. They steal the love and good will they public give to the fallen and use it to advance their politics.
My humble two cents:
The man offered himself to the service of our Republic. Also, he and his family are from Sai Gon; the former capital of a nation that got hosed when the Dem-controlled Congress pulled funding after 1973. My vote is: Let the warrior's family reside in the US.
Words of wisdom - you are correct!
I say we keep this lady and send Cindy Sheehan back to Viet Nam in her stead.
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