For family of Orange County man detained in Vietnam, the summit fizzle was personal

Sitting in a jail cell in Vietnam, Michael Nguyen probably will hear from his kids on Monday, when their letters are read to him aloud.

“My letter will say that I miss him,” says Evelynn, who, at 8 years old, is the the youngest of Nguyen’s four daughters.

“And I can play the piano now.”

Eileen, the oldest at 16, also will send a simple message:

“We’re praying for him to come home very soon.”

And by “very soon,” Nguyen’s family means now.  The Orange resident has been detained in Vietnam for eight months, when he was taken into custody by government officials in the midst of a visit to that country. The family and many others believe Nguyen is being held for political reasons, and they were hoping that his plight might be a side topic for President Donald Trump when he was in Vietnam to attend a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

“He says he’s a deal maker, so this is a time to make a deal,” said Mark Roberts, Nguyen’s brother-in-law. “I don’t think it would take more than a minute to say, ‘You’ve got one of our guys. Release him.’”

Others agree. Several hundred demonstrators turned out in Little Saigon Tuesday night, calling on the president to bring attention to human rights during his visit in Vietnam, and to specifically ask for the release of political prisoners, including Nguyen.

“This treatment of a U.S. citizen is unacceptable and you must demand the release of Mr. Nguyen,” California Assemblyman Tyler Diep and Westminster Mayor Tri Ta wrote Trump.

Nguyen and his family also are getting support from legislators.

This week, a bipartisan coalition of 27 legislators led by Reps. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, and Ted Yoho, R-Florida, called on the president to “prioritize the swift and fair resolution” of Nguyen’s case “and his safe return home.” And in a letter dated Feb. 19, Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, and his fellow co-chairs on the Congressional Caucus on Vietnam asked President Trump to make Nguyen’s case “a priority during your visit to signal that the Vietnamese government’s actions are unacceptable.”

But by Thursday afternoon, as Trump headed back to the U.S., those rooting for Nguyen’s return were losing hope the Vietnamese American man would be on Air Force One.

“I am extremely disappointed that there were no apparent moves by the president to pressure Vietnamese officials for the release of Michael,” Rep. Lowenthal said in an e-mail.

“This was a perfect opportunity to bring the full weight of the U.S. government to bear on the case and demand Michael’s immediate release. I will continue to fight, along with many of my colleagues in Congress, to bring Michael home safe as quickly as possible.”

“Where are you?”

Michael Nguyen, 55, also known as Michael Phuong Minh Nguyen, was detained on July 6 while traveling with three friends who live in Vietnam. The men were apparently followed and pulled off a bus, his wife said.

Vietnamese authorities are investigating Nguyen for “activity against the people’s government” but he’s been kept imprisoned with no formal charges filed against him at the Phan Dang Luu detention center in Ho Chi Minh, known to Orange County’s Little Saigon community as Saigon. His family insists he is not involved in any actions against the communist government.

It took weeks before the Vietnamese government confirmed his whereabouts. The last time his wife heard from him was July 5, when she texted him a photo of the family and instead of replying with a photo of his own, which was their custom, she received her own photo back.

Then, silence.

“Where are you?” she texted him.

“Where is the father of my children?” she texted again to the man listed simply as “Honey” on her phone contacts.

In detention, Nguyen is not allowed visits from his family– only one visit a month with representatives from the American Consulate.  That’s when he gets to hear from his family.

In their monthly letters, his daughters all tell him they miss him. They ask about his health. And they relay the latest news from their lives.

“I miss him very much. And I want to let him know I won my two lacrosse games,” said Elaine, 14.

Emily, who is 11, will let him know she started basketball.

And his oldest, Eileen, will share that she’s about to take her driver’s license test and participate in an upcoming school ‘spirit week.’

“I’ve had dreams about my dad coming back, of things being back to normal,” Eileen said. “I want people to know my dad is a good person and there is no reason he should be gone.”

Back in Vietnam, Michael Nguyen sends his own messages back home.

“He was worried about his business, asking me to go and ask a customer how many labels he would like. In his head, he was still working,” Helen Nguyen said.  But she added that without him here to run his small printing office in Garden Grove, the family recently lost it.

Meanwhile, school and chores and church and events, they all go on – with a lot of help from family.

Extended family pitches in

Siblings, nieces and nephews and other relatives all pitch in to drive the four girls to and from school and their various activities – something dad used to do.  Their spacious kitchen and living area is their grand central, with family members coming and going, especially in the evenings, as the kids work on their homework and the adults strategize on what they can do next to bring Michael Nguyen home.

But mostly, it’s about allowing life to continue, said Helen Nguyen, a surgical nurse who works two jobs and is often on call.

It would be overwhelming if it wasn’t for relatives helping out, she said.  “You have to have family help.”

A religious family, the Nguyens gather to pray regularly, at church and in their living room – which features a large crucifix above an altar holding religious paintings and rosaries. They pray for the hungry, for world peace and against abortion.

Since last July, they’ve been praying for Michael Nguyen.

“As my mom always says, we pray for our family to be united,” Helen Nguyen says.

Recently, Helen was recognized by Rep. Porter, who invited her as her guest to the president’s State of the Union address. Porter commended her “as an amazing woman.”

Still, the worrying gets to her. Not at work, where she focuses only on patients. But after a long day, after she gets home, spends time with the family, tidies up the kitchen and puts away the laundry. That’s when she showers, climbs unto bed and, instead of rest,  pops opens her computer and “searches for anything that has to do with Michael.”

Relaxing doesn’t come easy. She turns on Netflix.  And goes to sleep to the sounds of the TV.