Throughout my lifetime, I have been involved with the Asian community quite a bit, specifically with the Vietnamese community. An important factor of the Vietnamese community is the issue of immigrant families, and unfortunately, illegal immigrant families. Reading Nguyen’s book, “We Are All Suspects Now”, reminds me of some of the memories I have of people I have encountered with who were, and some who still are, struggling with visa documents in order to permanently stay in the US. I have met families whose parents are illegal immigrants, but their children are natural US born citizens. Their lives have been restricted because of their lack of legal documents to stay in the US, however, not to the extent of the characters written about in the book. Nevertheless, I have been acquainted with people who I would recognize as victims of unjust immigration policies. I would say I have developed very close relationships with some of these people. My point is, I reflect on this issue, and I think about how hard it is for some of these people I know. Because I don’t want to disrespect anybody or would like to reveal anybody’s identity, I don’t want to use names or expose their relationships to me. I’ve met many who have had the ideal American dream of becoming rich, but because of their illegal status, they’re unable to obtain jobs that enable them to do so. On top of taking care of themselves, some even have to take care of their families in Vietnam. But, I remember that I could at times, feel the fear that borders their lives. There are things that I would take for granted, such as driving around in my car, that my acquaintances would always have to worry about. If one were to get pulled over, the result would be devastating. There is one person, who I have and will always retain in my memory forever. This friend of mine possessed all the qualities of a “good man” in my opinion. Very caring towards the people around him, treated people with the utmost respect, and constantly displayed a good sense of perseverance. These qualities make him no threat to society whatsoever. However, 20 years ago, he was involved in an incident, where he was attacked by a group of gang members. Naturally, he defended himself in a time of danger, however, when the police came, it was a different story. He was sent to jail and released on bail. At the time, he was only on a green card, but the country would not grant him permanent residency. Ever since, he’s been on the run, in fear that he will be detained and deported back to Vietnam where his sentencing could be even more devastating than he can imagine. People like him remind me of the characters in the story. Just hard-working immigrants, looking for a better life in the land of opportunity, but they are victimized by the immigration policies that fail to make justified judgments on certain decisions.

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