Orange County’s citizenship ambassador Nam Loc Nguyen’s first year on the job

(The Orange County Register): Nam Loc Nguyen became the Orange County citizenship ambassador a year ago, and since then says he has made much progress in reaching more groups and organizations to help folks learn about the citizenship process.

With 40-plus years of experience as the director of the Immigration and Refugee Department of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles under his belt, Nguyen said helping immigrants is not new to him.

Nguyen was selected as the Orange County ambassador for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) last July through the Citizenship Ambassadors Initiative. The federal program partners with community leaders who promote citizenship through their own immigrant experiences to make a personal connection to the permanent residents who may be eligible to apply for naturalization and who otherwise may not have access to or knowledge of the process.

One of eight citizenship ambassadors, Nguyen has worked alongside other ambassadors in Boston, Miami and Minneapolis, among others.

“This is the first time the USCIS has created a position so that someone familiar with the communities can, one, encourage people to apply for citizenship, and two, try to explain to them the regulations, answer questions, provide supportive services, materials and speaking engagements,” Nguyen said, adding that he also teaches people how to avoid possible scams. “We were trained by USCIS to conduct the role of ambassador as the person to reach out to the minority community and your own community because we have different ethnic groups and speak different languages.”

Nguyen said he wears several different hats, and that can be both a challenge and a blessing. He is a citizenship ambassador, an active refugee and community activist, as well as a professional emcee who hosts various affairs from community events to entertainment. Often his various roles intersect, he said, for example while working at a social event, people might question him about citizenship-related information.

“It has helped because when you are more popular in your community and when you provide citizenship work, people come to see you more. You can draw a crowd,” Nguyen said. “Before I was providing orientations about citizenship. Now, as a citizenship ambassador, it’s more credible. People listen and then people ask you more questions and you have more of a chance to explain to them. They consider the information you provide as trustworthy and credible.”

Nguyen said he is most proud of all the outreach he has been able to do as an ambassador. He’s worked with several organizations throughout Southern California to inform them about the citizenship process.

“One thing I still feel sorry for is that I do reach out to the (Spanish-speaking) community, but I (don’t) speak Spanish,” Nguyen said. “I do reach out to them, but when you come to those communities, you have to speak their language. It’s easier for them to ask questions.”

One of his most notable moments since taking this position, he said, was attending the Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees forum in Washington, D.C. last May. This is where 19 countries gather for an informal exchange of information and policy debate on all issues surrounding migration.

He was able to bring to the forum the experience of a refugee, he said. “How do we participate in mainstream society when you become citizens, and how do we help other refugees to become citizens as well.”

Nguyen was born in Hanoi, Vietnam and first became a refugee at age 10, in 1954, when communists took North Vietnam. He lived in Saigon until it fell to communism in 1975. He was the only one in his family to be flown out of Vietnam to the U.S. since he was in the military.

The rest of his family eventually joined him in American after living in different refugee camps all over the world.

“This was my opportunity to address our appreciation on behalf of many refugees in the world. We could not get to this life without their assistance,” Nguyen said about being able to thank the countries involved in the forum. “My dad, when he left Vietnam, he came to Hong Kong and then from Hong Kong, they resettled him in Belgium. He sometimes asks me, ‘How can I pay back to those countries?’ I say, ‘Well, you may not have a chance because you don’t have the opportunity to see them again, but if you help others, you are paying back what they did for you.’”

Considering his own trek to the U.S., and that of the Vietnamese community, Nguyen said he understands the value of freedom and the plight of refugees.

“Therefore, when we see a Syrian guy lying dead on the beach or the bomb that fell on a village in Bosnia, or the Afghans who went after the plane, the Rohingya escaped on the boat or plane, horrified to get out of their country,” Nguyen said. “We saw ourselves in those situations. That’s why we are so sensitive, and that is why I encourage the Vietnamese to help others, to reach out to others.”

Nguyen said the reasoning for people seeking citizenship has changed with time. The No. 1 reason, he said he sees, is because they want to travel. The second, and most surprising to him, is that people want to be able to vote.

“They not only want to become citizens to vote, at the same time, they want to do advocacy work,” Nguyen said. “I think they see the benefit for their family, for their community. That when you’re voting, you can impact your local government, your state or federal.”

Other main reasons for seeking citizenship are for family reunification and a secure life without the fear of deportation weighing on one’s conscience, he said.

Rolling into his second year as an ambassador, Nguyen said he wants to continue to do more outreach with organizations and nonprofits. He especially wants to work more with folks living in low-income housing.

“That’s something I appreciate about being an American,” Nguyen said. “You open your heart to help people and then you don’t need anything in return, but you want to see other people help other refugees. That is something very treasured to me.”