You wouldn’t believe it, but by law, this girl is not an American (we couldn’t believe it for ourselves, until we asked).
Caroline Vang spent the entire Friday night making signs for the next morning. “We need another Senator Mee Moua” she wrote on one of the signs. In the early morning, the signs would be placed around the tent where a group of her friends and colleagues were going to register their fellow Hmong-American citizens to vote in the United States. It was the annual Hmong Sports Festival in Michigan, and it was time that someone step forward to make the community transition into becoming full-fledge US citizens. But while Caroline was busy registering her fellow Hmong to become active voters in the democratic process, she would not be allowed to fill out her very own form.
Twenty-three years ago, Caroline Vang was born to Guy and Genevieve Vang in France. Just 5 years later, Guy would bring his two French daughters and his wife to the United States. For 18 years, his family lived and worked in the United States. For 18 years, Caroline and her younger sister Melanie went to public schools. And within those 18 years, Guy and Genevieve had two more children, Stevan and Christine.
Quick Facts:
- The Vang family – Guy, Genevieve, Caroline and Melanie – has lived in the United States for 18 years.
- They came to America legally in 1989.
- They came to reunite with family members they had been separated from because of the war in Laos and Vietnam.
- They have lived and worked legally in the U.S. since 1989 and today own a successful restaurant, Bangkok 96, in Dearborn, MI.
- They have added 2 U.S. citizen children to their family.
- Due to errors on the part of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the Vang family was forced to wait 10 years to hear back about their asylum case.
- Now the USCIS plans to deport them soon.
Read on to find out how you can help!
Who are Guy and Genevieve Vang?
Guy and Genevieve Vang are contributing members of society and the parents of four: Caroline, 23, student at Macomb Community and Walsh College; Melanie, 18, a freshman at Northwood University;
Steven, 16, a senior at Warren Woods Tower high school; and Christine, 11. The two youngest Vang children are U.S. citizens. In 1989, Guy and Genevieve and their two eldest daughters arrived in the United States from France to reunite with Guy’s family who were believed to have been killed by Lao communists in the midst of the Vietnam War. In 1996, the Vang family opened Bangkok 96 restaurant in Dearborn, MI. Like regular citizens, they pay taxes and help their community through
charitable contributions.
What is their case about?
On May 31, 2007, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the family’s case to remain in the United States. In less than three months, the government will deport Guy and his family back to France, after they have made a life in America for 18 years. And since the family came to the United States on the Visa Waiver Pilot Program, it waived their rights to contest in court should they ever want to stay in the U.S. However, Guy was eligible for political asylum under the Visa Waiver.
Since Guy’s parents immigrated to the U.S. through asylum/refugee status, he decided to apply for asylum at INS to seek the opportunity to stay closer to his parents whom he had lost as a child during the war. Unfortunately, the Vangs were forced to wait 10 years to get a response that they did not qualify for asylum (in 2000). Even then, the government continued to renew their work authorizations and allowed them to build their lives in the U.S. Now, 18 years later, this family is being punished and forced out of the only country they consider home.
How can I help?
Their last hope is a private bill that one of the senators can create to stop their deportation (pending as of April 2009). This important bill would have to go through the Senate and House of Representatives. The family desperately needs for everyone to contact Michigan lawmakers U.S. Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, and U.S. Representatives Sander Levin and John Dingell. The more lawmakers contacted the better! Voice your concerns about the injustice of the family’s impending deportation by signing this petition which will be delivered to Congress members:
Do you know someone who is also facing an immigration/deporattion issue?
Click here to use our contact form to share your story.
Sign the Vang Family Petition at ipetitions:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Vang_Family/
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