This Father’s Day, we honor and celebrate the resilient stories of immigrant dads like Hoang Pham, who nearly five decades later still vividly remembers the day he waved goodbye to his family in Vietnam – and left behind the only life he’d ever known. He was just 18.
“He carried nothing but his parents’ hopes for him and his dream of becoming a university professor,” Rutgers Today reports. And, he accomplished just that, joining Rutgers University in 1993 as a Distinguished Professor. He’s also a beloved husband and father. He’s the epitome of the American Dream.
“But he has never forgotten his identity as one of Vietnam’s ‘boat people,’ the term used to describe the hundreds of thousands who escaped their country by sea after the fall of Saigon in 1975 to Communist forces,” Rutgers Today continues. Many did not survive. Professor Pham himself fell seriously ill with malaria after his boat arrived in Malaysia. “Eventually, the Royal Malaysian Navy placed the survivors in boats, hauled them back out to sea and left them there alone in international waters.” He ultimately found safety in the U.S., where he was sponsored by a missionary and began to excel in his studies.
Other Vietnamese refugees who fled to America also included a young Michael Phạm, who was recently named bishop of San Diego by Pope Leo XIV. “He is the first Vietnamese American bishop to lead a U.S. diocese,” Religion News Service said.
This immigration history, sparked in tragedy but one that blossomed into a new beginning, is what Professor Pham, along with his son, Hoang Pham Jr., hope to pass along to new generations in their new documentary. “Unstoppable Hope,” which will premiere on YouTube this Father’s Day weekend, “marks the 50th anniversary of the Vietnamese refugee exodus and shares the stories of 12 refugees along with several guests,” Rutgers Today said.
“It’s important for young Vietnamese people to know their history,” Professor Pham said. “Our story is one of resilience and determination.”
This Father’s Day, we also think of the loving immigrant fathers who are separated from their families due to our nation’s outdated – and increasingly cruel – immigration policies.
We think about Kilmar Abrego García, a sheet metal worker, husband, and dad from Maryland. He arrived in the U.S. in 2011, and five years later married his U.S. citizen wife, Jennifer. “Together, they have built a strong, supportive family with bright hopes for the future,” CASA said “At the time he disappeared, Kilmar was a unionized sheet metal worker actively pursuing career advancement by enrolling in a college course to obtain a professional license.”
We know that immigrant dads like Kilmar aren’t just critical to their family’s prosperity, they’re critical to our nation’s as well. In Maryland and across the nation, essential immigrant workers form the backbone of the construction industry, for example.
But this Father’s Day, when Kilmar should be sitting at a dinner table with his family in the home he’s helped build, he’ll instead be sitting in a detention center due to his unjust targeting by the federal government. “Kilmar’s children need their father home,” CASA continued. “His wife needs her partner. This Father’s Day, we honor all families separated by injustice – and we fight to reunite them.”
This Father’s Day, we also think about Don Miguel, who is also in detention after being swept up during the chaotic raids targeting Southern California, The San Fernando Valley Sun reports. He was at work supporting his family when he was arrested. He’s their sole breadwinner, his daughter says. “At home, the arrest and separation are causing a lot of pain, according to Maria.” The San Fernando Valley Sun:
“We are a tight-knit family,” she said with pride.
“But for the first time in years, our dad was absent from our weekly Sunday dinner,” she added with a breaking voice.
Her younger sister, 22, is graduating from the University of California this week, and their dad won’t be there to celebrate.
“He was supposed to walk with her, go up on the stage to pick up her diploma,” Maria explained.
The youngest sibling, a 10-year-old boy, is also struggling to cope with his dad’s sudden and prolonged absence. He is finding it difficult to process what happened so quickly and unexpectedly, and he is afraid of a future without Don Miguel.
We think about Miguel Angel Lopez, a father, grandfather, and winery worker who was swept up by immigration officials after just trying to follow the rules and attend his immigration court date. We think about Nelson Gonzalez, a dad who was deported in March after nearly four decades in the U.S. Gonzalez and his wife, Gladys, were also detained at a check-in. We think about Joel Gutierrez, who was detained while he was out working in order to provide for his family. “My dad is honestly the best person there is,” his daughter, Denise, told supporters. “He is the sweetest, most understanding person, and he truly does not deserve to be where he is right now.”
When more than five million U.S. citizen children live with at least one undocumented family member, humane and common-sense immigration policies are an American issue. Not only do these dads deserve the chance to see their dreams fully realized, they deserve to see the manifestation of those dreams – their children – grow up and succeed. As Professor Pham said, his children “are my greatest achievement.” This Father’s Day, we honor and lift up immigrant dads and continue to call for a more just immigration system that allows these families to be able to thrive in peace and stability.
