For Vietnamese-Americans, rising anti-Asian violence leaves them preferring the country their parents fled, for now

The Covid-19 pandemic and hate crimes like the Atlanta shootings have left Americans of Vietnamese heritage questioning the country that offered their families refuge

While the US was seen as a land of opportunity, many migrants experienced discrimination and some of their offspring feel safer in Vietnam

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Demonstrators holding signs march during a rally against anti-Asian hate crimes outside City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on March 27. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:00am, 30 Mar 2021Updated: 3:59pm, 22 Apr 2021

Six years ago, Christina Bui, who was born in the US state of Virginia to a family of Vietnamese immigrants, accepted a job in Ho Chi Minh City. Her mother was appalled.

“My dad was ‘whatever’ [about it] but my mom was furious, giving me the whole ‘I came to America to give you a better life!’ speech,” the 28-year-old recalled about her move to the city also known as Saigon.

But amid recent incidents of violence against Asians and African Americans, the Trump administration’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the violent mob attack on Capitol Hill in January, Bui is among the Vietnamese-Americans who are mulling over their feelings about the country that once offered their families refuge from war and poverty.

The United States has long been seen by migrants as a land of better opportunities, including the 123,000 Vietnamese who fled Saigon in the years after it fell to North Vietnamese troops in 1975. Five years later, the Refugee Act resulted in over 1.1 million Southeast Asian refugees, including those from Laos and Cambodia, resettling in the US.

Communist troops on top of trucks and armoured vehicles making their way to the centre of Saigon in 1975 after the city fell under their control. Photo: AFP

But for Bui, whose work at a non-profit foundation focuses on anti-human trafficking efforts, Vietnam’s proactive approach to the coronavirus is one reason for it being a safer place to call home, for now at least. Vietnam has had 2,500 cases and 35 deaths among its 97 million population compared to America’s 30.2 million cases and nearly 549,000 deaths among its 330 million population.