GIFT OF FREEDOM:
a world-shaping concept describing struggles aimed at free peoples from unenlightened forms of social organization through fields of power and violence.
(Nguyen 3)
Vietnamese Americans live in a state of indebtedness.
The novel "The Gift of Freedom: War, Debt, and Other Refugee Passages" from Mimi Thi Nguyen provides a lens through which we can examine the experiences of many Vietnamese in the United States 49 years after the fall of Saigon.
The American government had given Vietnamese refugees the "gift of freedom" by permitting them to live and work in the United States. Now, in the only proper form of gratefulness, Vietnamese Americans must return the favor by testifying to the gift of freedom and fulfilling the agenda of the U.S. liberal empire (Nguyen 29-30).
Polling reveals that more Vietnamese Americans favor the GOP than any other Asian American group. Their experiences under an oppressive communist regime have endeared them to conservative politics even when Republican politicians suggest anti-Vietnamese policies.
In 2018, President Donald Trump suggested deporting Vietnam War refugees who the administration considered "violent criminal aliens." The United States was ultimately unable to deport Vietnamese people who arrived before July 12, 1995 due to an existing agreement between Washington and Hanoi (Dunst and Calamur). Many Vietnamese Americans continued to support the Administration despite these proposals, exemplifying their loyal reimbursement of the gift of freedom and alignment with the American political agenda.