As VABANC celebrates 20 years, the VLF board wishes to thank everyone near and far that has supported VABANC and VLF.  Our 2018 Year End Report highlights our accomplishments since the creation of VLF. 

Our 2018 VABANC Law Foundation (VLF) fellow, Mimi Nguyen with the Step Forward Foundation, has been busy over the last year working on dozens of immigration cases, including work to obtain visas for human trafficking victims, domestic violence, and other crimes. Your support made it possible for Mimi to dedicate a year of her legal career to help immigrant[…]

Currently in its eighth year, the Vietnamese American Bar Association of Northern California (VABANC) Law Foundation (VLF) is proud to announce that its 2018 Public Interest Fellowship is being awarded to Ms. Mimi Thi Nguyen with Step Forward Foundation. Mimi Thi Nguyen is a California native, born and raised in San Jose. Her passion for[…]

Trinh Huynh Legal Fellow Asian  Americans  Advancing  Justice—Atlanta  is  seeking  applicants  for  the  Trinh  Huynh  Legal Fellowship.  This  fellowship,  which  lasts  for  a  one-­‐year  term,  is  designed  for  an  attorney  with  an interest in protecting and promoting the civil rights of immigrants. The hope is that the fellowship will not only enhance the Fellow’s technical[…]

The Law Foundation of Silicon Valley is seeking a full-time Attorney for its Housing Department. As a part of the Law Foundation’s Strategic Plan, the Law Foundation is currently focusing on redesigning our Housing Department and how to best provide housing legal services to the community. Over the course of the next year, Law Foundation[…]

NBC NEWS / SANTA ANA, Calif. — Civil rights groups filed a class-action lawsuit last week on behalf of Vietnamese nationals who the groups allege are being unlawfully detained by the U.S. government, they announced Wednesday.  In 2008, the U.S. and Vietnam signed a repatriation agreement that excludes Vietnamese nationals who arrived in the U.S. before July[…]

Inside the case of one man who feared torture because of his Montagnard roots, but was deported last month. By DAVID ROGERS “President Donald Trump’s ‘get tough’ approach to immigration is now impacting — of all people — the Montagnard hill tribesmen who fought alongside the Green Berets in the Vietnam War. The son of[…]

VLF Public Interest Fellow Jaimini Parekh comments on unsafe levels of lead exposure: “Toxic Substances Control’s strategy “unfortunately means that many children will continue to play in backyard soils containing unsafe levels of lead – a highly poisonous neurotoxin,” says Jaimini Parekh, an attorney for Communities for a Better Environment. “[Toxic Substances Control] fell asleep[…]

Our friends at the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center (SEARAC) prepared a resource page for immigration policy and advocacy. “Much of SEARAC’s immigration work focuses on challenging the unjust laws that make deportation of our refugee brothers and sisters not only mandatory but irreversible, in spite of the individual circumstances of each case.” Immigration Policy Resource[…]

Detentions of Vietnamese Nationals Spike Across Country Under New Administration Philadelphia, PA – In the past month, the Vietnamese American community has been rocked by a surge of community members apprehended and detained for possible deportation. In the first two weeks of March alone, organizers learned that nearly 100 Vietnamese people were being detained, largely[…]