27-04-2025
Spokane nonprofit helping children of American servicemen immigrate to the U.S. from Vietnam
Apr. 26—Jimmy Miller sees himself as the living legacy of the Vietnam War.
In many ways, he is.
Miller was born in Vietnam on Dec. 25, 1967, to James A. Miller, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, and a Vietnamese mother. He grew up in the shadow of the war, and faced rampant discrimination as a result of his father's identity before immigrating to the U.S.
The war separated Miller's parents shortly after their marriage, and although Miller's father tried to find them, it took more than 27 years for the two to reunite.
Thousands of babies born to American servicemen and Vietnamese women, known as Amerasians, were left behind after the last helicopter left Saigon in 1975.
It's not clear how many were born, but for the last 10 years, Miller has been helping Amerasians in the region reconnect with their family roots.
In 2013, Miller founded the nonprofit Amerasians Without Borders, which provides Amerasians in Vietnam with DNA testing, advocates for them to immigrate to the U.S. and contributes resettlement assistance for those who are able to make the move. The organization has played a crucial role in identifying and resettling nearly 200 Amerasians over the past decade, Miller said.
Miller will no longer take on new DNA testing after Wednesday, which marks the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. He said he has around 100 cases still pending he'll work through, but he plans to refocus the organization on providing financial assistance to prospective or resettled Amerasian immigrants.
A lot has changed in the years since Miller started the organization, he said. There are now many groups carrying out similar efforts, and he's stopped receiving requests for testing.
"I started the fires, and now they carry that torch through and spread it out," Miller said. "Now I have more people helping."
The needs of the community also have changed, Miller said. Resettlement agencies and organizations have lost funding through President Donald Trump's efforts to scale back the federal government, which has led to a lack of financial support for resettlement expenses, emergencies or medical costs.
"Not all the Amerasians in Vietnam are financially stable," Miller said. "They're not able to do that for themselves. So now we have to step up to do that."
Miller immigrated to Spokane in 1990, just a few years after Congress passed the Amerasian Homecoming Act, which allowed Amerasian children in Vietnam born during the war and their families to immigrate to the U.S. He said he spent much of his childhood waiting for the opportunity to get out of Vietnam, where he and fellow Amerasians were labeled "the enemy of the people" under the Communist regime.
Miller recalls being pestered by his childhood classmates, who'd lob insults like "half-breed" and physically attack him.
His teachers often showed the same prejudice, which he believes led to the stunted development of many Amerasians who grew up in Vietnam at the time. Their quality of life and financial stability did not improve even as attitudes toward Americans shifted following President Bill Clinton's decision to reopen trade with the country in 1995.
Many fathered by Americans were abandoned, taunted, abused and left unschooled after the last of the U.S. military departed 50 years ago.
"Discrimination no longer exists there toward the Amerasians as in the past," Miller said. "But some, their life is already ruined from the childhood lack of education and everything else. It is very difficult for them to be successful."
Fearing communist persecution, Miller's mother burned most materials related to Miller's father in the years following the war. She attempted an escape with her brother by boat in 1982, but authorities found them, and they were sentenced to five years in a labor camp.
That left Miller, as a young teenager, to care for his three younger siblings, his grandmother and his grandfather who was paralyzed by a stroke, while also shouldering the responsibility of bringing dried foods to his mother and uncle to sustain them.
"For five years; it was horrible," Miller said. "I still remember all of that."
Miller was able to reconnect with his father the same year he gained his U.S. citizenship, in 1995. It took a fair amount of detective work, as he only had a name, a few photos and only one letter with a Fayetteville, North Carolina, postmark, but they were able to spend two years together before the senior Miller died.
In the years since, Miller got married, had a son and twin daughters, and spent three decades working for Boeing, Triumph Composites and the Multifab Corporation while living in Spokane Valley. He said the Inland Northwest has been a wonderful place to raise a family; the schools are robust, he enjoys experiencing all four seasons and the calmer environment compared to the hustle and bustle of big cities.
"This city is very safe to me, and a good city for our kids to help them grow," Miller said. "All the people I sponsored to Spokane, they adapt very well, and they do really good."
In 2023, Miller helped Thi Hanh Nguyen, the daughter of an American serviceman, immigrate to Spokane with her mother, Thi Nhi Bui, and disabled son. The family received case management from the International Rescue Committee, and Miller secured a great deal on rent for a home in town.
IRC spokeswoman Kimmie Curry called Nguyen an inspiration for what she's been able to accomplish in the past few years. She's landed a job as a caregiver to her son, landed federal assistance for her son, found a Buddhist temple to attend and established relationships with fellow immigrants at the organization's community gardens, even though they may not speak the same language.
Nguyen said the lack of communication is frustrating, but a tutor visits with family members every week to improve their English skills.
"She should just be really proud of how far she's come and how many challenges she's overcome," Curry said. "She's such a strong and inspiring woman."
In an interview Thursday, Nguyen said through an interpreter that she would not have made the strides she has in building a life for herself if it were not for assistance from organizations like Curry's and Miller's.
"My life has gotten a lot better," Nguyen said. "I was miserable in Vietnam because of the hardship."
Nguyen grew up in an agricultural community in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. As a young mother of four, her husband died from his struggle with alcohol, leaving her to provide for the family herself through her farming and work as a seamstress. She was later be involved in a serious motor vehicle crash in Vietnam that left her with some cognitive difficulties, Miller said.
"She was very traumatized," he said.
Nguyen made the move to Spokane a little more than two years ago, describing it as one of the happiest moments in her life. Her three oldest children, all in their 20s and 30s, still live in Vietnam, but she hopes to bring them over in the years to come.
"Ever since we came here, we have been received very well, welcomed and given all kinds of assistance," Bui said through an interpreter, "to the point that we're so happy that we have come. We have not run into any obstacles or any disappointment in America."
When they arrived in the U.S., Bui hoped to see her daughter reunite with her father's family, which has yet to become a reality. They have had no interaction despite attempts to get connected, Bui said. When asked what she remembers about the war that ended when she was just a teenager, Bui told the interpreter she could not recall anything.
Nguyen is able to support herself, her son and her mother, so the IRC graduated her from case management last week. They will still oversee assistance for Nguyen's son, but Curry said the organization is confident in Nguyen's ability to sustain her new life. They will be there to lend a helping hand if her remaining children are able to immigrate soon.
Echoing Curry, Miller said Nguyen's journey is an example of how those denied opportunities in Vietnam are able to find a better life in the U.S. He estimates there are around 150 Amerasians remaining in Vietnam. Some of them may never immigrate due to inconclusive DNA tests, lack of records proving fatherhood, or other shortcomings or hurdles in the application process.
The more time that passes since the war's end, and as more Vietnam veterans die, the more concerned he gets that those individuals will be forgotten, unable to make the move with their families like he and Nguyen did. He lamented how difficult it has been for Amerasians like himself to navigate the immigration process, despite being the heirs of American servicemen.
"My father, he served this country, did 30 years in the military and two tours in Vietnam," Miller said. "I see the Amerasian who was born in Vietnam like me as my brother and sister. They get the hard time to come here legally, while our government, at one point, were allowing millions of illegal immigrants to come here. They have nothing to do with this country, while our fathers served this country, and their children were left behind in Vietnam and government just left them."
Miller said he hopes the federal government will uphold its responsibility to the Amerasians in Vietnam and welcome them with open arms in the years to come regardless of the challenges with their applications.
The government should have a vested interest in doing so, as those children of the war will be the ones to carry on their fathers' legacies for decades to come, he said.
"American children born here with American fathers, they don't know anything about the Vietnam War," Miller said. "But we are the ones born during the war, we grow up and we face all the discrimination and everything. So we value the freedom we have here. I don't see many people nowadays that value the freedom they have."
Former Spokesman-Review reporter Treva Lind contributed to this report.
