Orange resident Helen Nguyen, mother to four girls, has been waiting for nearly seven months for the Vietnamese government to release her husband, an American citizen detained while visiting his birthplace.

On Tuesday, she will be the guest of Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in Washington D.C., where she and the congresswoman hope her appearance will bring more attention to her husband’s plight.

“America, as a country, is sending a signal to Vietnam,” Porter said Saturday. “We expect that when our citizens are abroad, they will be treated consistent with human rights and democratic values.

Helen Nguyen said she’s grateful and honored for the opportunity.

Helen Nguyen, of Orange, second from right, stands with her daughters during a press conference Aug. 2, 2018 to call for the release of her husband, Michael Nguyen, who was detained in Vietnam. (Photo by Roxana Kopetman)

Family portrait of Helen and Michael Nguyen and their children, dated several years ago.

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Helen Nguyen, of Orange, a surgical nurse at UC Irvine Medical Center and a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Anaheim, fields questions from reporters on Aug. 2, 2018. (Photo by Roxana Kopetman)



Michael Nguyen, 55, also known as Michael Phuong Minh Nguyen, was detained last July. He was accused of conspiring against the government but no official charges have been brought against him. His family said he was visiting family and friends and touring the country and was not involved in any anti-government activity.

Since then, more than 20 former and current members of Congress have signed letters urging his return, said Mark Roberts, Nguyen’s brother-in-law.

Roberts, an Orange County resident, also will be attending President Trump’s speech as the guest of Rep. Alexander Green, D-Houston. (Michael Nguyen used to live in Texas and still has family there, Roberts said.)

The ordeal has been difficult for the family, they said.

Michael Nyugen’s business, a small printing company in Garden Grove, shut down. To make up for the lost income, Helen Nguyen had to increase her hours as a surgical nurse at UCI Medical Center and a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Anaheim. The weekend before flying out for the president’s address, she is on 24-hour call.

Meanwhile, relatives are helping with taking her children, ages 8 to 16, to school, activities and church. That’s something her husband was mostly in charge of, she said.

The family is not allowed to visit him in Vietnam, where he can have only one visit a month by U.S. Consulate representatives. They take him care packages from the family with items like beef jerky, vegetable crackers and chocolate.

“Our messages our delivered to him through the U.S. Consulate, translated in Vietnamese. And they read it to Michael in front of the guards there,” Helen Nguyen said.

Porter praised Helen Nguyen’s strength.

“She is an amazing woman caring for her elderly parents, raising four children, taking care of patients everyday and she’s without the love and support of her husband; and there’s no information about why he’s detained and when he will be released,” Porter said.

The choice of who to bring to the president’s State of the Union speech is often used to send a political message. Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, for example, invited a housekeeper who used to work for Trump while she was undocumented, before she became a legal resident.

Porter said that her invitation of Nguyen transcends party lines, noting that her predecessor, Republican Mimi Walters, was involved in leading the fight for his return.

“Helen’s situation and what’s happening to Michael Nguyen is not a partisan issue,” Porter said.

“This is about bringing home one of our own.”