Seattle residents try to help Vietnamese native gain asylum

Admittedly, it's a cliché to say Dung Ahn "JoJo" Tran would give someone the shirt off his back. But Deanna Davis has actually seen it happen.

"He had a jacket on, and he saw a guy sleeping outside who didn't have one, so he took his own off and gave it to him."

That bit of generosity, acquaintances say, was totally in character for this Vietnam native who's done volunteer work for a dozen local organizations and spends long hours working a P-Patch "Giving Garden" growing food for the less fortunate.

"He's one of the most compassionate people I've ever met," said Valerie Costa, who met Tran through Amnesty International. "He'll ride his bike around getting food to make meals for others, and he gave his two sleeping bags away to the homeless."

But now it's Tran who needs the help, and it's his many friends who are coming to his aid. Today, Costa will host a combination 51st birthday party and fundraising event to help Tran's efforts to avoid being sent back to Vietnam, where he ran afoul of government officials.

"He's the kind of person we should be begging to have more of in this country," said Harvey Jones, who also volunteers at the "Giving Garden."

"The types of community service he puts in are something we should all aspire to."

Among other things, Tran has volunteered as an interpreter for the American Red Cross, picked up litter in a Seattle "Adopt-a-Street" project, assisted people in crisis as a Catholic pastoral-care minister and helped the homeless though groups such as SHARE (Seattle Housing and Resource Effort.)

Tran grew up during the Vietnam War in a family with close ties to American forces, and had relatives in the South Vietnamese Army before the communist takeover in 1975. Working as a tour guide in the 1990s, primarily for Americans and Europeans, Tran said he sometimes drew the ire of Vietnamese officials when he accommodated visitors whose requests departed from planned routes, crossing into areas not approved for tourists.

The situation reached a crisis, he said, in 1996 when a group he later learned comprised former U.S. Navy Seals wanted to see a restricted island in the Mekong Delta. Tran said he agreed to the stop because he felt outnumbered by the visitors, but afterward Vietnamese officials detained and threatened him.

He fled to the U.S. shortly thereafter, leaving behind a wife and young son, and applied for political asylum, saying he fears imprisonment if he returns. His greatest hope is to have his wife and son join him here.

"America is still a beacon of liberty and freedom for the whole world," Tran said. "I believe that very much."

In 2004, traveling cross-country by train to attend a funeral in North Carolina, Tran was taken into custody by immigration officials in Montana and held for a month.

Supporters blame his detention on a mix-up about the status of his asylum request, and he was released after a letter-writing campaign that included support from U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, and the Very Rev. Michael Ryan, pastor of St. James Cathedral.

Since then, his asylum request has been turned down by an immigration judge and an appeal board that cited inconsistencies in his accounts of his detention in Vietnam and said his trouble with Vietnamese officials is closer to "police harassment" than political persecution.

In February, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to review the case; Tran's attorney hopes to convince the court to reconsider.

Tran's supporters say even if he loses his asylum bid, U.S. State Department officials wouldn't be obligated to deport him, and they hope calling attention to his public service may help generate political support to keep him here.

"He has a lot of friends," said Aaron Tovo, group coordinator of the Seattle chapter of Amnesty International. "I don't know that I would say I'm optimistic. But he does have a lot of friends."

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com