U.S.A.
January 1, 2018
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 7
Retiring refugee leader to visit
immigrants’ home countries
By Dave Kolpack
The Associated Press
F
UNFORESEEN PASSING. San Francisco mayor Edwin Lee, left, and Oakland mayor Jean Quan, arrive
at the White House in Washington for a state dinner in honor of Chinese President Hu Jintao, in this January 19,
2011 file photo. Mayor Lee, who oversaw a technology-driven economic boom in San Francisco that brought
with it sky-high housing prices despite his lifelong commitment to economic equality, died suddenly in Decem-
ber at the age of 65. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
San Francisco mayor Edwin
Lee dies suddenly at 65
By Janie Har
The Associated Press
S
AN FRANCISCO — Mayor Ed Lee,
who oversaw a technology-driven
economic boom in San Francisco
that brought with it sky-high housing
prices despite his commitment to economic
equality, died suddenly December 12 at
age 65.
A statement from Lee’s office said the
city’s first Asian-American mayor died at
1:11am at Zuckerberg San Francisco
General Hospital.
“It is with profound sadness and terrible
grief that we confirm that mayor Edwin M.
Lee passed away,” the statement said. Lee
was surrounded by family, friends, and
colleagues. No cause of death was
reported.
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
president London Breed became acting
mayor.
Supervisors and other public officials
were stunned and saddened by his sudden
death. They praised the low-key mus-
tachioed mayor who was better known as a
former civil-rights lawyer and longtime
city bureaucrat than a flashy politician.
“I am floored. I can’t believe he’s gone. I
just held a press conference with mayor
Lee yesterday ... He was his normal
friendly and jovial self,” state senator Scott
Wiener told KTVU-TV. “He wasn’t the
flashiest guy in the world, but he worked
hard and it was an honor to work with
him.”
Former mayor Willie Brown and the late
political power broker Rose Pak talked Lee
into filling out the rest of Gavin Newsom’s
term when he was elected California’s
lieutenant governor in 2010. He was
appointed interim mayor by the Board of
Supervisors in 2011 after professing no
interest in taking on the job permanently.
“We won based on our political shenani-
gans and our political skill sets. He got
elevated to our mayor-ship under our char-
ter and got re-elected twice,” Brown said.
Brown said Lee will be known as the
man who “stepped up and made it possible
for Silicon Valley to almost relocate to our
city.”
U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy
Pelosi, who lives in San Francisco, said
Lee’s background as a community
organizer and civil-rights lawyer served
the city well.
“He knew the rhythms and the workings
of San Francisco at the most granular
level, and dedicated decades to improving
the lives of all San Franciscans,” she said
in a statement.
Lee changed his mind about taking the
job permanently and won a four-year term
in 2011. He was re-elected in 2015. Lee was
an advocate for the needy, but in 2015, he
ran against a slate of little-known
candidates who criticized him as doing
more for tech leaders than for poor people.
Detractors claimed he catered too much
to Silicon Valley, citing his brokering of a
tax break in 2011 to benefit Twitter as part
of a remake of the city’s downtown.
Meanwhile, housing prices have surged in
San Francisco with modest homes now
topping $1.5 million.
Lee, who is survived by his wife Anita
and daughters Brianna and Tania, was a
civil-rights lawyer who became the San
Francisco city administrator before taking
over as mayor.
He was a staunch supporter of San
Francisco’s sanctuary city policy toward
immigrants, a stance he reiterated when a
Mexican man who had been repeatedly
deported was acquitted of murder in the
2015 killing of Kate Steinle.
The case became a flashpoint in the
nation’s immigration debate, with
then-candidate Donald Trump repeatedly
referencing it as an example of the need for
stricter immigration policies and a wall
along the Mexican border.
Flags were lowered at City Hall. The last
mayor to die in office was George Moscone,
who was murdered by a disgruntled
former Board of Supervisors member in
1978, leading to the ascension of
then-Board of Supervisors president
Dianne Feinstein to mayor. Feinstein is
now California’s senior U.S. senator.
Lee’s death now will likely upend the
race to replace him, which had been
scheduled for 2019. Former state senator
Mark Leno, a one-time member of the
Board of Supervisors and longtime
political figure, has already announced his
candidacy.
Summer Run
ARGO, N.D. — He has been the
middleman in North Dakota’s
refugee resettlement program for
nearly three decades, helping thousands of
refugees and other immigrants navigate
their journey to U.S. citizenship. Now Tri
Phan wants to see their native countries,
such as Nepal, Bhutan, and Sierra Leon.
Phan — himself a former refugee who
spent three years in a North Vietnamese
prison camp after serving as a tank
commander for the South Vietnamese
military — has been a longtime adviser for
newcomers from dozens of countries. He is
retiring from Lutheran Social Services in
Fargo, which is North Dakota’s lone
resettlement agency.
“I would love to travel,” said Phan, who
is moving to California with his wife to be
close to their three grown children and
their grandchildren. “It would be
interesting to visit these places I have
heard so much about.”
As a proportion of its population, the
Fargo area takes in more refugees than
most American cities. Phan arrived in
North Dakota in the early 1990s, when the
state was experiencing an influx of
refugees from Southeast Asia. He began
working as a bilingual case manager at
Lutheran Social Services before working
his way up to supervisor of immigration
services.
“Tri Phan, he came here as a refugee,”
said Mariam Bassoma, a one-time refugee
and one of Phan’s co-workers. “For the
longest time he worked two jobs. He never
complains and he never gets tired. He just
makes you feel like you can do it too.”
Shirley Dykshoorn, a Lutheran Social
Services vice president, figures Phan
handled an average of 500 to 600 cases a
year. That adds up to about 14,000 people
he assisted with processing, technical
assistance, counselling, and testing for
citizenship.
Phan helped Abdiwali Sharif-Abdinasir
move to North Dakota from Somalia in
2004, several years after his first
application was filed. Later, after
Sharif-Abdinasir travelled to Kenya to get
married, Phan managed the process for
Sharif-Abdinasir’s wife, who was granted
a visa after about 14 months.
“I would give Tri Phan a hard time,”
Sharif-Abdinasir said, adding that he
would ask Phan, “‘When is she coming?’”
“He was really patient with me. I think
the city of Fargo should give him an award
because of how many refugees he has
helped bring here.”
Dykshoorn said managers tried to get
Phan to stop coming into the office on
weekends, to no avail. She said he saw
clients even if they didn’t have
appointments. He returned almost every
message left via e-mail, work phone, or
home phone. The only way he couldn’t be
reached was by cellphone, because he’s
never had one.
Phan, who turned 66 on Christmas, left
Dykshoorn a “to-do” list for his department
that stretches into 2019.
“He has taught everybody to fish, as the
parable goes,” Dykshoorn said. “Nobody is
going to be around forever, but he has
trained and mentored and helped lots of
people.”
Phan came to the U.S in 1990 to make a
better life for his family more than a
decade after his 1978 release from the
prison camp.
“There was a strong stigma against
people who served in the old Republic of
Vietnam and there were many job and
work opportunities that would have been
barred from myself and even my children if
I had stayed there,” Phan said.
Phan said his experience at the prison
camp taught him to appreciate life and
make the most of his opportunities.
Sentenced to three years of hard labor and
lucky to get one cup of rice per day to eat,
his weight fell from 140 pounds down to
100 by the time he was released. His
mother didn’t recognize him.
“I almost died. Now I feel alive,” he said.
“Regardless of what happened in your life,
you need to be strong and accept it. Deal
with it. The opportunity is right here.”
California political trailblazer March Fong Eu dies at 95
IRVINE, Calif. (AP) — March Fong Eu,
California’s first female secretary of state
and former ambassador to Micronesia,
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HELPING HAND. Tri Phan, right, poses with
fellow Lutheran Social Services staff members
Abdiwali Sharif-Abdinasir and Mariam Bassoma,
at the agency’s refugee resettlement office in Fargo,
North Dakota. They are holding a poster Phan received
when he was honored with the organization’s first-ever
Dove Award for his dedication and outstanding ser-
vice. Phan, 66, worked for the resettlement program
for nearly three decades. (AP Photo/Dave Kolpack)
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died December 21 at the age of 95.
Longtime
spokeswoman
Caren
Lagomarsino said Eu died in Irvine,
California, from complications following a
fall and subsequent surgery.
Eu was a trailblazer for women and
Chinese Americans. She served in the
state
assembly
before
becoming
California’s chief elections officer in 1975.
She held that position until 1994 when
President Bill Clinton named her
ambassador to the Pacific nation of
Micronesia.
Eu ushered in voter registration by mail
and campaigned successfully to ban pay
toilets in public buildings, saying that
urinals were free.
She was born March 29, 1922 to
immigrants Yuen Kong and Shiu Shee in
the central California town of Oakdale.
Her parents ran a hand laundry.