Refugee Family Remembers Fall Of Saigon

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, April 30, 2025…

• The Vietnam War ended 50 years ago when American troops pulled out of Saigon. And for hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese who fled and resettled in California, April 30 is a significant day. One Southern California family sees it as a day of loss but also, a day of rebirth. 
• A bill that would have lowered the state rent cap won’t be moving forward this year, after its sponsors pulled it this week.
• A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction to stop Border Patrol agents from making immigration arrests in the Central Valley without a warrant or probable cause that the person will escape before a warrant can be obtained.

For One Vietnamese Refugee Family, April 30 Signifies A Day Of Loss And Rebirth

Standing over a gas burner in his outdoor kitchen in South Pasadena, Hong Pham toasted an onion and a whole ginger root until they were smoky and black. Every Vietnamese household needs a kitchen in their backyard or garage to do the “smelly cooking,” he joked, emphasizing that charring the aromatics is key to enhancing the flavor of miến gà, a Vietnamese chicken and glass noodle soup. The dish is comfort in a bowl — and special to Hong and his family, who are among the diaspora of people who fled Vietnam after the war ended a half century ago and settled in places like California. Miến gà was one of the first homemade meals his family had together after reuniting at a refugee camp.

Hong shares a story his father, Tung, told him about the soup’s connection to April 30, the day Saigon fell to communist forces, and his life began to unravel. Because he had served in the South Vietnamese Army, Tung was sent to a Viet Cong re-education camp as punishment for supporting the Americans’ war effort. He endured three years of starvation and hard labor, separated from his family.

When he got out, Tung tried to make a living as a teacher, but he barely scraped by. In March 1980, he decided to escape, joining the exodus of Vietnamese refugees who fled their homeland by boat. Because he could only afford three spots on an overcrowded fishing boat, Tung took his two eldest kids — Hong, who was almost 6 at the time, and his 9-year-old sister, Tam — and left behind his pregnant wife, Ly, and another daughter, Hong Ngoc, who was barely 2. “My mom and dad were OK with splitting up the family, even though they had no idea when — how — at what point in the future, if ever, they would see each other again,” Hong said. “For them to make that decision [when they were] in their 30s was unimaginable to me.”

Vietnamese refugees consider April 30 a day of mourning. They call it “Black April” because it was the day they lost their country. But for the Phams, it was also a day of rebirth. “So many people were lost at sea … so for our family to be able to reunite like that was really a miracle,” Hong said.

Bill That Would Cap Rent Pulled From Assembly

A bill aimed at strengthening renter protections in California has been pulled from consideration for this year.

Assembly Bill 1157, authored by San Jose Assemblymember Ash Kalra, would have capped rent increases at 5% annually, down from the current maximum of 10%. It would have also extended tenant protections to all single-family homes. But Kalra said he pulled the bill, saying more work is needed to work on the legislation. He said he plans to re-introduce a new version of the bill next year.

Critics have warned the bill could make the housing crisis worse by discouraging production.

Judge Restricts Border Patrol In California

A federal court on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction forbidding the Border Patrol from conducting warrantless immigration stops throughout a wide swath of California.

The ruling came in response to an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed after the El Centro Border Patrol traveled to Kern County to conduct a three-day sweep in January, detaining day laborers, farm workers and others in a Home Depot parking lot, outside a convenience store and along a highway between orchards.

The ruling prohibits Border Patrol agents from taking similar actions, restricting them from stopping people unless they have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in violation of U.S. immigration law. It also bars agents from carrying out warrantless arrests unless they have probable cause that the person is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.

The ACLU filed suit on behalf of United Farm Workers, arguing that the stops violated the Fourth Amendment. The judge has not decided on the totality of the case, but on Tuesday granted the ACLU’s motion to stop the Border Patrol from conducting similar operations while the case moved through the courts. The injunction is in effect in the jurisdiction of California’s Eastern District, which spans the Central Valley from Redding to Bakersfield.