Vietnamese refugee Ngoc Thach is a proud Sioux Falls business leader

Here in South Dakota, the debate over immigrants and refugees sometimes feels far removed from our daily life. Some folks are probably wondering why they should spare a thought for refugees, or care whether our president raises or lowers the cap on resettlements. 

Those same people might be surprised to learn that I’m a refugee. I was raised in Sioux Falls, where I’m a business owner, and although I’ve lived in South Dakota for three decades, I was born in Vietnam. I came to this country as a baby when my parents fled persecution through the Amerasian Homecoming Act. 

We were mixed-race: my grandmother was a savvy Bien Hoa businesswoman who had my father with an American stationed in Vietnam that died after slipping below the wheels of a tank. After the war, my father was victimized for his association with the United States, and the Amerasian Homecoming Act granted us the rights of refugees. More importantly, it gave us the hope of calling America our permanent home.  

My mom loved the arts, but took work as a hotel housekeeper while my dad put in long shifts at a meat-processing plant. They took pride in paying their way and avoided government handouts, always working to contribute rather than to take. I credit my own success to their example—and to my grandmother’s toughness and entrepreneurialism. 

I grew up knowing that their sacrifice was an investment I could not return. I worked hard in school and won a full scholarship to study journalism at the University of South Dakota, where I edited the student newspaper. Before I was due to graduate, my mother suffered a heart attack and I left college to support her. I took any work I could find, from managing a restaurant to working in a law firm. At one point I was waiting tables in one restaurant, managing another, and mixing drinks at a third, putting in 20-hour days to pay a mortgage and utilities.