Nam Loc Nguyen became the Orange County citizenship ambassador a year ago, and since then says he has made much progress in reaching more groups and organizations to help folks learn about the citizenship process.
With 40-plus years of experience as the director of the Immigration and Refugee Department of Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles under his belt, Nguyen said helping immigrants is not new to him.
Nguyen was selected as the Orange County ambassador for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) last July through the Citizenship Ambassadors Initiative. The federal program partners with community leaders who promote citizenship through their own immigrant experiences to make a personal connection to the permanent residents who may be eligible to apply for naturalization and who otherwise may not have access to or knowledge of the process.
One of eight citizenship ambassadors, Nguyen has worked alongside other ambassadors in Boston, Miami and Minneapolis, among others.
“This is the first time the USCIS has created a position so that someone familiar with the communities can, one, encourage people to apply for citizenship, and two, try to explain to them the regulations, answer questions, provide supportive services, materials and speaking engagements,” Nguyen said, adding that he also teaches people how to avoid possible scams. “We were trained by USCIS to conduct the role of ambassador as the person to reach out to the minority community and your own community because we have different ethnic groups and speak different languages.”
Nguyen said he wears several different hats, and that can be both a challenge and a blessing. He is a citizenship ambassador, an active refugee and community activist, as well as a professional emcee who hosts various affairs from community events to entertainment. Often his various roles intersect, he said, for example while working at a social event, people might question him about…
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