MONROE, Ga. (AP) – Anthony Pham immigrated to the United States in 1982 from Vietnam and became a citizen five years later, after President Ronald Reagan signed an immigration law that sped the legalization process for millions of new Americans.
Now a business owner and proud Republican in Georgia’s staunchly conservative 10th Congressional District, Pham says he supports maintaining legal status for young immigrants living in the United States illegally who were brought to the country as children.
“When they come here as children, they can become American citizens if they are good, not bad people,” Pham says of the 800,000 or so immigrants affected by President Donald Trump’s decision to phase out the Deferred Action for Children Program (DACA) put in place during the Obama administration.
Trump says he’s giving Congress six months to end the limbo status for these young immigrants. Yet Pham says that what Congress does – or doesn’t do – won’t change his support for the president or his congressman, outspoken conservative Jody Hice.
“I am Republican. I am with Mr. Trump,” Pham says, sitting in the courthouse square barbershop he’s owned in Walton County since 1993.