State Representative Tram T. Nguyen

By Camila Vasquez Onorato

For Representative Tram T. Nguyen, the protection of rights of the most vulnerable groups is an essential part of her career. Due to her life experiences, she has devoted her work to focusing on issues such as racial and economic justice and making sure bills are passed to protect these groups. However, some of these bills are outdated due to progressing times but she has made sure to go back and improve them to ensure protection for these victims.

            Tram Nguyen is the State Representative for the 18th Essex District, she is a first-generation Vietnamese American immigrant and was the first person in her family to graduate from college and law school. She spent her career as a legal service attorney working on racial and economic issues prior to being elected as a legislature. Representative Nguyen moved to Massachusetts with her family at the age of 5 as political refugees. Seeing what her family had to go through to give her and her sisters a better life inspired her to work towards looking at these issues.

            “It's about equity, fairness, and inclusion,” Representative Nguyen said. “I believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to have a good job and to provide for themselves and their loved ones to enjoy a fulfilling life.”

            Representative Nguyen expresses how important it is for policies to reflect these life experiences that the people of our commonwealth have been through. Which led her to work with so many policies that address criminal justice reforms, economic reforms, environmental justice, gender justice, racial justice and more.

            This led Representative Nguyen to file bill H.1818 which promotes safety for victims of violent crime and human trafficking.

            As an attorney, Representative Nguyen worked with many survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking, in which she saw how escaping these kinds of violence is extremely difficult but even more so when a victim is an immigrant.

            This bill requires a certifying agency to respond to a request within ninety days for a nonimmigrant status certification for victims of criminal activity who intend to petition for nonimmigrant visas. This law does not focus on the certification being denied but instead it is more about the certification not being ignored. Representative Nguyen wanted to make sure that there is a consistent process and equal treatment that will make the certification process dependable and fair. As a result of H.181, there has been an increase in public safety, and it encourages victims and witnesses to report crimes and cooperate with law enforcements which then can use this information to better crime and protect the public.

Representative Nguyen also sponsored bills H.1820, which protects sexual assault survivors, and H.1643, which improves protections for domestic violence.

            “A very important job now as a legislator is to listen,” said Representative Nguyen. “To listen to constituents’ and to the people of the commonwealth with these issues that they face.”

            Representative Nguyen firmly believes that these bills have a positive impact and can help change people’s lives. She partners with stakeholders that want to strengthen our laws and provide tools and resources to organizations and their victims who have been victimized by domestic violence, sexual assault, and other crimes.

            Regarding H.1643, Representative Nguyen wanted to clarify that there are also modern forms of abuse such as social media, computers, cell phones, and location trackers. She acknowledges that technology advances quickly and the laws don’t necessarily catch up with them as quickly, which is why she works for these laws to be improved and updated to ensure full protection for these victims.

            According to Representative Nguyen, when people think of domestic violence, they instantly think of physical violence, but it has been shown that emotional abuse affects people of all ages and gender as detrimental as physical and sexual violence. However, it is not being recognized properly in our lives so Representative Nguyen is looking to add course control in there as another way to add protection to victims.

            According to the humane society, researchers have found that 71% in 83 women reporting domestic violent charges recorded that their abusers have also abused or even killed their pets. As well as found that many victims and survivors end up staying in these abusive relationships to protect their pets.

            “I am a dog lover, I have multiple dogs and protection for pets is necessary,” said Representative Nguyen. “I just want to make sure this statute is caught up with the times.”

Representative Nguyen expressed her excitement about Maura Healy being the first gay woman elected as governor of Massachusetts and hopes to continue to partner with her on bills such as their bill that addresses crime and protection of workers’ rights.

“She really is someone who understands the values that we hold here,” said Representative Nguyen. “I look forward to continuing our partnership.”