Sanchez's Comments About Vietnamese Denounced

Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez found herself in hot water this week after she said in a Spanish-language interview that “the Vietnamese” and Republicans were trying to take control of her seat.

Sanchez, who is up for reelection, was put on the defensive after her main opponent, Assemblyman Van Tran (R-Garden Grove), a Vietnamese American, jumped on the issue and called her statements “offensive” and “divisive.”

The tiff highlights the political dichotomy of central Orange County, where two big voting blocs are Latinos and Vietnamese.

In an interview last week on Univision, a nationally broadcast Spanish-language television network, Sanchez said in Spanish: “The Vietnamese and the Republicans are — with intensity — trying to take away this seat, this seat for which we have already done so much for our community. [Taking] this seat from us and [giving] it to this Van Tran, who’s very anti-immigrant and very anti-Hispanic.”

Her campaign released a statement saying Sanchez was referring to “those in the Vietnamese community who are supporting her opponent.”

Read more: (My-Thuan Tran, “Rival Denounces Rep. Sanchez’s Comments About Vietnamese,” Los Angeles Times, 09/25/10)