L.A.’s Program For Torture Victims helps asylum-seekers adjust

For two decades, Rev. Nguyen Cong Chinh faced beating, harassment and imprisonment for his work advocating for ethnic Protestant groups unapproved by the communist government--like the Montagnards in the Central Highlands.

When the evangelical pastor was exiled in 2017, he brought his family to Southern California to seek asylum. 

“I picked Santa Ana because this is the capital of free Vietnamese,” Chinh said. "I wanted to come here because of the community here. But I also wanted to settle down and seek treatment for whatever condition I had."

Chinh sought treatment at Los Angeles' Program For Torture Victims (PTV), a rehabilitation center specifically for survivors of state-sponsored torture. 

All of PTV's clients are asylum-seeking, says clinical director Carol Gomez. 

"Our role at PTV is to help a person put the pieces back together," said Gomez. "Almost like a 'Star Trek' episode. You kind of beam yourself over to another country and all of the molecules settle, but then you’re in another country and you’re like 'what the heck?, I don’t even know how this place works.'"

The office, located in Koreatown, provides medical care, case management, trauma therapy and forensic evaluations, which can be a big support to an applicant's asylum case. Ninety percent of asylum-seekers who get these exams are granted asylum, compared to 43 percent overall.

Aaron Schrank covers religion, international affairs and the Southern California diaspora under a grant from the Luce Foundation.