Immigrant of the Day: Tammy Duckworth (Thailand), U.S. Congress, Vet
A member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tammy Duckworth is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Illinois’s 8th congressional district since 2013. A Democrat, she is the first Asian American woman elected to Congress in Illinois, the first disabled woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the first member of Congress born in Thailand.
Duckworth’s father, an American, and her Thai Chinese mother, were working and living in Thailand when she was born. She grew up and studied languages in several places in Asia, and graduated from high school and university in Hawaii. She later studied in Washington, D.C. and Illinois. While a student, she joined the U.S. Army Reserve and trained as a helicopter pilot.
Duckworth has served as Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and as the Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.
An Iraq War veteran, Duckworth served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot and suffered severe combat wounds, losing both of her legs and damaging her right arm. She was the first female double amputee from the war. Duckworth continued to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard.
Duckworth retired from the army in October 2014, and was reelected to Congress in November. She is a supporter of immigration reform. See Duckworth’s position on immigration reform on her congressional website.
Duckworth is running for the U.S. Senate in 2016.
Duckworth really is not an “immigrant” as a technical matter. Her father ws an American and presumably she was a U.S. citizen at birth.
KJ