Ted Lieu: The Immigrant Colonel in the Party's Left Wing
Ted Lieu came from Taiwan at age three and served 25 years in the Air Force, retiring as a colonel. He is also one of the most reliably liberal members of the House and a backer of his party's immigration-expansion agenda.
- Origin
- Taiwan
- Pathway
- Family / chain
- Citizenship
- Naturalized citizen
- Religion
- Catholic
- Caucus
- Dem leadership
- First elected
- 2014
Key Findings
Ted Lieu was born Liú Yúnpíng (劉雲平) in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1969 and immigrated to the United States at age three. His family settled in Cleveland, Ohio, and started out selling goods at flea markets.
He served 25 years in the Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps and retired as a colonel in the Air Force Reserve in 2021. That service is real and is noted here plainly.
He represents California's 36th district on the west side of Los Angeles, which is about 24% foreign-born. He is vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus.
His voting record is well to the left. His DW-NOMINATE first-dimension score is −0.369 and his Heritage Action score is 5%. He belongs to the Progressive Caucus and cosponsored both the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.
Ted Lieu is the member of this series who complicates it, and the honest course is to say so. He is an immigrant who served his adopted country for 25 years in uniform and reached the rank of colonel. No account of his record can wave that away, and this one does not. He is also a reliable vote for his party's left and for the immigration-expansion agenda the Nation of Settlers opposes. Both things are true.
Taipei to West Los Angeles
Lieu was born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1969 and came to the United States at three. His family settled in Cleveland and began with little, selling gifts at flea markets before opening a store.[1] He earned a law degree and joined the Air Force on active duty in 1995. He served four years on active duty and continued in the reserve, retiring as a colonel in 2021. His service included deployments and several commendations.[2]
He won a seat in the California legislature, then the House in 2014. He now serves as vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, part of his party's leadership.[1] His district covers Santa Monica and the west side of Los Angeles and is about 24% foreign-born.[3]
The record
Lieu votes with the left. His DW-NOMINATE first-dimension score is −0.369, and his Heritage Action score is 5%.[4][5] He is a member of the Progressive Caucus. He cosponsored the Green New Deal and the Medicare for All Act.[6] He is also one of the most prolific critics of the Trump administration in Congress, with a large following built on near-daily commentary.
Immigration
On immigration, Lieu's record is mainstream within his party rather than radical, and that distinction is worth keeping. He has not authored a bill to abolish ICE or to decriminalize illegal entry. His positions run to protecting recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and to civil-liberties measures, such as requiring a warrant for device searches at the border.
When the first Trump administration moved to end DACA in 2017, Lieu called the decision "cowardly" and said that "deporting hundreds of thousands of Asians and Latinos" who were brought to the country as children was "not only cruel, it will hurt our economy."[7] The framing is the standard one on the left: enforcement as cruelty, immigration as economic necessity. It places him with the expansion wing of his party, even if he has avoided its furthest slogans.
The colonel's mainstream vote
Lieu spent 25 years in the Air Force JAG Corps and retired a colonel. Nothing in his voting record erases that, and this account does not try. His immigration positions are the mainstream of his party rather than its edge. He has authored no bill to abolish ICE or decriminalize illegal entry. He defends DACA recipients and warrant requirements at the border, and he called the 2017 move to end DACA "cowardly."
The rest of his record sits well to the left, with the Progressive Caucus, the Green New Deal, and Medicare for All. On immigration specifically, he backs the DACA-protection and high-inflow agenda the Nation of Settlers opposes, framing enforcement as cruelty and immigration as economic need. California's 36th, about 24% foreign-born, elected a decorated veteran who is also a dependable vote for keeping legal immigration high. His service earns that argument a direct answer, not a caricature.
Sources
- Congressman Ted Lieu, full biography, U.S. House of Representatives - born in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1969; immigrated at age three; raised in Cleveland; vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus
- Office of Rep. Ted Lieu, "Rep. Ted Lieu promoted to Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves" - 25 years in the Air Force JAG Corps; colonel; retired 2021
- Data USA, Congressional District 36, California (American Community Survey) - about 24% foreign-born
- DW-NOMINATE first-dimension scores, voteview.com - Ted Lieu −0.369
- Heritage Action Scorecard, 118th Congress - Ted Lieu 5%
- Congress.gov, H.R. 1976 (Medicare for All) and H.Res. 109 (Green New Deal) cosponsors - Lieu as cosponsor; Progressive Caucus membership
- Office of Rep. Ted Lieu, statement on the termination of DACA - "cowardly"; "not only cruel, it will hurt our economy"