The Indochinese Refugee: The Evolution of United States Policy

Abstract

Unfortunately, due to a variety of circumstances including the sudden demise of that government, very few of those selected were able to get out during the air-sea evacuation. In all, a total of nearly 130,000 evacuees were taken to temporary haven on Guam and Wake Island and later transferred to the processing centers located in California, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, and Florida. The resettlement process was undertaken following the traditional pattern by which the voluntary agencies were to find homes and jobs for the refugees with limited financial assistance from the government. The program of clearing the camps terminated on December 20, 1975 but the resettlement of these refugees still continues. During this, the governments of Cambodia and Laos also fell to the communists with the resultant flow of refugees into neighboring Thai? land. By December 1975 when the U.S. processing camps were closed, over 80,000 Indochinese refugees were located in camps throughout Thailand. Their situation has always been precarious as the Thais endeavored to maintain a stance of neutrality while at the same time they were granting a haven to nationals who fled the newly established home governments. The United States was under heavy pressure to admit additional refugees. The Thais, of course, were most anxious to have the refugees resettled outside Thailand. Following hearings by the House of Repre? sentatives Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and International Law the Attorney General in June 1976 authorized the admission of an