From: mdo@socrates.umd.edu ("Mike T. Do")
Subject: [NEWS] U.S. Cracks Down On Phony Amerasians
Content-Type: MULTIPART/MIXED; BOUNDARY="308100-1191366030-722558584:#1189"
Mime-Version: 1.0
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Date: 23 Nov 92 22:42:39 GMT

--308100-1191366030-722558584:#1189
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

--308100-1191366030-722558584:#1189
Content-Type: APPLICATION/octet-stream; name=amerasian
Content-ID: <Pine.3.05.9211231704.A1189@socrates.umd.edu>
Content-Description:

U.S. CRACKS DOWN ON PHONY AMERASIANS
From New York Post (11/20/92)
By Mark Mooney

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam - American officials processing applications by
Vietnamese claiming to be the Amerasian children of U.S. servicemen believe the
majority of people approved for entry to the United States faked their American
ancestry.
    But the fate of Amerasian children was such an emotional issue in the late
1980s that "anyone with peculiar features was accepted," said once American who
has processed the applicants for several years.
    "I estimate that as many as 80 percent of the people in the Amerasian
program weren't" what they claimed to be, the offical added.
    Two others involved in the program nodded in agreement.
    Several American officials in Ho Chi Minh City and Bangkok, Thailand,
speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there has been a surge in Amerasianapplication over the past year as the two countries move toward normalizing
relations - and possibly ending the special entry program.
    "More and more people are claiming to be Amerasians.  They perceive a need
to get in under the wire," a senior American official said.
    U.S. officials have tried to tighten the guidelines defining Amerasians, butthat has been dificult because of the wide interpretation allowed until now.
    They are also faced with an increase in attempts by Vietnamese to change
their features to look American.
    "They bleach their skin, add freckles, get surgery on their noses and eyes,"an official said.
     A Westernized nose job costs about $100 and is usually financed by a
relative already in the states.
    Less drastic measures to make Vietnamese look like they have American blood
including staying indoors for weeks prior to an interview so they will have
pale skin or even opening their eyes as wide as possible during the interview
so they appear rounder.
    It is sometime easier to determine if a person is the offspring of a black
American - but dark skin may also be the result of intermarriage with
Cambodians or hill-tribe-people.
    Officials said dark skinned Vietnamese have been known to perm their hair
in an attempt to pass for the child of a black GI.  The test, officials said,
is to look at the smallest hairs on the neck to see if they are straight.
    Emotions run very high during the crucial interviews.  A hand-held metal
detector for weapons is kept on hand at the entrance to the second-floor office
where the interviews are held.
    One interview illustrated how the Americans are trying to toughen up their
admitting procedures.
    A U.S. official escorted a Vietnamese woman into a barren office where a
ranking American looked at the young woman for about two seconds.
    She stood there, her mouth open in a pose of fear and hope, exposing a
missing front tooth.
    "No," the official said as he looked down at paperwork.  "Go," said the
escort, who quickly spun the woman out of the room.
    "You cannot look long," the official explained.  "You must stay objective.
I say no about 10 times a day."
    And they don't always go so calmly.
    "They throw themselves all over you and sob and weep.  They beg," the
official said.  "It can keep you awake at night and it often does."


--308100-1191366030-722558584:#1189--