IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1331 

Recognizing and appreciating the historical significance and the heroic struggle and sacrifice of the Vietnamese people for the cause of freedom 

and commending the Vietnamese-American community and nongovernmental organizations. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 5, 2010 

Mr. CAO submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing and appreciating the historical significance and 

the heroic struggle and sacrifice of the Vietnamese people 

for the cause of freedom and commending the Vietnamese-American community and nongovernmental organizations. 

Whereas citizens of the Republic of Vietnam valiantly fought, 

with the support of the United States and other allies, 

to defend freedom and democracy for over two decades 

before Communist forces broke the Paris Peace Accord 

by invading South Vietnam and establishing a totalitarian regime throughout the country; 

Whereas after the Communist takeover on April 30, 1975, 

over 1,000,000 former soldiers and civil servants of the 

Republic of Vietnam were sent to hundreds of ‘‘re-eduVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:55 May 05, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1331.IH HR1331

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cation’’ camps, where tens of thousands died of forced 

labor, starvation, torture, diseases, or summary execution; 

Whereas in the final days of the Vietnam War, the United 

States 7th Fleet rescued and brought to freedom 130,000 

evacuees who, after a brief stay in Guam, became the 

first Vietnamese refugees resettled in the United States; 

Whereas according to the United Nations High Commissioner 

for Refugees, 840,000 Vietnamese subsequently fled the 

country by boat and arrived as refugees in Indonesia, 

Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong 

Kong, and Brunei, and tens of thousands of Vietnamese 

refugees crossed Cambodia and Laos to reach Thailand; 

Whereas from this mass exodus, which came to be known to 

the world as the Vietnamese boat people saga, over 

755,000 of these refugees resettled in the United States, 

Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hong 

Kong, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and many 

other countries, and over 81,000 were deported to Vietnam; 

Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that over 250,000 boat people died at sea 

as a result of storms, illness, and starvation, as well as 

kidnappings and killings by pirates; 

Whereas hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees and 

immigrants subsequently arrived in the United States 

under programs such as Humanitarian Operation (HO), 

Humanitarian Resettlement (HR), U11, V11, McCainDavis Amendment, Priority One In-Country Refugee Program (P1), Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese Returnees, and Amerasian Homecoming Act; 


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Whereas Catholic Charities, the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, and many nongovernmental organizations assisted Vietnamese refugees to resettle in the 

United States; 

Whereas generous United States families, churches, and organizations helped sponsor the newly arrived refugees to 

establish new lives in the Nation; 

Whereas the Vietnamese-American community, non-existent 

35 years ago and now making up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and the fourth largest Asian-American 

group in the United States, has contributed significantly 

to all aspects of life and society in the United States, including business, engineering, science, law, academia, 

medicine, engineering, arts, media, military, civil service, 

and community service; 

Whereas Vietnamese-Americans have been recognized to be 

among the most politically assimilated citizens in the 

United States and have produced many candidates running for public office and winning seats on local governing bodies and school boards, in State legislatures in 

California and Texas, and in the United States Congress; 

Whereas Vietnamese-Americans are a highly upwardly mobile 

group, ranking among the most successful socioeconomic 

groups in the United States, pursuing many different careers and owning numerous businesses; 

Whereas by 2006, 72 percent of Vietnamese-Americans were 

naturalized United States citizens, the highest rate 

among all Asian-American groups; 

Whereas refugees advocacy nongovernmental organizations 

such as BPSOS, Hong Bang, Inc., World Vision, and 


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others provided direct relief care and assistance to refugees in temporary asylum camps; 

Whereas founded in 1980 by boat people to rescue and bring 

other boat people to freedom, Boat People SOS (BPSOS) 

conducted rescue-at-sea missions, rescuing over 3,300 

boat people in the South China Sea and in the 1990s 

successfully advocated for humanitarian resettlement of 

18,000 former boat people after repatriation to Communist Vietnam; 

Whereas since 1997, BPSOS has built capacity for local Vietnamese-American communities across the United States 

to achieve self-reliance, served tens of thousands new refugees and immigrants, and when Hurricane Katrina and 

Hurricane Ike devastated the Gulf Coast and left thousands of families and individuals homeless, traumatized, 

and dispirited, BPSOS acted as First Responder, coordinating relief efforts and assisting over 4,000 families rebuild their lives; 

Whereas BPSOS has effectively fought human trafficking in 

Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and the United States, including 

making significant contributions to the investigation and 

successful prosecution of the American Samoa case, the 

largest labor trafficking case in United States history; 

Whereas the year 2010 marks BPSOS’ 30 years of service 

to individuals and communities in crisis and 35 years of 

the Vietnamese-American history, and in 2010, BPSOS 

launched its 30/35 national public education and awareness campaign to showcase every development phase of 

the history of the Vietnamese-American community; 

Whereas Congress has designated every May as Asian/Pacific 

American Heritage Month to pay tribute to the generaVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:55 May 05, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1331.IH HR1331

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tions of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched 

history in the United States and are instrumental in its 

future success; and 

Whereas BPSOS will sponsor a ceremony on May 18, 2010, 

which will be held at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, DC, to document the heroic journey to freedom 

of over 1,000,000 Vietnamese refugees and immigrants, 

their Vietnamese-American experiences, inspiring stories 

of survival and resurrection from the demise of their 

country, and their astonishing achievements in their new 

homeland, and to honor the generosity as well as inspiring values of the United States that welcomed the Vietnamese boat people: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes all former Vietnamese boat peo3 ple and the Vietnamese-American community in gen4 eral on the occasion of Asian/Pacific American Her5 itage Month; 

6 (2) recognizes the arrival of the Vietnamese 

7 boat people to the United States, their inspiring 

8 journey to freedom, and their successful assimilation 

9 into and admirable contributions to United States 

10 society; and 

11 (3) recognizes Boat People SOS and other vol12 unteer agencies and nongovernmental organizations 

13 that facilitated the resettlement, adjustment, and asVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:55 May 05, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR1331.IH HR1331

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1 similation of Vietnamese refugees into United States 

2 society. 

Æ 


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