The United State's Congress passes the Homecoming Act legislation to resettle the Amerasians and their family members in the United States. Amerasians are the children who were born in Vietnam during the Vietnam War to American soldiers and Vietnamese women. One estimate shows there are about 25,000 Vietnamese Amerasians. The Vietnam Buddhist Temple opened its door for service in Roslindale. The Vietnamese Catholic Community at St. Peter's Church in Dorchester celebrates mass in Vietnamese.
Catholics are a religious minority in Vietnam.
In the late 1980's, the United States and the Vietnam governments mutually agreed to resettle Vietnamese Political Detainees and their family members in the United States. After the War, Vietnamese Communists detained all ranking South Vietnamese officers and sent them to hard labor camps thoughout Vietnam. Their sentences were between a few months to 15 years. Many of them had sentences between 5 - 13 years. The Vietnamese community in Dorchester increases from 2,000 in 1980 to more than 10,000 primarily in the Fields Corner and Savin Hill area.