[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1331 Introduced in House (IH)]
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.
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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-education'' 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, McCain-Davis
Amendment, Priority One In-Country Refugee Program (P1), Resettlement
Opportunity for Vietnamese Returnees, and Amerasian Homecoming Act;
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 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 generations 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
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) recognizes all former Vietnamese boat people and the
Vietnamese-American community in general on the occasion of
Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month;
(2) recognizes the arrival of the Vietnamese boat people to
the United States, their inspiring journey to freedom, and
their successful assimilation into and admirable contributions
to United States society; and
(3) recognizes Boat People SOS and other volunteer agencies
and nongovernmental organizations that facilitated the
resettlement, adjustment, and assimilation of Vietnamese
refugees into United States society.
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