[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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    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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