[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 65 (Thursday, April 30, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4978-S4979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 123--EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR DESIGNATION OF MAY 2, 
                  2009, AS ``VIETNAMESE REFUGEES DAY''

  Mr. WEBB submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 
agreed to:

                              S. Res. 123

       Whereas the Library of Congress' Asian Division together 
     with many Vietnamese-American organizations across the United 
     States will sponsor a ``Journey to Freedom: A Boat People 
     Retrospective'' symposium on May 2, 2009;
       Whereas Vietnamese refugees were asylum-seekers from 
     Communist-controlled Vietnam;
       Whereas many Vietnamese escaped in boats during the late 
     1970s, after the Vietnam War and by land across the 
     Cambodian, Laotian, and Thai borders into refugee camps in 
     Thailand;
       Whereas over 2,000,000 Vietnamese boat people and other 
     refugees are now spread across the world, in the United 
     States, Australia, Canada, France, England, Germany, China, 
     Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, the Philippines, and other 
     nations;
       Whereas over half of all overseas Vietnamese are 
     Vietnamese-Americans, and Vietnamese-Americans are the 
     fourth-largest Asian American group in the United States;
       Whereas, as of 2006, 72 percent of Vietnamese-Americans 
     were naturalized United States citizens, the highest rate 
     among all Asian groups;
       Whereas Vietnamese-Americans have made significant 
     contributions to the rich culture and economic prosperity of 
     the United States;
       Whereas Vietnamese-Americans have distinguished themselves 
     in the fields of literature, the arts, science, and 
     athletics, and include actors and actresses, physicists, an 
     astronaut, and Olympic athletes; and
       Whereas May 2, 2009, would be an appropriate day to 
     designate as ``Vietnamese Refugees Day'': Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate supports the designation of 
     ``Vietnamese Refugees Day'' in order to commemorate the 
     arrival of Vietnamese refugees in the United States, to 
     document their harrowing experiences, and subsequent 
     achievements in their new homeland, to honor the host 
     countries that welcomed the boat people, and to recognize the 
     voluntary agencies and nongovernmental organizations that 
     facilitated their resettlement, adjustment, and assimilation 
     into mainstream society in the United States.

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