BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SJR 5|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SJR 5
Author: Nguyen (R), et al.
Amended: 4/22/15
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 6-0, 4/14/15
AYES: Jackson, Vidak, Anderson, Leno, Monning, Wieckowski
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hertzberg
SUBJECT: Vietnam: humanitarian resettlement
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This resolution urges the President and Vice President
of the United States and the United States Congress to
reauthorize the Humanitarian Resettlement Program and the
Orderly Departure Program to allow disabled veterans of the
South Vietnamese Army currently living in the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam to enter the United States.
ANALYSIS: This resolution makes the following legislative
findings:
1)The Vietnamese-American community plays an important role in
the social, cultural, and economic landscape of the State of
California and the United States.
2)The United States government and the American people have a
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commitment to assisting individuals that fought as allies in
the Vietnam War and continue to face persecution and threats
from the Communist government of the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam.
3)The veterans of the South Vietnamese Army, also known as the
Qu[n Lñc ViÇt Nam CÙng Hòa, showed their commitment to the
United States by fighting alongside the United States Armed
Forces during the Vietnam War.
4)The Humanitarian Resettlement Program and the Orderly
Departure Program, have allowed for the resettlement to the
United States of former re-education center detainees, former
Vietnamese employees of the United States government, and
former Vietnamese employees of private American companies and
organizations prior to April 30, 1975, and from 1997 to 2009,
inclusive, sons and daughters of former Vietnamese were
included in what became known as the McCain Amendment.
5)Disabled veterans of the South Vietnamese Army have suffered a
lifetime of great challenges and discrimination. Yet, some
disabled veterans were excluded from the Humanitarian
Resettlement Program and the Orderly Departure Program because
they were not detained in re-education camps for the requisite
number of years due to their physical disabilities.
6)April 30, 2015, marks the 40th year since the Fall of Saigon.
7)Promoting the Humanitarian Resettlement Program and the
Orderly Departure Program to include disabled veterans of the
South Vietnamese Army, also known as the Qu[n Lñc ViÇt Nam
CÙng Hòa, and their sons and daughters, would rightfully bring
these veterans and their families into programs that, by their
terms, excluded some disabled vete8)rans.
This resolution urges the President and Vice President of the
United States and the United States Congress to reauthorize the
Humanitarian Resettlement Program and the Orderly Departure
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Program to allow disabled veterans of the South Vietnamese Army
and their families currently living in the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam to apply to enter the United States.
Background
Following the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from
Vietnam in 1975, thousands of Vietnamese citizens who had
maintained a close association with the United States during the
war became subject to human rights abuses at the hands of the
Vietnamese government. The punitive policies of Vietnamese
officials prompted hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese citizens
to flee the country, often by perilous trips across open ocean
in small boats. In order to help control the exodus of
migrants, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and
the government of Vietnam entered into a Memorandum of
Understanding in 1979 that established the Orderly Departure
Program. This multilateral program created a safe, ordered, and
legal means for refugees to leave Vietnam and travel to
receiving countries, rather than escape clandestinely by boat.
Under the program, Vietnamese citizens were deemed eligible for
entry into the United States if they fell within any of these
three categories: (1) applicants with family members of persons
already in the U.S.; (2) applicants who are former employees of
the U.S. government; or (3) applicants closely associated or
identified with the U.S. presence in Vietnam before 1975.
(Refugee Program: The Orderly Departure Program from Vietnam
(Apr. 1990), NSIAD-90-137 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. General
Accounting Office).) The Orderly Departure Program operated for
approximately 25 years before it was closed to new applications
in September 1994.
In November 2005, the governments of the U.S. and Vietnam
established a bilateral humanitarian resettlement process called
the Humanitarian Resettlement Program. This program established
three categories of eligibility for resettlement of Vietnamese
citizens who may have been eligible for resettlement under the
earlier Orderly Departure Program: (1) direct-hire employees of
the U.S. with five or more years of verified employment; (2)
direct-hire employees of private U.S. companies or organizations
with five or more years of verified employment; or (3) certain
individuals who spent at least one year in a re-education center
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as a result of their close association with the U.S. government
prior to April 30, 1975. (Joint U.S. - Vietnamese Announcement
of Humanitarian Resettlement Program (Nov. 15, 2005), U.S.
Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs
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prior to April 30, 1975. Due to their disabled status, these
veterans did not spend the same length of time in re-education
centers, but they have continued to live under political
persecution while suffering basic human rights violations by
the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the past 40 years.
This bill seeks to correct an oversight by including a group
of political refugees into a federal resettlement program that
has successfully resettled more than one million Vietnamese to
the United States over the past forty years, with
approximately 580,000 Vietnamese Americans living in
California.
Related/Prior Legislation
AJR 58 (Correa, 2004) would have urged, among other things, that
the Vietnamese government respect the right of all independent
religious organizations to meet, worship, operate, and practice
their faith in accordance with Vietnam's own constitution and
international covenants to which Vietnam is a signatory and to
restore freedom to all Vietnamese citizens imprisoned or under
house arrest for practicing their faith or for advocating
freedom of religion. The resolution died in the Senate Rules
Committee.
SJR 13 (Florez, Resolution Chapter 19, Statutes of 2003) urged
the President and the Congress of the United States to amend
federal selective service and immigration laws to grant the
right of citizenship to any and all immigrants who honorably
serve in the military.
AB 537 (Correa, 2003) would have revived, under certain
circumstances, causes of action against an employer for unpaid
wages or benefits earned in the former country of South Vietnam
if the cause of action had been accrued by April 1975. The bill
was set for hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but the
hearing was cancelled at the request of the author.
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ACR 23 (Maddox, Resolution Chapter 70, Statutes of 2001)
resolved that the Legislature of the State of California
supports religious freedom for the people of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam, and recommended that the United States
Congress demand that the government of that country release all
religious prisoners, and immediately cease harassment,
detention, physical abuse, and imprisonment based on the
exercise of religion.
AJR 29 (Maddox, 1999) would have stated that California does not
support the normalization of trade with the Communist government
of Vietnam and urged the United States Senate to reject any
upcoming treaty until human rights are restored in Vietnam. The
resolution failed adoption in the Senate Rules Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified4/14/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified4/14/15)
None received
Prepared by:Tobias Halvarson / JUD. / (916) 651-4113
4/22/15 16:20:32
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