BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SJR 5
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Date of Hearing: June 23, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mark Stone, Chair
SJR
5 (Nguyen) - As Amended April 29, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 34-0
SUBJECT: VIETNAM: HUMANITARIAN RESETTLEMENT PROGRAM
KEY ISSUE: SHOULD THE LEGISLATURE URGE CONGRESS AND THE
PRESIDENT TO REAUTHORIZE A PROGRAM TO ALLOW DISABLED VETERANS OF
THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE ARMY AND THEIR FAMILIES CURRENTLY LIVING IN
VIETNAM TO APPLY TO ENTER AND RESETTLE IN THE UNITED STATES?
SYNOPSIS
During the Vietnam War, members 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 U.S.
military against communist forces based in northern Vietnam.
Following the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1975, thousands of
Vietnamese citizens who had maintained a close association with
the United States during the war were subject to human rights
abuses at the hands of the newly established Socialist Republic
of Vietnam. The repressive policies of the new government
prompted hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese citizens to attempt
to flee the country, often by boat. In response, the United
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Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the
government of Vietnam entered into a Memorandum of Understanding
in 1979 that established the Orderly Departure Program, which
created a safe, ordered, and legal means for refugees to leave
Vietnam and migrate directly to receiving countries, including
the United States, rather than making dangerous attempts to
escape the country. The Orderly Departure Program operated for
approximately 25 years before it was closed to new applications
in September of 1994.
In November 2005, the governments of the U.S. and Vietnam
established a bilateral humanitarian resettlement process called
the Humanitarian Resettlement Program (HRP). 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 (ODP), including (1)
former Vietnamese employees of the United States government
prior to April 30, 1975; (2) former Vietnamese employees of
private American companies and organizations prior to April 30,
1975; and (3) persons who had spent a certain number of years in
a re-education center as a result of their association with the
U.S. government. The HRP accepted applications for resettlement
from Vietnamese citizens over a two-year period that ended on
June 25, 2008, and is no longer in operation.
According to the author, there is a subset of disabled veterans
of the South Vietnamese Army who, because of their injuries, did
not spend sufficient time in re-education centers to make them
eligible for resettlement under the criteria of the HRP. These
disabled veterans served equally alongside other members of the
South Vietnamese army, all of whom showed commitment to the
United States during the war, and deserve the opportunity for
resettlement in the United States to better their lives and
escape potential persecution by the government of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam. Consequently, this measure would urge the
President and Congress to reauthorize the HRP that, once
re-established, would permit these disabled veterans of the
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South Vietnamese army and their families still living in Vietnam
to apply to enter the United States. This measure was approved
unanimously by the Senate and has no known opposition.
SUMMARY: Urges the federal government to permit humanitarian
resettlement of those disabled veterans of the South Vietnamese
Army who served alongside the U.S. military during the Vietnam
War. Specifically, this bill:
1)Declares that the Vietnamese-American community plays an
important role in the social, cultural, and economic landscape
of the State of California and the United States of America.
2)States that the United States government and the American
people have a commitment to assisting individuals who 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)Declares that 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)States that the Humanitarian Resettlement Program (HRP) and
the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) have allowed for the
resettlement to the United States of former reeducation 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.
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5)Finds that disabled veterans of the South Vietnamese Army have
suffered a lifetime of great challenges and discrimination,
but that some of these disabled veterans were excluded from
the HRP and the ODP because they were not detained in
reeducation camps for the requisite number of years due to
their physical disabilities.
6)Declares that promoting the HRP and the ODP to include
disabled veterans of the South Vietnamese Army, and their sons
and daughters, would rightfully bring these veterans and their
families into programs that, by their terms, excluded some
disabled veterans.
7)Urges the President and the Vice President of the United
States and the United States Congress to reauthorize the HRP
and the ODP 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.
EXISTING LAW provides, generally, for the regulation of
immigration exclusively by the federal government. (See LULAC
v. Wilson (C.D. Cal. 1995) 908 F. Supp. 755, 786-87.)
FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this measure is keyed
non-fiscal.
COMMENTS: This non-controversial measure urges the President
and the Vice President of the United States and the United
States Congress to reauthorize the HRP and the ODP, as described
below, 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.
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Author's Statement: According to the author:
For the past 40 years since the Fall of Saigon,
disabled veterans of the South Vietnamese Army have
been stranded in Vietnam under its communist
government. These disabled veterans were left
ineligible under the Humanitarian Resettlement Program
and the Orderly Departure Program, which allowed for
more than half a million Vietnamese and their families
to immigrate to the United States where they could
escape persecution. To be eligible for these
resettlement programs, Vietnamese were required to
have ties to the U.S. government during the war or
have spent time in re-education camps or as political
prisoners. Due to their injuries, this subset of
disabled veterans was ineligible because they didn't
spend the required length of time in re-education
centers of at least one year prior to April 30, 1975.
This resolution seeks to rectify a loophole that
unfortunately left out disabled veterans from
resettlement programs that safely and successfully
resettled hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese.
Background on migration of Vietnamese to the United States after
the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War, members 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 U.S. military against communist forces based in
northern Vietnam. Following the withdrawal of U.S. forces in
1975, thousands of Vietnamese citizens, including members of the
Qu[n Lñc ViÇt Nam CÙng Hòa and those who had maintained a close
association with the United States during the war, became
subject to human rights abuses at the hands of the newly
established Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The repressive
policies of the new government prompted hundreds of thousands of
Vietnamese citizens to flee the country, often involving
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clandestine and dangerous trips by sea vessel.
ODP established by the U.N. from 1979 to 1994. In order to help
control the exodus of migrants, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the government of Vietnam
entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in 1979 that
established the ODP. This multilateral program created a safe,
ordered, and legal means for refugees to leave Vietnam and
travel to receiving countries, rather than attempting to flee
the country by boat.
According to the UNHCR, "The Orderly Departure Program . . .
made it possible for Vietnamese to migrate directly from Vietnam
to the United States. Initially intended to benefit relatives
of Vietnamese refugees already in the United States and South
Vietnamese who had ties to the U.S. government, the U.S.
government later extended the ODP to Amerasians (Vietnamese
children of U.S. servicemen), and former political prisoners and
re-education camp detainees." (The State of the World's
Refugees 2000: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action. Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2000), p.
69.)
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. (See
Refugee Program: The Orderly Departure Program from Vietnam
(Apr. 1990), NSIAD-90-137 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. General
Accounting Office).) The ODP operated for approximately 25
years before it was closed to new applications in September
1994. According to the UNHCR, more than 500,000 Vietnamese
entered the U.S. under the ODP between 1979 and 1999. (The State
of the World's Refugees 2000: Fifty Years of Humanitarian
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Action, p. 69.)
HRP jointly established by U.S. and Vietnam from 2006 to 2008.
In November 2005, the governments of the U.S. and Vietnam
established a bilateral humanitarian resettlement process called
the HRP. 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.
government in Vietnam with five or more years of verified
employment between January 1, 1963 and April 30, 1975; (2)
direct-hire employees of private U.S. companies or organizations
with five or more years of verified employment between January
1, 1963 and April 30, 1975; or (3) certain individuals who spent
at least one year in a re-education center (but in some cases at
least three years) as a result of their close association with
the U.S. government prior to April 30, 1975. (See: Joint U.S. -
Vietnamese Announcement of Humanitarian Resettlement Program
(Nov. 15, 2005), U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public
Affairs.) It is because of the re-education center requirement
in this third criteria that some disabled veterans of the South
Vietnamese Army were deemed ineligible for resettlement under
the HRP.
The HRP accepted applications for resettlement from Vietnamese
citizens over a two-year period that ended on June 25, 2008.
The U.S. State Department estimated that it would resettle
approximately 1,000 individuals under this program, and that it
had resettled approximately 900,000 Vietnamese citizens to the
U.S. under various programs since 1975. (Fact Sheet: Refugee
Admissions Program for East Asia (Feb. 6, 2009), U.S. Department
of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.)
Experience of Vietnamese refugees in the U.S. According to the
UNHCR, many of the Vietnamese people arriving in the U.S. found
it difficult getting settled and starting over in their new
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country. Specifically, UNHCR found: "Former political prisoners
and re-education camp detainees arrived traumatized by their
experiences in Vietnam. (New arrivals) were also older than
most boat people or those who had arrived in 1975. It was more
difficult for them to find work, and what jobs they could find
were often not commensurate with their previous social position.
Together, these factors have made both their economic and
psychological adjustment harder. Overall, however, most of the
million-plus Vietnamese who resettled in the U.S.-and more
particularly the second-generation Vietnamese Americans-have
adapted well and today form an integral part of U.S. society."
This measure seeks federal reauthorization of the HRP, with
provisions to accommodate disabled Vietnamese veterans
previously excluded. According to the author, there is a subset
of disabled veterans of the Qu[n Lñc ViÇt Nam CÙng Hòa who,
because of the injuries they suffered, did not spend sufficient
time in re-education centers to make them eligible for
resettlement under criteria for the HRP. These disabled
veterans served equally alongside other members of the South
Vietnamese army, all of whom showed commitment to the United
States during the war. As a matter of fairness and equity,
these disabled veterans deserve the opportunity for resettlement
in the United States, to better their lives and escape potential
persecution by the government of the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam.
Unfortunately, the Humanitarian Resettlement Program has not
accepted applications since 2008 and is not actively being
administrated by the U.S. State Department. This measure would
urge the President and Congress to reauthorize the HRP that,
once re-established, would permit these disabled veterans of the
South Vietnamese army and their families still living in Vietnam
to apply to enter the United States.
Previous legislation: AJR 58 (Correa, 2004) would have urged,
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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), Res. Ch. 19, Stats. of 2003 urged the President
and Congress 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
died in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
ACR 23 (Maddox), Res. Ch. 70, Stats. of 2001, resolved that the
Legislature supports religious freedom for the people of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and recommended that 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.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
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American Legion, Department of California
AMVETS, Department of California
California Association of County Veterans Service Officers
California State Commanders Veterans Council
Military Officers Association of America, California Council of
Chapters
Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916)
319-2334
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