BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SJR 5
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SJR
5 (Nguyen)
As Amended April 29, 2015
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE: 34-0
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
|-------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------+-------------------------|
|Judiciary |9-0 |Mark Stone, Wagner, | |
| | |Alejo, Chau, Chiu, | |
| | |Cristina Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Maienschein, O'Donnell | |
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SUMMARY: Urges the federal government to permit humanitarian
resettlement of those disabled veterans of the South Vietnamese
Army who served alongside the United States (U.S.) military
during the Vietnam War. Specifically, this resolution:
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 U.S. government and the American people have a
commitment to assisting individuals who fought as allies in
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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 U.S. 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 U.S. of former reeducation center
detainees, former Vietnamese employees of the U.S. 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)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 U.S. and the
U.S. Congress to reauthorize the HRP and the ODP to allow
disabled veterans of the South Vietnamese Army and their
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families currently living in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
to apply to enter the U.S.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS: This non-controversial measure urges the President
and the Vice President of the U.S. and the U.S. 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 U.S. According to the author, "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 U.S. 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, particularly those who had
maintained a close association with the U.S. 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
clandestine and dangerous trips by sea vessel.
ODP established by the United Nations 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
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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 U.S. 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.
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)
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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.)
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 U.S.
during the war. As a matter of fairness and equity, these
disabled veterans deserve the opportunity for resettlement in
the U.S., to better their lives and escape potential persecution
by the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
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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 U.S.
Analysis Prepared by:
Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN: 0001058