Only Indochinese with special ties will be admitted Since Saigon fell to the Communists in 1975, more than 1.2 million
people have fled Indochina, most of them risking perilous journeys
overseas in rickety fishing craft. Horrified by the plight of the boat
people, a number of countries in Asia and the West liberalized their
immigration policies to accommodate the flood of refugees. American
policy has been one of the most generous: as of March, 589,000 of the
homeless had been resettled in the U.S., compared with 593,000 for the
two dozen other nations accepting refugees. Last week, however,
Washington announced a more restrictive policy. Starting May 1, refugees will be eligible for resettlement only if they
have close relatives in the U.S., if they worked for the American
Government or pre-Communist regimes in their countries, or if they can
prove they are political dissidents. In an explanatory message to the
office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva,
the State Department argued that the U.S. does not have “an unlimited
capacity to absorb all of those who depart their homeland in
Indochina.” The decision to narrow the portal stems largely from a growing
antirefugee sentiment in Congress that has been fueled by popular
resentment of the boat people in the face of a declining U.S. economy
and shrinking social programs. The Administration hopes that under the
new policy those admitted will have marketable skills or relatives who
can provide aid, thus easing the burden that refugees impose on already
strapped welfare programs. Refugees are currently entitled to up to 36
months of public assistance. Last year 67% of Indochinese immigrants
were dependent on public funds; this year the figure rose to 71%. American generosity toward refugees in the past prompted charges that
the U.S. was cynically encouraging a brain drain from Viet Nam.
According to Derek Davies, editor of the Hong Kong-based influential
weekly Far Eastern Economic Review, the U.S. refugee program has acted
as a “pull factor,” bleeding Viet Nam of skilled workers. American
officials deny this. They point out that although many of the first
refugees were professionals and educated civil and military officials,
later boat people have been broadly representative. Said a U.S.
diplomat in Bangkok: “There are more than enough 'push factors'—forced
resettlement, political reeducation, collectivization—to account for
the refugee flow.” The U.S. action follows adoption of stricter refugee policies by Asian
countries. Thailand last year declared that Laotians and Vietnamese
would be considered illegal aliens instead of refugees and sent to
austere detention centers. Since the switch to this “humane deterrent”
policy, the number arriving in Thailand has been significantly cut.
