Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act
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| Long title | An Act to enable the United States to render assistance to, or in behalf of, certain migrants and refugees. |
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| Nicknames | Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975 |
| Enacted by | the 94th United States Congress |
| Effective | May 23, 1975 |
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| Public law | 94-23 |
| Statutes at Large | 89 Stat. 87 |
| Codification | |
| Titles amended | 22 U.S.C.: Foreign Relations and Intercourse |
| U.S.C. sections amended | 22 U.S.C. ch. 36 § 2601 et seq. |
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The Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, passed on May 23, 1975, under President Gerald Ford, was a response to the Fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. Under this act, approximately 130,000 refugees from South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were allowed to enter the United States under a special status, and the act allotted for special relocation aid and financial assistance
The end of the Vietnam War left millions of Southeast Asians displaced. In South Vietnam alone, the war had created over 6 million refugees from 1965 to 1971. Preceding May 1975, the United States policy for Southeast Asian refugee had been to assist by resettling them in safer areas of their home nations. As the war began to come to a close in early 1975, the State Department prepared an evacuation plan for U.S. forces as well as 18,000 Vietnamese refugees, but it quickly became apparent that this evacuation plan did not meet the incredible need of the refugees. When the South Vietnam government rapidly deteriorated in April 1975, President Ford authorized an evacuation of up to 200,000 refugees.
The Indochina Migration and Refugee Act was signed on May 23, 1975, and allocated funding of $305 million for the Department of State and $100 million for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for the resettlement of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees in the United States. This act financed the transportation, processing, reception, and resettlement costs of more than 130,000 Vietnamese who had been evacuated from Vietnam during Operation Frequent Wind and who were granted parole by the Attorney General to enter the United States.
Most of the refugees were initially transported to Guam for processing (See Operation New Life) and then transported onward to temporary immigration centers set up at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; Camp Pendleton, California; Fort Chaffee, Arkansas; and Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. Although each refugee underwent a security check and could theoretically be denied admittance if he or she "violated a social norm, had a criminal record, or had offenses that were political in nature." However, involuntary repatriation to Vietnam was not an option. A team effort of dozens of immigration agencies aided in the resettlement process, including the United States Catholic Conference, Church World Service, International Rescue Committee, Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the Tolstoy Foundation, the American Council for Nationalities Service, the American Fund for Czechoslovak Refugees, the Travelers Aid International Social Service of America, as well as several state and city service centers. In 1975, almost 130,000 refugees were paroled through this system, which finished its initial operations at Fort Chaffee in December of that same year. While the first year of the Act had come to a close, it opened the doors for years of mass refugee acceptance.
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