September 27, 2005

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE ARRIVE IN L.A.

By DAISY NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES — For 16 years, 229 Vietnamese refugees lived in the Philippines without permanent residency status or legal rights. But their long journey to a new home ended when they arrived in the United States on a chartered flight.

The group received a tumultuous greeting at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday from 200 people, including some who had left the Philippines ahead of them.

"I've waited 16 years for this moment. It's hard for me to express my emotions right now. It's beyond happiness," said Hoang Tran, 39, who plans to settle permanently in Missouri.

Monday's arrivals were the first of some 1,600 Vietnamese refugees expected to make their way to this country under an agreement allowing asylum-seekers scattered in the Philippines since 1989 to resettle in the United States.

The first group to arrive at the airport's international terminal held a huge red banner with white letters proclaiming, "Thank you, America, for welcoming us. Please help our brothers and sisters in the Philippines," a reference to about 300 people who have been denied permission to resettle.

Lan Nguyen, who arrived in the United States with her husband four years ago after spending 15 years in the Philippines, was among those on hand to greet the refugees.

"We had gone through so much together. Some people became closer to me than my own family," she said. "We have such a special bond. We could talk for three or four days on end and we'd never run out of memories to share."

Many Vietnamese left their homeland by boat after the communists defeated South Vietnam in 1975. Others were allowed to leave in the 1980s under a U.S.-sponsored program for Vietnamese whose fathers were believed to be U.S. servicemen. Relatives of those refugees were also given approval to go.

Until March 1989, those who landed in refugee camps throughout Asia were automatically granted refugee status. After that, the United Nations refused to recognize them as refugees and seven years later cut off funding for Vietnamese camps throughout the region.

Some countries began forcible repatriation back to Vietnam. In the Philippines, then-President Fidel Ramos allowed the Vietnamese to stay indefinitely under the supervision of the Roman Catholic Church, but they were not given permanent residency status or legal rights.

"You're living a half-life, being stateless," Hoi Trinh, a Vietnamese-Australian lawyer who spent eight years helping the refugees, said from his office in Manila. "You can't move forward or backward. You're stuck because you're a nobody and don't belong anywhere or to anyone, therefore no one has to deal with you."

Over the years, several hundred refugees were resettled in the United States, Australia, Canada and Europe. But the vast majority remained in limbo in the Philippines as politicians and activists sought a resolution.

"I just thought it was so clearly wrong," said Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which held a hearing on the issue in February 2004. "The right thing to do was to grant them permanent status so they can get on with their lives."

Last year, the United States announced a joint plan with the Philippines to offer resettlement to Vietnamese asylum-seekers.

Patrick Corcoran, a representative of the International Organization for Migration, which helped in the transfer, said interviews by U.S. immigration officials were ongoing. A total of 1,600 refugees were expected to be approved, he said.

Trinh said about 300 others, including those with Filipino spouses, have been denied permission to resettle. Their fate remained uncertain because Philippine law prohibits anyone who entered the country illegally to apply for permanent residency.

"It's a happy occasion but also a sad occasion, because there are still some people whose situation are still not yet resolved," Trinh said.

J. Kelly Ryan, deputy assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, said her department was working with the Philippine government to find a solution for those with Filipino spouses.

On the Net:
International Organization for Migration: http://www.iom.int

Copyright 2005, The Associated Press.
[Posted 9/27/05]