The Indochina refugee crisis was the large outflow of people from the former French colonies of Indochina, comprising the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, after communist governments were established in 1975. Over the next 25 years and out of a total Indochinese population in 1975 of 56 million, more than 3 million people would undertake the dangerous journey to become refugees in other countries of Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, or China. More than 2.5 million Indochinese were resettled, mostly in North America, Australia, and Europe. More than 525,000 were repatriated, either voluntarily or involuntarily, mainly from Cambodia.State of the World's Refugees, 2000 United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, pp. 81, 102; accessed 15 May 2013
The Indochinese refugees consisted of a number of different peoples, including the Vietnamese, Cambodians fleeing the Khmer Rouge and hunger, ethnic Chinese (including Hoa and Chen), ethnic Lao, Hmong, Iu Mien, other highland peoples of Laos, and Montagnard, the highland peoples of Vietnam. They fled to nearby countries to seek temporary asylum and most requested permanent resettlement in third countries. The refugee outflow and humanitarian crisis was especially acute in 1979 and 1980.
Reverberations of the Indochina refugee crisis continued into the 21st century. The last of the boat people were repatriated from Malaysia in 2005. Thailand deported 4,000 Hmong refugees in 2009."Last Vietnamese boat refugee leaves Malaysia" http://www.unhcr.org/43141e9d4.html;"UNHCR seeking access to Returned Lao Hmong" http://www.unhcr.org/4b3a38469.html, accessed 16 May 2013
Fall of Saigon (1975)
In spring 1975, the armies of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong advanced rapidly southward and by early April the defeat and occupation of South Vietnam by the north was nearly certain. During the Vietnam War, nearly one million Vietnamese had been employed by the U.S. government or were family members of former employees and were believed to be in danger of persecution or execution by the conquering North Vietnamese.Thompson, Larry Clinton. Refugee Workers in the Indochina Exodus, 1975-1982. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2010, pp. 6-11
Fearing that rumors of evacuation would cause panic in the South Vietnamese population, extensive planning began only on April 18, 1975, when U.S. President Gerald Ford created an inter-agency task force headed by Julia Taft to "coordinate...evacuation of U.S. citizens, Vietnamese citizens, and third-country nationals from Vietnam." By that time the military forces of North Vietnam were nearly in the outskirts of Saigon and the population of the city was swelled by hundreds of thousands of people displaced from areas already overrun by the communist armies.
The large-scale evacuation of Vietnamese by American military transport aircraft began on April 23 from Tan Son Nhut airport in Saigon. North Vietnamese rockets were fired at Tan Son Nhut on April 29, killing two American marines, and the airport was closed later that day. Thousands of Vietnamese and Americans were still clustered inside the American Embassy and in the streets around the Embassy awaiting evacuation. All that afternoon and night, military helicopters landed on the roof of the Embassy and carried evacuees to U.S. navy ships waiting off shore.Accounts of the evacuation include Todd, Olivier. Cruel April: The Fall of Saigon. W. W. Norton & Company, 1990. (originally published in 1987 in French), pp. 346-387
Tens of thousands of Vietnamese evacuated themselves, primarily by taking boats out to sea and demanding to be picked up by the navy. Early on the morning of April 30, the last Americans, 11 marines, were evacuated by helicopter from the Embassy roof. Many Vietnamese and third-country nationals awaiting or hoping for evacuation were left behind.
The total number of Vietnamese evacuated totaled 138,000. Most of them were taken by navy ships to Guam for processing to enter the United States, and from there they were flown to one of four military bases: Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, Camp Pendleton in California, Fort Indiantown Gap in Pennsylvania, and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. 130,000 Vietnamese were resettled in every U.S. state over the next few months. A few thousand refugees were resettled in other countries, especially Canada, or elected to return to Vietnam.Thompson, pp. 76-93
A few months after the fall of Saigon, American officials realized that more refugees were crossing borders to escape Vietnam. The United States established a refugee office in Bangkok, Thailand, headed by Lionel Rosenblatt, to process additional refugees for entry into the United States.Thompson, pp. 109-111
Hmong refugees
The Hmong and other highland peoples of Laos were U.S. allies in the Vietnam War, fending off for more than a decade the Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese army. By May 1975, however, the communist armies were advancing on the last Hmong stronghold at Long Tieng. Fearing that the communists would carry out their threat to exterminate the Hmong, CIA agent Jerry Daniels organized an evacuation of close associates and Hmong military officers, including General Vang Pao, the Hmong commander. Using civilian aircraft and pilots, about 2,000 Hmong were evacuated by air to Thailand from May 10 to 14, 1975.Morrison, Gayle L. Sky is Falling: An Oral History of the CIA's Evacuation of the Hmong from Laos, Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishing Company, 1999, pp. 72-189, 171
Unanticipated was that many Hmong would follow their leaders to Thailand, traveling on foot through high mountains, eluding soldiers, and crossing the Mekong River. Thousands died during the difficult journey. About 40,000 Hmong fled to Thailand in 1975 and more followed in the next few years. Most Hmong and other highlanders were housed at the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp. The U.S. did not initially contemplate resettlement of Hmong, believing that they would be incapable of adapting to life in the U.S. Lobbying by Americans who had worked with the Hmong caused a change in policy. 140,200 Hmong and other highland peoples were resettled worldwide from 1975 until 1997, the great majority in the United States. The Hmong resettlement program continued until 2005. The U.S. took in 9,201 Hmong in 2004 who were living at Wat Tham Krabok in Thailand.Grigoleit, Grit "Coming Home: The Integration of Hmong Refugees from Wat Tham Krabok, Thailand" Hmong Studies Journal http://hmongstudies.org/Grigoleit.pdf , accessed 18 January 2013; Robinson, W. Courtland, Terms of Refuge, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, London: Zed Books, 1998, Appendix 2
A few thousand Hmong were resettled in France and about 1,000 were resettled in the French overseas department of French Guiana, where they became prosperous by growing vegetables for the local market.Lemoine, Jacques Hmong Studies Journal, Vol 6, 2005; Clarkin, Patrick F. , Hmong Studies Journal, Vol 6, 2005, accessed 18 May 2013
Lowland Lao refugees
Along with the Hmong and other highland peoples a large number of lowland, ethnic Lao, crossed the Mekong River into Thailand. Between 1975 and 1995, the number of Laotians refugees, including both Hmong and lowland Lao, totalled 360,000. Most of the lowland Lao fleeing their country were urbanized and educated; many were former employees of the U.S. government. They were housed mostly at Nong Khai Refugee Camp just across the river from Laos. Between 1975 and 1997, 183,907 ethnic Lao were resettled worldwide.Robinson, Appendix 2; Thompson, pp. 135, 227-227, 235, 244
Hoa
The Hoa are ethnic Chinese living in Vietnam, especially in the Cholon area of Saigon. In 1975, an estimated one to two million Hoa lived in Vietnam, and they owned or controlled most of the commerce of South Vietnam. After South and North Vietnam were united under a single communist government in 1976, the new government began to transform the economy from capitalist to socialist. The people most affected were the Hoa.World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples Vietnam: Chinese (Hoa), accessed 20 May 2013 The Hoa people were threatened by the Vietnamese who sent them as agricultural workers in the New Economic Zones (state farms) set up by the Government; with 1.5 million relocated. Hoa businesses in Saigon were confiscated.
In the years following the Vietnam War, ethnic Chinese emigrated from Vietnam. Beginning in April 1978 about 450,000 Hoa would go overland to China or by boat to Hong Kong during the next few years. 265,000 Hoa, mainly land arrivals, would be resettled in China. Between 1975 and 1999, 143,700 Vietnamese refugees, mostly Hoa arriving by sea in Hong Kong, were resettled in other countries. More than 67,000 were repatriated to Vietnam.The influx of Vietnamese boat people Immigration Department, Hong Kong Government, Accessed 2 May 2007; Brush, Peter, "Vietnam, China and the Boat People" , accessed 20 May 2013
Relations between China and Vietnam deteriorated, partly because of the repression of the Hoa. Although vast majority of the "Boat People" were ethnic Vietnamese (see below), those who sailed for refuge to China were largely Hoa people. In February 1979, following Vietnam's ousting of the China-backed genocidal Khmer Rouge and Vietnam's occupation of Cambodia, China launched an offensive against Vietnam, briefly occupied parts of its north and then withdrew from Vietnam. This conflict became known as the Sino-Vietnamese War. The Vietnamese government initiated a policy of encouraging the Hoa to leave the country and charging them a fee of several thousand dollars to do so. Because of the outflow, the Hoa population of Vietnam declined during the 1980s.Brush, http://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/central/Brush/BoatPeople.htm ; World Directory of Minorities, http://www.refworld.org/type,COUNTRYREP,,VNM,,49749c7f8,0.html, accessed 20 May 2013
Ethnic Chinese refugees from the three Indochinese countries have established organizations for mutual support in their new settlements; several of these join the World Federation of Chinese Organizations from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos ().
Boat people
After the North Vietnamese takeover in April 1975, one million or more people were sent to "re-education" camps, often for several years, and the government attempted to destroy private enterprise, especially businesses owned by the Hoa. In September 1978, 1,220 "boat people" left Vietnam on an old ship and landed in Indonesia. That was the beginning of a flood of refugees arriving monthly by boat in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and other countries. The number of boat people arriving monthly on foreign shores peaked at 56,000 in June 1979.Thompson, pp. 150-163
Most of the boat people left Vietnam in decrepit, leaky, overcrowded boats. They encountered storms, shortages of water and food, and, most seriously, pirates in the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. Merchant ships encountering boats in distress often refused to pick up the refugees for fear that no country would allow them to unload the refugees.
Thai and Malay pirates attacked many of the small boats, raping and kidnapping women and stealing the possessions of the passengers. Authorities of the countries where they arrived often "pushed off" the refugee boats, refusing to allow them to land.