Assembly Joint Resolution
No. 1
CHAPTER 8
Relative to Vietnamese refugees.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
February 22, 2019.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 1, Daly.
Vietnamese refugees.
This measure would respectfully urge the President of the United States to stop any efforts to reinterpret, disregard, or in any way prohibit the extension of the 2008 United States-Vietnam repatriation agreement and would urge that any renegotiation of the agreement include historically accepted deportation protections for Vietnamese refugees and would state that the Legislature stands in solidarity with the Vietnamese refugees.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, Many Vietnamese Americans living in the State of California today came to the United States after the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, which marked the beginning of an exodus of over one million Vietnamese who left their homeland fleeing communism in search of freedom and democracy; and
WHEREAS, Over the past four decades, Vietnamese immigrants have enriched the social, cultural, and economic landscape of the United States and the great State of California; and
WHEREAS, As new immigrants, Vietnamese Americans overcame social, linguistic, and economic challenges through hard work, achieving success in a plethora of professional fields, including business, military service, politics and law, science and education, literature and journalism, and sports and entertainment; and
WHEREAS, The State of California is home to more than 500,000 Vietnamese Americans who enrich the social, cultural, and economic fabric of our state; and
WHEREAS, Vietnamese Americans have enhanced California’s culture through the establishment of vibrant Little Saigon communities throughout the state that preserve Vietnamese heritage, food, language, and customs for younger generations and allow all Californians to be immersed in the richness of Vietnamese culture; and
WHEREAS, Refusing to forget their historical struggle for freedom and democracy, Vietnamese Americans throughout the United States and the State of California continue to speak out against the systematic assaults on the freedoms of expression and religion perpetrated today by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and advocate in favor of human rights and democracy in Vietnam and worldwide; and
WHEREAS, An agreement made in 2008 between the United States government and Vietnamese government specifically bars the deportation of Vietnamese people who arrived in the United States before July 12, 1995; and
WHEREAS, The 2008 agreement specifically states that Vietnamese citizens are “not subject to return to Vietnam” if they “arrived in the United States before July 12, 1995”; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges the President of the United States to stop any efforts to reinterpret, disregard, or in any way prohibit the extension of the 2008 United States-Vietnam repatriation agreement as it is currently written and urges that any renegotiation of the agreement include historically accepted deportation protections for Vietnamese refugees; and it be further
Resolved, That the Legislature stands in solidarity with the Vietnamese refugees; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the President and the Vice President of the United States, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States, and to the author for appropriate distribution.