Released Re-education Detainee Program
The Released Re-education Detainee Program was established in 1989 to facilitate the emigration of Vietnamese individuals who had spent significant time in reeducation camps after the fall of the South Vietnamese government in 1975. Following the war, many Vietnamese faced reprisals and were interned in these camps, which aimed to punish and indoctrinate them, particularly those associated with the previous government or U.S. forces. The U.S. Congress introduced the program to expedite the departure of individuals who had endured at least three years in these camps, reflecting a humanitarian response to their plight.
Over the next several years, the program, often referred to as Humanitarian Operation, successfully helped more than 70,000 former detainees and their families resettle in the United States, along with thousands of Amerasian children. This initiative was part of broader efforts, including the Orderly Departure Program, to assist Vietnamese refugees in finding new homes abroad. Although the program expired in 1994, discussions resumed a decade later to assist those who had missed the opportunity to emigrate. The legacy of the Released Re-education Detainee Program highlights the complexities of post-war migration and the ongoing commitment to support vulnerable populations.
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Released Re-education Detainee Program
Identification: Federal program implementing an agreement with the government of Vietnam to resettle Vietnamese who had been interned in reeducation camps in the United States
Date: Established on July 30, 1989
Also known as: Humanitarian Operation
Significance:The Released Re-education Detainee Program provided a pathway for Vietnamese who had been sent to reeducation camps by the communist government of Vietnam after the fall of the South Vietnamese government in 1975 to emigrate to the United States with their families.
After the fall of the South Vietnamese government in 1975, thousands of Vietnamese fled the country to escape possible reprisals from the new communist government. Many of these people died at sea while trying to flee in small boats, and in poorly supported refugee camps in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, many of those unable to leave Vietnam were interned by the national government in “reeducation” camps, which were actually prison camps aimed at punishing those who had worked for the South Vietnamese government or U.S. forces and indoctrinating them in communist ideology.
By 1979, the United Nations persuaded the new national government of Vietnam to participate in what became known as the Orderly Departure Program. Over the next two decades, various humanitarian efforts were launched to help Vietnamese wishing to emigrate to find homes in other countries. Many Vietnamese successfully relocated to various countries around the world, including the United States. However, little progress was made in persuading Vietnam’s government to alleviate the condition of current and former internees of its reeducation camps.
Feeling a special obligation to certain groups of Vietnamese, during the 1980’s the U.S. government developed programs to encourage immigration of Vietnamese children of American servicemen, families of those children, and former employees of the South Vietnamese and U.S. government and their families. In 1984, U.S. secretary of state George Schultz negotiated an agreement to allow members of these groups to come to the United States. However, the Vietnamese government dragged its feet in signing onto the program and permitting its people to leave the country legally. While some Amerasian children were allowed to depart, adults who had served time in reeducation camps were usually blocked from leaving, frequently as a result of inordinately complicated bureaucratic requirements. Eventually, however, back-and-forth negotiations between the U.S. and Vietnamese governments resulted in passage by the U.S. Congress of a new law, the Released Re-education Detainee Program, in July, 1989. Under the provisions of that law, Vietnamese who had spent at least three years in reeducation camps were eligible for expedited processing to emigrate to the United States.
The Released Re-education Detainee Program quickly became known as Humanitarian Operation. Frequently this term was used to designate the efforts to resettle former internees as well as those designed to assist children of American servicemen. Both initiatives were particularly successful. Through the five years following passage of the law, the number of individuals in these categories taking advantage of the program increased steadily.
By 1994, when the program expired, more than 70,000 former internees and their families, as well as thousands of Amerasian children and their families, had resettled in the United States. It is estimated that more than 160,000 people entered the United States under the provisions of these programs. Ten years later, the U.S. government began negotiations to resurrect Humanitarian Operation initiatives to assist Vietnamese who had been eligible for these programs but had not been able to take advantage of them. Leading this new initiative was U.S. senator John McCain, who had been a prisoner of war in Vietnam for more than five years.
Bibliography
Chan, Sucheng, ed. The Vietnamese American 1.5 Generation: Stories of War, Revolution, Flight, and New Beginnings. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006.
Do, Hien Duc. The Vietnamese Americans. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Nguyen, Kien. The Unwanted. Boston: Back Bay Books, 2001.
Zhou, Min, and Carl L. Bankston III. Growing Up American: How Vietnamese Children Adapt to Life in the United States. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1998.