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For Amerasians, a Welcome Mat Is Not Enough

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With the passage of the Amerasian Homecoming Act a year ago, Rep. Robert J. Mrazek (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Tom Ridge (R-Pa.), the bill’s co-sponsors, stated that these half-American, half-Vietnamese youth “will have the opportunity to become (American) citizens and realize the dream that millions of others have pursued . . . .” Arrival in America should not be equated with the realization of that dream.

Amerasians carry their own “dreams” about life in America. They arrive here with already intense emotional ties to this “land of their fathers,” carrying inner images that are often highly idealized and unrealistic. All too many of the Amerasians we are working with are poorly equipped--socially, educationally and psychologically--to make the kind of adjustment and eventual adaptation to life in America that most of us would judge to be adequate. Without additional support to help them achieve a reasonable degree of economic and emotional self-sufficiency, we fear that many may fall into a cycle of poverty, gang membership and welfare dependency.

Is the success of the Amerasian Homecoming Act to be narrowly defined, measured only by the “numbers moved” in a particular time frame? The legislation remains myopic, being almost exclusively focused on expediting emigration. It contains little balance of attention and virtually no fiscal allocation to address the hard human issues of actual resettlement. Other criteria of success might include measures of adjustment, for instance, the degree of economic self-sufficiency. Important indicators would be rates of stable employment, amount of time on public assistance and referral rates for medical and mental-health services.

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Over the last five years our work with Vietnamese Amerasians suggests that diversity is what most characterizes this population. The obvious and striking differences in terms of height, physique and skin color are matched by the variety of personal histories they carry within them. Some have shown real strength and resiliency, excelling socially, academically and economically. As a whole, however, we have been concerned that on an environmental basis alone (e.g., loss of a parent, material poverty, being of mixed race, minimal formal education), most are at high risk for serious problems in long-term adaptation. The Amerasians who arrived before the passage of the Amerasian Homecoming Act have required more intensive special services than any other Southeast Asian refugee group, both at the Philippine Refugee Processing Center and during the post-arrival period.

Recent research suggests that, in general, this pattern will likely hold. As many as 15% of the Amerasians in our sample have had no formal education and up to 75% have had less than four years of schooling. The majority are virtually illiterate in Vietnamese and arrive with no transferable job skills. The implications are clear, including the high dropout rate already noted among the teens.

The majority of Vietnamese Amerasians are now over 16 and have spent most of their everyday lives outside of school. Given the absence of their fathers, which has particular meaning in the patriarchal Vietnamese society, few have been raised in strong, traditional families. They have tended to be poor, even by Vietnamese standards. Thus, it should be no surprise that few have internalized the values of academic achievement, discipline and self-sacrifice that may have typified many of the earlier Vietnamese refugees. These circumstances, when added to the fact that special support services for all Southeast Asian refugee youth are extremely limited, will jeopardize their potential for achieving the dream that the congressmen allude to.

Amerasians and their families are being resettled in about 25 “cluster sites” across the United States. The ongoing, collaborative efforts of the Office of Refugee Resettlement and InterAction (an organization of voluntary agencies involved in resettlement) to help prepare for the increased arrival of Amerasians and their families must be applauded and further supported. Funding to increase professional staff at the local level and the extension of educational and vocational training programs is crucial.

We are strong supporters of the underlying intent of the Amerasian Homecoming Act. But Amerasians are a high-risk population arriving into a support system that is already overtaxed. Defining the legislation’s success in the narrow terms of “numbers moved” fails to address the tougher and more long-standing human problems of actual resettlement.

Historically, fate, circumstance and the arbitrariness of international politics have not been kind to Amerasians. Only by seriously attending to the course of resettlement can we assure a more genuine opportunity for them to “make it” in America. To stop short only further extends the disfranchisement of thousands of young people, who, under less politicized circumstances, might already be reaping the benefits of American citizenship.

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