Rep. Dornan on ‘Boat People’

Allow me the opportunity to clear up the distortions and misperceptions contained in The Times’ news story (“Rep. Dornan Blamed for a New Flood of ‘Boat People,’ ” Part A, May 14) claiming that my proposal to study the feasibility of sending boat people to Kuwait as guest workers has caused an exodus from Vietnam.

As I said, the rise in the number of departures of boat people from Vietnam on account of my proposal--if true--is unfortunate. That was never the intent. However, let me point out that there has been a trend of increased arrivals in Hong Kong since the beginning of the year, a full three months before my proposal became public knowledge. And while there is a possibility that some may have left Vietnam because of my proposal, it is impossible to know how many, though I would guess the number is very small.

I also want to make it clear that before writing to Secretary of State James Baker and the emir of Kuwait, asking them to consider my idea, my staff discussed the idea with people in the refugee community, the Bush Administration and others with a longstanding knowledge of the issue. Everyone thought the idea was intriguing and well worth pursuing. No one advised my office not to follow through on it. That it may have had unintended consequences does not diminish the merits of the idea.

The real villain in this human tragedy is not those of us who would try to alleviate the suffering of people who have suffered enough. It is the communist government in Vietnam, which has driven its people to almost suicidal lengths. It speaks volumes about life inside Vietnam that some of its people might choose to live in a country almost totally destroyed by war, Kuwait, instead of a country almost totally destroyed by communism, Vietnam.

As to the assertions that my proposal was a “vote-getting gimmick,” I can only say that everyone I have approached on this issue--especially those in the refugee community--has taken it very seriously. Moreover, it is hard to see what kind of election gimmick my proposal could be when it was suggested almost right after an election.

It is also important to note that my commitment to the cause of the Vietnamese people pre-dates by at least 20 years my representing an Orange County district. Indeed, my eldest daughter worked in Vietnamese refugee camps in Thailand in 1981. Honest attempts to relieve the suffering of these citizens of a nation that believed in the U.S. should not be treated with such contempt.

This incident is evidence that many with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office, including the main source for your story, Alexander Casella, are content to let the boat people rot in refugee camps, even to the point where those who should qualify for resettlement (the “screened in”) are being denied refugee status (the “screened out”). Indeed, according to one refugee worker with years of experience on this issue, “The UNHCR obviously believes that high screened out rates are necessary to inhibit departures from Vietnam and is playing an important role in moving the numbers in this direction.”

Let’s be clear, I do not encourage people to leave Vietnam. But I do encourage UNHCR and all the countries involved to work toward a more innovative and humane solution to those who have already left, some of whom have spent 10 years in the camps.

Again, the main causes of this human tragedy are a Vietnamese government that has set new standards for oppression and a free world, most notably the UNHCR, that has turned a blind eye in the hope that the boat people would just go away.

REP. ROBERT K. DORNAN, R-Garden Grove