Now U.S. Tells Viet Refugees to Go Home
The U.S. government has begun telling thousands of Vietnamese in crowded refugee camps throughout Southeast Asia to go home, marking a shift in American policy.
The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong confirmed that the new policy is to encourage boat people to return home voluntarily.
Refugee rights activists criticized the plan as another in a string of “confusing signals” Washington has sent to the estimated 100,000 boat people crowding squalid camps in Asia.
They say the U.S. policy encourages people to return to a country Washington has yet to recognize. It also runs counter to U.S. opposition to forcible repatriation of boat people.
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