Vietnamese Americans

Vietnamese American Population

Vietnamese Americans currently represent the fourthlargest Asian American population in the United States. According to the 2000 Census, there are approximately 1,122,528 people who identify themselves as Vietnamese alone and 1,223,736 people who identify themselves as Vietnamese alone or in combination with other ethnicities. The growth in the Vietnamese American population from 1990 to 2000 is 83% for Vietnamese alone and 99% for Vietnamese alone or in combination with other ethnicities. The two states that have the largest Vietnamese American populations are California, with 39.8% of all Vietnamese Americans, and Texas, with 12%. Orange County, California, is home to the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam (233,573), with the neighborhood Little Saigon as its cultural and civic center.

Vietnamese Immigration to the United States

Prior to 1975, there were few Vietnamese Americans in the United States. The end of the Vietnam War prompted several waves of refugees from Vietnam, the majority of whom eventually resettled in the United States.

The first wave of Vietnamese refugees, approximately 132,000 people, left Vietnam immediately following the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975 (Saigon is now known as Ho Chi Minh City). The main reason for their flight from Vietnam was fear of persecution by the North Vietnamese communist government. These refugees included many high-ranking military officials, professional people who had worked with American personnel or companies in Vietnam, and individuals who were educated or had family ties in the United States. First-wave refugees were generally better educated, wealthier, and had more political connections with the U.S. government than refugees of subsequent waves.

The majority of first-wave refugees left Vietnam by cargo ships or air transportation dispatched by the U.S. military, which subsequently transferred them to military bases in the Philippines and Guam. From there, these refugees were transferred to resettlement centers located in different regions of the United States. They were then matched with voluntary agencies whose job was to coordinate the refugees' eventual resettlement. Vietnamese families that were [Page 464]officially matched with sponsors were flown to their resettlement destinations to start their new lives in America. Unlike the resettlement experiences of Cuban refugees in Florida, for instance, first-wave Vietnamese refugees were systematically dispersed throughout the country, an attempt by the federal government to discourage the formation of ethnic enclaves and to minimize the impact of Vietnamese refugee resettlement on any particular geographical area. Thus, many refugees found themselves in communities with little or no opportunities for contact with other Vietnamese refugees or other Asian Americans. Within a few years of the initial resettlement, however, a significant amount of secondary migration occurred, mainly to California and Texas, the two states that now have the largest Vietnamese populations.

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