GOP president set standard for welcoming refugees
Faced with an influx of refugees, the Republican president made a choice to embrace a people from a foreign, war-torn country.
The year was 1975. The president was Gerald Ford, and the refugees were from Vietnam. The current Republican administration and Congress can learn from President Ford’s bold leadership.
In response to the more than 120,000 refugees from the Vietnam War, Ford created the Inter-Agency Task Force on Indochinese Refugee Resettlement. He also leveraged the Office of the Presidency to send a message that America welcomed refugees.
Ford did face opposition. Congress initially rejected his call for humanitarian aid to resettle Vietnamese refugees. Coming off a divisive war, there was lingering public resentment and xenophobia. Some had concerns that Vietnamese refugees would be an economic drain, when unemployment was already in the double digits. Nonetheless, the president continued to advocate for Vietnamese refugees. He recognized they were innocent victims of war, trying to escape a communist regime.
“To ignore the refugees in their hour of need would be to repudiate the values we cherish as a nation of immigrants,” Ford explained. Eventually public opinion changed, and Congress granted the funding.
But Ford did more than just direct resources to assist refugees; he took a personal interest in their success. He visited refugee camps and greeted them.
As a teenager new to America, my father was at Fort Chaffee Refugee Facility in Little Rock, Arkansas, when Ford visited. Having the president of the United States shake his hand and show support for refugees left a strong impression on my father.
Ford’s efforts played a critical part in the integration of Vietnamese refugees in America. Embracing them was not only a moral act but also helped combat an adverse ideology.
Today there is no ethnic group in the United States that is more anti-communist than Vietnamese-Americans.
The Vietnamese-American community is highly critical of the Vietnamese government, in part because Vietnamese-Americans have embraced America’s values of democracy, human rights and entrepreneurship.
Vietnamese-Americans have also made major contributions. Last year Viet Thanh Nguyen won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Federal Appellate Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen makes important rulings. David Tran, the founder of Huy Fong Foods, introduced countless taste buds to Sriracha sauce. Millions watch Michelle Phan’s makeup tutorials on YouTube.
Locally, the positive impact of the Vietnamese-American community can be felt every day. Vietnamese-Americans are educators, doctors, police officers, mechanics and much more. They own small businesses, such as restaurants, salons and law firms. Two Vietnamese-Americans serve on the 10-member San Jose City Council.
As the current administration and Congress figure out how to address the Syrian refugee crisis, they should look to Ford’s example.
Of course, there are different security concerns. Appropriate vetting of refugees is justified. But outright rejection and demonization is not.
The fact is that none of the 800,000 refugees from around the world who resettled in America since 2001 have been convicted of domestic terrorism.
At the heart of the Syrian refugee crisis are millions of innocent victims. Bombs and gunfire kill men and women everyday as children watch helplessly.
As President Ford proved, America can meet its humanitarian obligations while advancing its values and interests by embracing refugees. I hope our leaders have the moral courage and strategic insight to do the same.