35 Vietnamese refugees to leave Cambodia to resettle in the United States
Thirty-five Vietnamese refugees who fled persecution in their homeland are heading to new homes in the United States, the U.N. refugee agency said Tuesday.
The group of men, women and children were moving to North Carolina state, already home to many Montagnards as the Vietnamese hilltribe people are collectively known, said Teresa Woods, a resettlement officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Another 61 Montagnards will head to the United States over the next two weeks, Woods said.
The refugees, who were schedule to depart Tuesday evening, have undergone cultural orientation classes and have clothes donated by a U.N.-affiliated group. Many of them already have family in the United States _ and they were asking how others could join them, Woods said.
"Most of the questions have had to do with bringing over other family members," she said.
A total of 676 Montagnards have been living under the protection of the U.N. in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, after fleeing Vietnam's Central Highlands during a crackdown last year following a protest against land confiscation and restrictions on religious freedom.
Of those, 108 Montagnards have had their refugee applications rejected, but it's not clear what will happen to them. The remainder have been granted refugee status in Cambodia.
Many Montagnards are Protestants and are distrusted by Vietnam's communist government in part because of their religion's Western ties.
Similar demonstrations and crackdowns occurred in 2001, after which more than a thousand members of ethnic minority groups from the highlands fled to Cambodia. Many were eventually resettled in the United States.
Montagnards were U.S. allies during the Vietnam War, and a number were resettled in the United States at the end of the war in 1975.
The Vietnamese government has agreed not to prosecute or discriminate against those who return home and to allow UNHCR representatives to monitor the returnees.
The Associated Press - July 12, 2005.
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