Timeline: Cambodian Refugee in the U.S.

In the mid-1970s when government in Indochina countries including South Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao fells into communist regime, hundreds of thousands of people fled their countries. Cambodians especially the Phnom Penh dwellers fled the city to Thailand in the hope to resettle in a third country, one of which is the U.S. The U.S. official allocated around 130,000 quotas for refugees from Indochina countries, 5,000 of which is reserved for Cambodian refugee.

After Khmer Rouge took control of Phnom Penh, diplomats, government officials, commanders… who worked for the U.S-backed Lon Nol government, escaped Cambodia and refuge in “tents on the large U.S. air base” in Thailand. They had to leave Thailand soon though, and their destination would be the U.S. News  here 

Airlifted from Thailand, 900 Cambodian Refugees were coming directly to the U.S. and would be placed in the camp Pendleton, CA, in a separate base from other Southwest Asian refugees. That was the first group (wave) of Cambodian refugees that came to the U.S. after the fall of Phnom Penh to Khmer Rouge in April 17th, 1975. By this time, Camp Pendleton had a population of 6000 Indochina refugees. News  here 

“A group of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees criticized the Government's resettlement program today as suffering from an over‐all lack of coordination and bureaucratic delays.” New York Time. News  here 

“The United States resettlement program for Asian refugees is being expanded to include Laotians and an additional 7,000 to 9,000 Cambodians and Vietnamese.” New York Time

According to the news, it was disclosed that refugees who left their respective countries before July 1st, 1975, were eligible to be admitted to the U.S, while previously, the American refugee program had accepted only those Vietnamese and Cambodians who fled in the last days before their countries fell.

Moreover, an estimated of around 10,000 former Cambodian and Vietnamese soldiers “may join the American military services”. News  here 

According to United States House of Representative’s  History, Art & Archive , “The Refugee Act of 1980 was the country’s most comprehensive refugee legislation and overhauled many of America’s humanitarian policies”. In response to an international refugee’s crisis, this act allows a larger flow of refugees to settle in the U.S. Along with this act, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) was also established to oversee refugees’ finance, education, job search, temporary housing and so on.

Because some Cambodian refugees were not eligible to come to the U.S., less and less percentage of Cambodian were admitted to the US monthly. “Cambodians are not welcomed” As the U.S. refused to admit Cambodian, Thai government was reluctant to welcome Cambodian on its border. News  here 

U.S. official planned to resettle Cambodian Refugees, who came in the past few years, in a group of between 300 to 1,000 people in some major cities such as Houston, Dallas, Boston, New York, Syracuse, and Cincinnati. News  here 

Meanwhile in New York, Officials of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese seek for volunteers to help Cambodian refugees adapted to life in New York City. News  here 

Experiencing the difficulty of readjustment in the U.S. himself, a former Cambodian Air Force pilot, Mr. Kim Hout Kiet set up an agency called the Cambodian American Society in Brooklyn, New York. This agency helped Cambodian refugees searched for jobs and resettle a life in the U.S. Mr. Kiet came to the U.S. in 1975 after the fall of Lon Nol government. News  here 

This was the first large group of Cambodian refugees to be coming to the U.S. in the past years. These people would be coming from the United Nation camps in Thailand. The U.S. Embassy said only “people with connection with United States will be accepted”. News  here 

Fled from war, violence, and starvation in Cambodia, stayed in a crowded refugees camps in Thailand, and finally arrived in New York, Cambodian refugee Families fled again, but this time from robbers, muggers, and young toughs on the street of Brooklyn. The story follows 7 families of 44 members who left by bus and migrate to Harrisburg, PA to Indochinese Service Center in Harrisburg where they will find interpreter and other volunteers and settle in a new home. News  here 

The screening for Cambodian refugees to settle in the U.S. had become stricter. The United States’ effort was to screen out and disqualify refugees that had any relation to the Khmer Rouge Government. However, the way was described as “inexacted and unscientific”, resulting in many innocent refugees being denied resettlement in the U.S. even though their family were waiting for them. Up to between 20,000 and 25,000 refugees might have been rejected. News  here 

After 5 months of screening that blocked Cambodian refugees’ resettlement in the U.S., the officials considered allowing some of the 15,000 Cambodian refugees in Thailand, “who have been ruled ineligible” last time, a second chance of evaluation for eligibility to come to the States. News  here 

The U.S. Immigration and Refugee program was selective on who got to resettle in the U.S. and who cannot. Because of the genocide, violence and war in Cambodia, families are separated, and had no ways of communicating each other. Some refugees who got to resettle in the U.S. later identified their family member that they separated in Thai refugee camps, and wish to sponsor them to come and live together in the U.S. However, approval for applicants were limited. News  here 

Tith Plok, a 27-year-old Cambodian Refugee, came to the U.S. two years earlier and had lived in Arlington, Northern Virginia with his family. Late last year, mentally traumatized, he left home and set to walk back to Cambodian, believing that his family was still there. He was jailed in San Salvador for a while because “he was without identification paper”. Helped was on the way to bring him back home. News  here 

Tith Plok, once again disappear after coming back from San Salvador, and stayed in the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute for 2 months. According to the Washington Post, he was “disoriented, traumatized…, has not adapted well to his new world”. A lot of Cambodian suffered from mental disordered after the violence, genocide in Cambodian, and other violence and feminine in refugees’ camps in Thailand. News  here 

Oung Mean, a Cambodian Buddhist monk arrived in the U.S. in 1978. Since he got to the U.S., he and other Cambodian refugees was only able to practice Buddhism in a makeshift temple scattered across the country; therefore, he came up with an idea of building a “true Cambodia temple” to continue the scared practice of Buddhism by Cambodian communities. This marks the first step for the into refugee’s healthy spiritual life and religious practice. News  here 

Earthquake is a natural disaster that is rarely happen in Cambodia. Therefore, when there was an earthquake in San Francisco, 1989, fifty Cambodians who did not know that it was an earthquake and didn’t not know how to protect themselves from it, fled with their children to a large park near City Hall that had no tall buildings nearby. “There they spread out mats and strung plastic tarpaulins overhead, just as they had in refugee camps. After two days they left to stay with friends or relatives. 'My Second Escape'" New York Time

This event speaks a lot about the Cambodians’ trauma, resulting from years of civil wars, genocide and feminine in Cambodia and refugee camps in Thailand. News  here 

A group of Cambodian refugees in Connecticut formed a traditional Cambodian dance group called Khmer Performing Arts. The dancers would perform in the international performing arts festival. It was a way to keep the Cambodian tradition and culture alive among the Cambodian in the U.S. News  here 

Between the 1975 and 1994, more than 157,500 Cambodian are admitted to the U.S., 140,000 of which was admitted as refugees, and another 6,000 was admitted as immigrant who were sponsored by their family members in the U.S.

After escaping the on-going civil war and feminine in Cambodia, many Cambodian refugees who arrived in the U.S. tried to find ways to earn a living and settle here. Mr. Ted Ngoy was the first Cambodia to run a Doughnut shop business in CA, and before long, many Cambodian refugee families build on this inspiration and started to open doughnut shops, leading to a “doughnut boom” in the 1980s. 80% of doughnut shops in the States were owned by Cambodian refugees at the time. News  here