A Look at Asian American Studies - Emery McKee - Ryan Caragher - Emma Rohrer - Gabe Velazquez

REFUSING REFUGEESS

In the article, Espiritu describes how the American military quickly evacuated 130,000 South Vietnamese refugees as the war suddenly ended in 1975 with the American withdrawal. It used its military bases to process huge numbers of Vietnamese and eventually brought many of them to Camp Pendleton in California. There, the same Marines who had recently been bombing Vietnam, rushed to build tent cities to aid the refugees. “For a nation still reeling from the shock of defeat and the agony of a deeply divisive war…” (34), the images of these helpful Marines was a public relations win. It was framed as “a step towards reclaiming faith in America’s goodness and moving beyond the extremely unpopular war” (34). The American military also made a positive PR move by publicizing Operation BabyLift , a somewhat disorganized effort that brought thousands of “orphans” to the US to be “rescued.” Pictures of the president and his wife interacting with these Asian children helped to present this airlift as “one of the most humanitarian efforts in history” (40). Espiritu makes the point that these humanitarian efforts are layered on top of a militaristic cause for these refugees’ need to flee, but he does highlight the US’s choice to frame these efforts as a positive response to a desperate need. In contrast today, the Trump administration isn’t even trying to pretend that America has a humanitarian empathy when dealing with refugee crises. This fall he is cutting refugee admissions to the US lower than it has ever been. While Obama in 2016 allowed 110,000 slots for refugees, Trump has cut that number to 15,000. “The big cut in 2020 virtually sealed off a pathway for the persecuted into the country and obliterated the once robust American reputation as a sanctuary for the oppressed.” Rather than seeing the admission of refugees into our country as a positive sign of our benevolence, Trump frames this as a campaign issue. He thinks his supporters will be encouraged by his hardline against even the most desperate refugees. This is a such a different approach than what the American leaders showed at the end of the Vietnam War. They hoped to display to the world America’s generosity and kindness by highlighting their response to the refugee crisis. Our current administration doesn’t seem to care about our reputation in the world, but rather it seems to focus on Trump’s re-election chances.