Mr. President. one of the last cruel ironies of our involvement In the Vietnam war is that we are welcoming to our shores refugees from South Vietnam. but we still adamantly refuse to welcome home with equal magnanimity those Americans who were made refugees by the war. These Americans. who evaded the draft or deserted the Armed Forces because of their opposition to the war. remain in exile. Some have chosen to come home through the Presidents clemency program. "earning" their way back through an arduous process of loyalty oaths. prosecutorial discretion. and alternate service. But many others are still barred from living openly in their own country. It is strange indeed that we would require more of our own citizens in allowing them to return home than we do of the South Vietnamese refugees we are bringing into our country. While we are busily appropriating hundreds of millions of dollars to assist the South Vietnamese immigrants. we have not spent 1 cent to bring home our own sons and brothers. I support the Vietnamese refugee assistance program. I believe it is a gesture expressive of Americas generous spirit. and is the least we can do for those who have endured so much pain. But I also believe we should be equally as generous with our own citizens who fled the terror of a war they could not believe in.
Keywords matched
immigrants refugee refugees