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“THE PLIGHT OF THE MONTAGNARDS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2051 on Oct. 11, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE PLIGHT OF THE MONTAGNARDS
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HON. BOB ETHERIDGE
of north carolina
in the house of representatives
Friday, October 9, 1998
Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring the attention of the Congress to the Montagnard refugees from the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
The Montagnards were loyal allies of American Special Forces and served bravely with our U.S. military troops during the Vietnam War. Montagnards have suffered terribly in Vietnam for their religious and political beliefs at the hands of the Vietnamese Communists and they continue to suffer. I strongly support human rights and strongly oppose persecution throughout the world; values at the heart of our faiths and our American democracy.
Since 1986, my state of North Carolina has been privileged to receive several hundred Montagnard refugees from the Central Highlands of Vietnam. There are over one thousand Montagnards who now live in Greensboro, Raleigh, and Charlotte, thanks to the hard work and compassion of people of faith and human rights activists such as Lutheran Family Services of North Carolina. The Department of State has called the resettlement of this new immigrant community one of the most successful resettlement programs in the United States.
The Montagnards have become U.S. citizens, they enrich our nation, they are productive, proud people who love freedom and the chance for survival that this nation has offered them. The Montagnards stood by our nation and now we should do all we can to insure that their family members are allowed to emigrate from Vietnam.
I am encouraged by the emphasis Ambassador ``Pete'' Peterson, himself a former Vietnam Prisoner of War and Member of Congress, has promised to place on the plight of the Montagnards. Our nation must strengthen its efforts in gaining measurable Vietnamese cooperation in processing applications for emigration under the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) and the Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese Returnees agreement
(ROVR). We should expect and demand progress on all of the Montagnard cases. These families have waited too long to be reunited with loved ones.
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