Introduction to Iowa by Iowa Refugee Service Center, December 1984

(1985) Introduction to Iowa by Iowa Refugee Service Center, December 1984. Public Health, Department of (Health and Human Services, Department of)

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Abstract

I n 1975, various Communist powers gained control of Indochina the countries of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (now called Kampuchea). As a result, hundreds of thousands of people, most of them fleeing to safety because of their past associations with U.S. backed, anti-Communist efforts, fled to nearby countries. The United States of America responded by admitting Southeast Asians under a special refugee program. (A "refugee" as designated by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. (INS) is a person who cannot return to his or her country because of a well-founded fear of persecution.) Iowa's participation in the program began in September 1975 as a result of a request by President Gerald Ford. Former Iowa Governor Robert D. Ray created the Governor's Task Force for Indochinese Resettlement, which was later renamed the Iowa Refugee Service Center, and put the effort under the administration of the director of the Iowa Department of Job Service.