Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act

An Act To enable the United States to render assistance to, or in behalf of, certain migrants and refugees.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as "The Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975".

Sec. 2. (a) Subject to the provisions of subsection (b) there are hereby authorized to be appropriated, in addition to amounts otherwise available for such purposes, $155,000,000 for the performance of functions set forth in the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962 (76 Stat. 121), as amended, with respect to aliens who have fled from Cambodia or Vietnam, such sums to remain available in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b) of this section.

     (b) None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act shall be available for the performance of functions after June 30,1976, other than for carrying out the provisions of clauses (3), (4), (5), and (6) of section 2(b) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962, as amended. None of such funds shall be available for obligation for any purpose after September 30, 1977.

Sec. 3. In carrying out functions utilizing the funds made available under this Act, the term "refugee" as defined in section 2(b)(3) of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962, as amended, shall be deemed to include aliens who (A) because of persecution or fear of persecution on account of race, religion, or political opinion, fled from Cambodia or Vietnam; (B) cannot return there because of fear of persecution on account of race, religion, or political opinion; and (C) are in urgent need of assistance for the essentials of life.

Sec. 4. (a) The President shall consult with and keep the Committees on the Judiciary, Appropriations, and International Relations of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Foreign Relations, Appropriations and Judiciary of the Senate fully and currently informed of the use of funds and the exercise of functions authorized in this Act.

     (b) Not more than thirty days after the date of enactment of this Act, the President shall transmit to such Committees a report describing fully and completely the status of refugees from Cambodia and South Vietnam. Such report shall set forth, in addition—

          (1) a plan for the resettlement of those refugees remaining in receiving or staging centers;

          (2) the number of refugees who have indicated an interest in returning to their homeland or being resettled in a third country, together with (A) a description of the plan for their return or resettlement and the steps taken to carry out such return or resettlement, and (B) any initiatives that have been made with respect to the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees of the United Nations; and

          (3) a full and complete description of the steps the President has taken to retrieve and deposit in the Treasury as miscellaneous receipts all amounts previously authorized and appropriated for assistance to South Vietnam and Cambodia but not expended for such purpose, exclusive of the $98,000,000 of Indochina Postwar Reconstruction funds allocated to the Department of State for movement and maintenance of refugees prior to the date of enactment of this Act.

     (c) Supplementary reports setting forth recent information with respect to each of the items referred to in this section shall be transmitted not more than ninety days after the date of transmittal of the report referred to in subsection (b) of this section and not later than the end of each ninety-day period thereafter. Such reports shall continue until September 30, 1977, and a final report shall be submitted no later than December 31,1977.

Approved May 23, 1975.