by NGUYEN DINH THANG

BPSOS, which stands for Boat People SOS, was founded in 1980 in San Diego, at the height of the first wave of Vietnamese boat people. For the ensuing decade, its rescue-at-sea missions saved the lives of over 3,300 boat people. The organization was also well known for its fight against pirates in the Gulf of Thailand.

In 1990, the international community changed their policy. Instead of welcoming the Vietnamese boat people as victims of communist persecution, neighboring countries now labeled them “economic migrants” to be repatriated, either by force or by coercion. In response, BPSOS moved its headquarters to Northern Virginia and formed Legal Assistance for Vietnamese Asylum Seekers (LAVAS) to send pro bono lawyers and legal assistants to Southeast Asia and Hong Kong to defend the boat people’s refugee claims. The LAVAS team, with offices in Hong Kong and Palawan, Philippines successfully defended the refugee rights of 300 boat people. Hundreds of case files compiled under this project convinced the U.S. government to create the Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese Returnees (ROVR) program in 1995, which has since resettled over 18,000 former boat people after their repatriation to Viet Nam.

By mid 1996, all Vietnamese boat people had been either resettled or repatriated; all camps that once housed the boat people had been closed. BPSOS shifted its mission to helping the Vietnamese-American community nationwide cope with the effects of the 1996 welfare and immigration reforms. Capitalizing on the vast network of grassroots support developed over the years, BPSOS embarked on developing domestic programs and building capacity for local communities. It rapidly grew into a national organization with 16 branch offices; its 20 twenty programs now serve some 10,000 clients a year, including many non-Vietnamese. This variety of programs is designed to create a web of services to address the intertwining and compounding effects of unmet needs on refugee families.

As Executive Director of BPSOS, I believe we recognize the need of refugees not only to build a new life but also to reconstruct the family with effective community support.

Most BPSOS programs are therefore family-centered and serve as gateways to the wide spectrum of services offered at BPSOS and partnering service agencies.

BPSOS is a recognized leader in many areas of service. Its anti-human trafficking program currently serves more than one third of all certified trafficked victims in the U.S. BPSOS operates the only centers for Vietnamese torture survivors in the world. The organization is a national champion for Vietnamese victims of domestic violence. It is the only Asian American organization certified to train workers on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards.

Besides direct services, the organization has two other areas of focus: community development and advocacy.

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