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According to the 2000 Census, there are 1,122,528 people who identify themselves as Vietnamese alone or 1,223,736 in combination with other ethnicities. Of those, 447,032 (39.8%) live in California and 134,961 (12.0%) in Texas. The largest concentration of Vietnamese found outside of Vietnam is found in Orange County, California, where 135,548 can be found. Vietnamese-American businesses are ubiquitous in Little Saigon, located in Westminster and Garden Grove, where they constitute 30.7% and 21.4% of the population, respectively. In addition, many Vietnamese Americans have established businesses in Chinatowns throughout North America. Like many other immigrant groups, the majority of Vietnamese Americans are small business owners. Throughout the United States, many ethnic Vietnamese, especially first or second-generation immigrants, open restaurants (serving either Vietnamese cuisine, Chinese cuisine, or even both), beauty salonsA cosmetologist sometimes called beautician or beauty specialist is someone who specializes in giving beauty treatments, usually to women. A cosmetologist is proficient in hair treatments, facials and other skin treatments and nail treatments. Some cosmet and barber shops, and auto repair businesses. In LouisianaLouisiana is a southern state of the United States of America. It uses the U. postal abbreviation LA . The state is bordered to the west by the state of Texas, to the north by Arkansas, to the east by the state of Mississippi, and to the south by the Gulf, some Vietnamese-Americans are involved with the fish and shrimp industries.

1 History

The history of Vietnamese-Americans is a fairly recent one. Prior to 1975, most Vietnamese residing in the United States were spouses and children of American servicemen in Vietnam. The "fall of Saigon" (known as the "liberation of Saigon" in Vietnam) on April 30April 30 is the 120th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (121st in leap years). There are 245 days remaining. Events 313 Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule. 1492 Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commis, 1975Events January January 1 Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up and are sentenced to 30 months to 8 years in jail on February 21 January 5 The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, i, which ended the Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a war fought between 1957 and 1975 on the ground in South Vietnam and bordering areas of Cambodia and Laos See Secret War) and in bombing runs ( Rolling Thunder) over North Vietnam. See also the timeline of the Vietnam War. Fighting on, prompted the first wave of emigration. Many people who had close ties with the Americans feared communist reprisals, and 125,000 of them left Vietnam during Spring 1975. This group was generally highly skilled and educated and their leaving constituted a severe brain drainA brain drain or human capital flight is an emigration of trained and talented individuals for other nations or jurisdictions, due to conflict or lack of opportunity or health hazards where they are living. It parallels the term " capital flight" which re for Vietnam. They were airlifted by the US government to bases in the Philippines and Guam, and were subsequently transferred to various refugee centers in the United States. These refugees were initially unwelcomed by Americans, as a poll taken in 1975 showed only 36% in favor of Vietnamese immigration. Even so, President Gerald Ford and other officials strongly supported them and passed the Indochina Migration and Refugee Act in 1975, which allowed them to enter the United States under a special status. In order to prevent the refugees from forming ethnic enclaves and to minimize their impact on local communities, they were scattered all over the country. Within a few years, however, most resettled in California and Texas, giving those states the largest Vietnamese-American populations.

The year 1978 began a second wave of Vietnamese refugees that lasted until the mid-1980s. As people faced being sent to "reeducation camps" (essentially labor concentration camps) or being forced to evacuate to "new economic zones," about two million fled Vietnam in small, unsafe, and crowded boats. These " boat people" were generally less educated and skilled than the people in the first wave. If they escaped pirates, they usually ended up in asylum camps in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong or the Philippines, where they might be allowed to enter countries that agreed to accept them. Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980 , reducing restrictions on entry, while the Vietnamese government established the Orderly Departure Program (ODP) under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in response to world outcry, allowing people to leave Vietnam legally for family reunions and for humanitarian reasons. Additional American laws were passed to allow children of American servicemen and former political prisoners and their families to enter the United States. Between 1981 and 2000, the United States accepted 531,310 Vietnamese refugees and asylees.