The road to American citizenship for Vietnamese immigrants diverges from the typical path for other Asian ethnic groups. During the final days of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese refugees fleeing from political persecution by the new communist government sought safety in the West. Through the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, the American government, having just withdrawn its forces from Vietnam, sponsored the evacuation of 130,000 people from Indochina to the United States where they would live and eventually attain citizenship. In 2022, 78% of Vietnamese people were naturalized citizens, compared to 53% of the total foreign-born population (Batalova).

The United States has a long exclusionary history with citizenship, but Vietnamese immigrants break tradition. By hungering for freedom and democracy after escaping an oppressive communist regime, they embodied the perfect recipients of American generosity as described in the “The New Colossus,” a poem about immigration affixed to the Statue of Liberty.

Vietnamese immigrants valued the same ideas baked into the foundations of the United States: freedom, democracy, liberty. Therefore, it can be argued that cultural compatibility advantaged the Vietnamese refugee searching for sanctuary in the West. But the United States may have possessed less noble intentions for his presence. The unique circumstances behind Vietnamese migration inspired the United States to build an ideal immigrant. By allowing the Vietnamese refugee to join the American citizenry in a way antithetical to the treatment of other foreigners, the United States could cultivate a culture of obedience and patriotism among existing and prospective naturalized citizens.