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AGENDA ITEM C
ORDERLY DEPARTURE PROGRAM
The United States welcomed the resumption last
October of the movements from Vietnam to the United
States under, this program. We continue to be hopeful
that the program will reach a level of 1000 departures
monthly to the United States. However, in the 6 months
ending March, such departures only averaged 271 monthly.
We are particularly concerned that, although we identified
65 American citizen children with 65 accompanying
relatives to the Vietnamese authorities over 1 year ago,
these children and dependents have not yet been able to
leave Vietnam. We are in a position now to handle the
larger numbers of persons leaving Vietnam.
We woula
hope the Vietnamese authorities would be able to utilizé
this capacity. Such a development could only be
advantageous in clearly identifying a safe and legal
means for persons to leave Vietnam, rather than running
the risks of the pirate-infested sea voyage.
7.
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