Nation: The Not-So-Promised Land?

Indochinese refugees fight suspicion and hostility

Shortly after 6 a.m. last Tuesday, World Airways Flight 031 touched down at California's Travis Air Force Base. A stream of 396 Indochinese refugees began to struggle down the stairway with their makeshift shopping-bag luggage, pausing at the bottom to fold their hands and bow formally to the flight attendants. After a briefing in Khmer and Lao and the processing of health forms, the refugees were hustled aboard buses and taken to a TraveLodge motel for introductory lessons on American life: how to operate light switches, how to...

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