Date: : 06/07/2004

The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) is saddened by the passing of former President Ronald Reagan. OCA National President Raymond Wong said of President Reagan, “President Reagan was a great American who was an optimistic patriot and leader in the troubling times of the Cold War. He was an eloquent statesman who leaves behind a record of significant contribution to Asian American history.”Two of President Reagan’s most notable achievements for Asian Americans were signing the Amerasian Immigration Act of 1982, and the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.

The Amerasian Immigration Act is also known as the Amerasian Homecoming Act of 1982 and sought to admit children born in five Asian countries between 1962 and 1976 to Vietnamese mothers and American fathers, together with their immediate relatives to the United States. The 1982 act offered permanent residency to Amerasians coming from South Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. This law stopped short of bestowing full U.S. citizenship. Full U.S. citizenship for Vietnamese Amerasians born between 1962 and 1976 and their families was later added in an amendment to the act in 1988.

The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was the culmination of studies conducted by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians created by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. Under Reagan’s watch in 1983, the Commission concluded that the World War II incarceration of Japanese-Americans had not been justified by military necessity. Reagan famously called the Japanese American internment “a grave injustice.” President Reagan signed the bill providing $1.25 billion in reparations and a formal apology from the government for the forcible relocation of 120,000 Japanese-Americans. The U.S. government authorized the payment of $20,000 to each of the estimated 60,000 surviving former internees.

President Reagan also appointed the first Asian American woman chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Wendy Gramm in 1988. President Reagan was also the first president to meet with the pan-Asian voters group the Asian American Voters Coalition.