ABSTRACT
The demographic characteristics of international migrants often explain a state's response to their migration. As a result, crossnational comparison of migrant adaptation usually must include the immigrants or refugees themselves as a cause of variation in modes of incorporation. This would be the case if the United States (US) had ended the admission of Indochinese refugees following the arrival of the Vietnamese elite in 1975, and if France had only accepted destitute Chinese-Vietnamese boat people in 1979-1980. Like the United States, France admits Indochinese refugees because they are allied aliens. Despite the common political relationship between the people of Indochina and France and the US, resettling Indochinese refugees is primarily an American activity. The Indochinese refugee population in the US is primarily Vietnamese, with small proportions of Laotians and Cambodians. The constants include the refugees' political identity, the timing and magnitude of their migration, and their ethnic and class background.
