boat people
Waterborne asylum seekers
Boat people are refugees who flee their country by sea, often in overcrowded or unseaworthy vessels.
The term gained currency during the mass exodus from Vietnam after 1975, when hundreds of thousands risked drowning to escape: The boat people faced pirates, storms, and uncertain welcome.
It now applies to any seaborne refugees, particularly those crossing the Mediterranean or Caribbean.
The term can carry dismissive or dehumanizing connotations when used to reduce refugees to their mode of travel.
Shelter from persecution
- exodusMass departure from somewhere
- displacedShifted from proper location
- statelessWithout national belonging
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
flee · sanctuary · humanitarian · crisis · exile · survivors · rescue · adrift
Journey by sea
- emigrantsPeople leaving their country
- migrantsPeople who move elsewhere
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
- displacementRemoval from usual location
relocation · smugglers · trafficking · passage · departure · journey · arrival · shores
Of Southeast Asian nation
- CubanFrom a Caribbean nation
- HaitianOf a Caribbean republic
- MarielCuban coastal city
- IndochineseFrom mainland Southeast Asia
postwar · 1970s · 1980s · Southeast Asian · communist · regime · processing center · sponsor
asylum
Shelter from persecution
- exodusMass departure from somewhere
- displacedShifted from proper location
- statelessWithout national belonging
persecution · flee · sanctuary · humanitarian · crisis · exile · survivors · rescue · adrift · capsized
voyage
Journey by sea
- emigrantsPeople leaving their country
- migrantsPeople who move elsewhere
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
displacement · relocation · smugglers · trafficking · passage · departure · journey · arrival · shores · destination
Vietnamese
Of Southeast Asian nation
Indochinese · postwar · 1970s · 1980s · Southeast Asian · communist · regime · processing center · sponsor · integration
- migrationmigration, immigrants, refugees, immigration, emigration
- migrantsmigrants, arctic tern, monarch butterfly, caribou, humpback whale
- seafaring peoplessailors, navigators, Vikings, fishermen, Polynesians
- Australian HistoryCaptain Cook, Commonwealth, federation, explorers, Liberal Party
- Vietnam WarVietnam War, Vietnam, Tet Offensive, My Lai Massacre, Viet Cong
- Asian diasporaVietnamese Americans, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Korean community, ethnic enclaves
boat peoplegreen card holders
Immigrants with permanent status
naturalized citizens · expatriates · jet-setters · digital nomads
people, boat, boating, sailboat, rowboat, boatman, lifeboat, motorboat, speedboat