NewsCalifornia News

Actions

'We were them:' Vietnamese Americans help Afghan refugees

Vietnamese Americans Afghan Refugees
Posted
and last updated

WESTMINSTER, Calif. (AP) — The crisis in Afghanistan has reopened painful wounds for many of the 2 million Vietnamese Americans living in the United States. It's driven some elders to open up about their own harrowing departure to younger generations for the first time.

It has also spurred many Vietnamese Americans to donate money to refugee resettlement groups to assist newly arriving Afghans and offer to help.

Television images of Afghans vying to get out of Kabul on U.S. military flights evoked memories for many Vietnamese Americans of their own attempts to escape a falling Saigon more than four decades ago.

Seeing themselves in the Afghans left behind, many say the U.S. military departure isn't the end of the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan but the beginning.

,

Weather

Daily Forecast

View Hourly Forecast

Day

Conditions

HI / LO

Precip

Thursday

03/26/2026

Partly Cloudy

-° / 57°

5%

Friday

03/27/2026

Mostly Clear

87° / 59°

3%

Saturday

03/28/2026

Partly Cloudy

89° / 59°

1%

Sunday

03/29/2026

Mostly Clear

89° / 61°

0%

Monday

03/30/2026

Cloudy

86° / 63°

5%

Tuesday

03/31/2026

Showers Early

73° / 56°

32%

Wednesday

04/01/2026

Partly Cloudy

75° / 52°

12%

Thursday

04/02/2026

Partly Cloudy

69° / 49°

18%