Within the five years after the fall ofthe South, over 545,000 Vietnamese fled the
country. Almost immediately after the fall ofthe South, 144,000 Vietnamese fled by air
and by boat. Those who fled by boat often suffered great hardships while trying to
escape; they are known as the "boat people". Others were forced to pay ridiculous
amounts of money to leave the country by the North Vietnamese. It took Phuoc Tran
almost a decade to compile the money to leave the countr)'. After she left the country, she
would no longer be recognized by the North Vietnamese government to be Vietnamese
and could not become a citizen. Of the thousands who fled the country, many settled in