Joe Biden fought to keep out Vietnamese refugees from the U.S. in 1975.

Joe Biden voted in favor of a resolution issued by the U.S. Senate to welcome the Vietnam refugees to America in 1975.

Joe Biden voted in favor of a resolution issued by the U.S. Senate to welcome the Vietnam refugees to America in 1975.During the voting-related to a resolution introduced by Sen. Alan Cranston [D-CA, 1969-1992] on May 8, 1975, to welcome South Vietnam and Cambodia's refugees, the 91 votes in favor of the bill included Senator Joe Biden's vote.

In the White House meeting on April 14, 1975, former U.S. President Gerald Ford and the then-Secretary of State Kissinger and then-Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger, the then-Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, including Senator Biden and several senior U.S. government officials, agreed on two main points. Firstly getting Americans safely out of Vietnam, and secondly, to evacuate about 175,000 Vietnamese. The military aid to the Republic of Vietnam (RVN) was discussed but not decided upon.

Joe Biden said that the United States should focus on getting the Vietnamese refugees out of the war-torn regions. He did not support additional military aid for the GVN (Government of [South] Vietnam). Later, he said that he was ready to vote any number of times to get Americans out. The transcript of the bill makes it clear that Biden was supportive of getting the refugees out of Vietnam. But he did not support extra military aid.

Finally, the bill was passed into law by the Democrats allowing 130,000 refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia. Biden missed the final vote but voted yes during an earlier Senate committee review of the bill. They also sponsored a resolution that welcomed refugees to the United States of America, and Biden was a co-sponsor to that resolution and voted to accept Vietnamese refugees.