Cambodian American

Cambodian Americans (Khmer: ជនជាតិខ្មែរអាមេរិកាំង) and Khmer Americans are Americans of Cambodian and Khmer ancestry, respectively. In addition, Cambodian Americans are also Americans with ancestry of other ethnic groups of Cambodia, such as the Cham and Khmer Loeu peoples.1 The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. Cambodian Americans (Khmer: ជនជាតិខ្មែរអាមេរិកាំង) and Khmer Americans are Americans of Cambodian and Khmer ancestry, respectively. In addition, Cambodian Americans are also Americans with ancestry of other ethnic groups of Cambodia, such as the Cham and Khmer Loeu peoples. According to the 2010 US Census, an estimated 276,667 people of Cambodian descent reside in the United States, with most of the population concentrated in California and Massachusetts. There was no history of immigration from Cambodia into the United States prior to the 1970s. After the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge regime in 1975, few Cambodians were able to escape but it was not until after the regime was overthrown in 1979 did large waves of Cambodians begin immigrating to the US as refugees. Between 1975 and 1994, nearly 158,000 Cambodians were admitted. About 149,000 of them entered the country as refugees, and 6,000 entered as immigrants and 2,500 as humanitarian and public interest parolees. To encourage rapid cultural assimilation and to spread the economic impact, the US government dispersed the refugees into various cities and states throughout the country. However, once established enough to be able to communicate and travel, many Cambodians began migrating to certain places that the climate was more like home, they knew friends and relatives had been sent, or there were rumored to be familiar jobs or higher government benefits. Consequently, large communities of Cambodians took root in cities such as Long Beach, Fresno and Stockton in California;Providence, Rhode Island; Cleveland, Ohio; as well as Lynn and Lowell in Massachusetts; and Seattle and Portland in the Pacific Northwest.