SEARAC was founded in 1979 as the “Indochina Refugee Action Center” or “IRAC” by a group of Americans concerned about the genocide in Cambodia, as well as the large number of refugees fleeing Southeast Asia. The war and bombings of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia claimed millions of lives between 1955 and 1975. After the wars ended, political persecution and violence continued to force hundreds of thousands of refugees across borders and out onto the open sea. IRAC pushed the US to welcome these refugees and protect their human rights and dignity.
Their Mission
SEARAC is a national civil rights organization that empowers Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese American communities to create a socially just and equitable society. As representatives of the largest refugee community ever resettled in the United States, SEARAC stands together with other refugee communities, communities of color, and social justice movements in pursuit of social equity.
They envision a socially, politically, and economically just society for all communities to enjoy for all generations.
They empower communities for change.
SEARAC is the only national civil rights organization devoted to empowering and uplifting the Southeast Asian American community. Their advocacy campaigns are grounded in deep engagement with community-based organizations and individual advocates, and they work mindfully in solidarity with other communities of color and social justice movements. Their main areas of work at the national and California state level include: education, immigration, health, boys and men of color, and aging.
Policy areas
SEARAC advocates around policy areas at the national and California-state level that uniquely impact the Southeast Asian American community: education equity, immigrant justice, health access, aging with dignity, and Asian American boys & men of color.
