Abstract
Southeast Asians were some of the first refugees arriving in the United States of
America with federal refugee assistance after the passage of the Refugee Act of
- A large population from Cambodia entered the United States in the 1980s as a
result of one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century. In this paper, I investi-
gate the scope and motives for remittances from the United States that are transferred
to Cambodia, the country of origin of the refugees. This will be done by taking a
closer look at trends in remittances between 1992 and 2013, factors that contribute to
the decisions to send remittances, and the characteristics of remittance recipients. The
study found out that: (1) around half of the total remittances in the world transferred
to Cambodia were derived from the United States, while amounts from each individ-
ual sender depended upon the economic condition of Cambodian Americans and the
financial needs of their target recipient; (2) factors influencing decision-making in
sending remittances included regular communication, age, amount of time for arrival
to the receiving country, and closer association to Cambodian communities in the
United States; and (3) remittances were primarily transferred to senior and younger
family members for use in daily expenditures, health care and educational support.
