In this chapter Akoka analyses France’s involvement in the resettlement of 130,000 people from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam during the 1980s, a move that placed France as the leading reception country in Europe, and the second in the world behind the USA. Once in France arrivees enjoyed significant rights and exceptional assistance at both the national and local levels and were supported by prominent intelligentsia, artists, politicians across the political spectrum. The chapter shows the intense work involved in building up the ‘boat people’ as archetypal refugees and the wide range of political issues underlying the outstanding resettlement and reception schemes. Akoka shows how the apparent generosity of France’s response was underpinned by its preoccupations with post-colonial and Cold War rivalries, intellectual politics, labour supply, economic interests and electoral competition.