Asian Americans Fight to Be Included in Immigration Reform

By Susan R. Paisner

Immigration reform is a legislative target on both sides of the Congressional aisle.
Terms like e-verify have been bantered around. But how many people are aware of its
implications for the AAPI community?

“Any immigration reform package must include the perspectives of the Asian American
and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community,” said Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Chair of the
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC). “As the single largest group
of new immigrants to this country and as a group disproportionately impacted by our
nation’s immigration backlogs, AAPIs have a major stake in the current debate.”

Nearly 60% of the AAPI population was born outside the United States.

CAPAC recently released its top five priorities for inclusion in any comprehensive
immigration reform bill. In addition, the caucus sent a letter to each of the Senate
negotiators as well as the Senate leadership, urging them to preserve family-sponsored
immigration by protecting family immigration visas, and has repeatedly spoken out to the
press about specific immigration issues that are important to the AAPI community.

18MillionRising.org (18MR), a campaign working with the Asian American center for
Advancing Justice – an organization comprised of the Asian Pacific American Legal
Center, Asian American Institute, Asian Law Caucus, and Asian American Justice
Center. 18MillionRising.org (18MR) – urges AAPIs to sign a petition that calls for such
actions as ending the separation of families wait years to be reunited. Such separations
can last from 2 years to 23, according to Erin Oshiro, senior staff attorney at the Asian
American Justice Center, something Rep. Chu terms “absolutely unacceptable.” The
campaign also supports reforming the 1996 immigration laws that have had a significant
impact on Southeast Asian refugees and Pacific Islanders.

“We need common sense solutions that preserve the family immigration system and
strengthen it to work for all families, our economy, and our nation as a whole,” said Mee
Moua, AAJC’s Executive Director.

And yet as Asian Fortune went to press, reports from Capitol Hill said that legislators
were considering reducing the number of available family visas, while simultaneously
paving the way for highly educated and skilled workers.

Not a good idea, said Jaime Farrant, Executive Director of Ayuda, a DC-area nonprofit
providing a wide range of immigration and family law assistance. “Make sure that low
wage workers are included in the package for reform. We hear about movement to
support STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] and those with higher
education – and that’s great that that reform could happen.” But, he added: “We would
like to see those who aren’t highly educated, highly skilled, but are contributing to thecommunity, have the opportunity to be right with the law.”
Specifically, advocates like Farrant would like to see any reform package contain several
critical elements, including reducing the family backlog so members can be reunited with
their loved ones more quickly than the current process provides.
Oshiro said that any reform bill would need to increase countries’ visa limits (which is
directly opposite to what is being discussed in Congress); recapture unused visas lost
to delays and paperwork each year, something she descriptively likened to “rollover
minutes”; and make the system more inclusive for LGBT individuals. At the moment,,
same sex couples cannot sponsor each other.
“AAJC, along with many in the Asian American community,” said Moua, “is working
closely with Congress in hopes of putting together a package that will reflect our
American values and provide fair and humane reform for Asian Americans and other
immigrant communities.”