PolickTips

By Michelle Phipps-Evans

This month Asian Fortune is introducing a new column that explores news, views and cues in the exciting political sphere.

The column will touch on the three branches of the federal government, state-level political tidbits, little known historical facts, and on occasion, a dose of gossip.

Amendments to Bring Filipino WWII Vets Closer to Family Reunification Stall in Congressional Committees

    A year ago, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) introduced an amendment, the “Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act of 2013,” which amended the Immigration and Nationality Act, by exempting the children of certain Filipino World War II veterans from limitations on immigrant visas. This amendment was part of several family reunification amendments the senator introduced during her first term in the U.S. Senate as the only Asian-American immigrant on the Judiciary Committee, and in the Senate. Gaining six co-sponsors, the amendment was referred to the Senate’s Judiciary Committee since March 5, 2013. Although thousands of Filipino veterans were granted citizenship because of their World War II service to the United States, their children were not granted citizenship. Sen. Hirono’s amendment would help eliminate the immigration backlog for the families of Filipino WW II vets seeking citizenship. The amendment was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary on March 5. Passage will allow permanent residents to petition their immediate families more quickly.

    A similar amendment was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Colleen W. Hanabusa, also of Hawaii. The House bill, the “Filipino Veterans Family Reunification Act of 2013,” picked up nine co-sponsors and was referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security in the House Committee on the Judiciary on March 5, 2013. The bill has not moved any further, and Asian Fortune will continue to track its movements. According to govtrack, a website that tracks legislation, the Senate bill has a 13 percent chance of getting out the committee and a 2 percent chance of passing. The passage of the House bill is even worse at a 5 percent chance of making it out of the committee; and a 1 percent chance of passing.

Asian-Americans “Too Busy” to Vote

    About three in 10 Asian-American eligible voters have cast ballots in midterm elections since 1998, a much lower turnout rate than the rate for whites and blacks, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data. With an estimated 9 million eligible voters in 2014, the Asian-American electorate for the fall’s midterm elections makes up 4 percent of all eligible voters. By contrast, Hispanics—the largest minority group—today make up 11.3 percent of all eligible voters. In 2012, 3 percent of Asians voted, compared to 72 percent for whites, 13 percent for blacks and 10 percent for Latinos. And despite having higher levels of education and income, Asian-American turnout was a mere 2 percent in the previous two presidential cycles.

    Among the reasons Asian Americans have cited for lower voter turnout, they were “most likely” to say they were too busy. Among 37 percent of Asian Americans chose in a survey, “too busy, conflicting work or school schedule as reasons for not voting, compared to about one in four Hispanics, whites and black, according to Pew.

 

RNC Launches Advisory Councils

Several prominent Asian Americans in the Republican Party will serve in an Asian Pacific American Advisory Council, one of three National Advisory Councils created by the Republican National Committee to strengthen ties with minority communities and expand engagement efforts across the country. The other councils are the African American Advisory Council and the Hispanic Advisory Council.
Launched early March, the councils are part of the RNC’s commitment to engage voters year-round to build a lasting foundation for future campaigns. Council members will lend expertise in developing better, more effective engagement strategies between the RNC and state parties and communities across the country. Besides providing advice and counsel to RNC leadership and staff, the advisory council members will attend community events, address grassroots activists nationwide, and attend RNC meetings. To complement the work of the three National Advisory Councils, the RNC is working with state parties to form state advisory councils as well.
The APA on the council have been pulled from across the country from various industries. It includes Rhode Island Mayor Allan Fung, Kentucky-based former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, Georgia Rep. Byung Jin “BJ” Pak, California Vice Chair Michelle Park Steele, and DC-based Director of External Affairs at Microsoft Corp Sukhail Khan, among others.

Grassroots Effort to Garner Asian Support for the GOP

   The Asian Republican Coalition, a nonprofit grassroots organization, was recently created to garner support for the Republican Party and its candidates. Co-founded by international investment banker John Ying—who served on the Republican National Finance Committee during the 2012 presidential election cycle—said the GOP most closely aligns with Asian core values such as family, education and entrepreneurship. Ying’s hope is that his early May kickoff event in Washington, D.C., will open a front door for both potential voters and Republican lawmakers and officials.

    Most of the GOP’s focus recently has been in trying to connect with Hispanic voters. However, over the past three presidential election cycles, Asians have increasingly voted Democrat: 73 percent for Obama compared to 26 percent for GOP nominee Mitt Romney in 2012; 62 percent for Obama compared to 26 percent for GOP nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008; and 56 percent for Democratic nominee John Kerry compared to 44 percent for GOP winner George W. Bush in 2004. Part of the problem, said Ying, is that Asian Americans are “shy” about engaging in the U.S’s political process; and as a race is a complex, non-homogeneous group with many different languages. Ying made it clear that his group was interested in the 2014 and 2016 elections but emphasized members want to focus only on broader issues.

 

Little Known Historical Fact

   In 1927, in Gong Lum vs. Rice, the Supreme Court ruled that a Mississippi school district could legally require a Chinese-American child to attend a black school rather than a white school under the same law. These two cases predated Brown vs. the Board of Education that was first appealed in 1951 and which would eventually abolish segregated schools.

Email mbpevans@yahoo.com with tips to include in next month’s PolickTips.