Nineteen Asian-American leaders and activists were arrested during a protest in front of Speaker Paul Ryan’s Washington, D.C. office last week, the latest in a series of demonstrations this month calling on Republican congressional leaders to bring a clean DREAM Act to a vote by December. If legislators do not pass legislation, 800,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients stand to lose their work permits and protection from deportation, including 16,000 Asian youth:
“I stood with my sisters and brothers to be arrested today because the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community can no longer stand idly by while Congress and the Trump administration criminalize immigrants and people of color,” Luisa Blue, who was one of those arrested and is a founding member of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), told HuffPost.
The people arrested, who were reportedly blocking Ryan’s office, were released the same day.
APALA is part of the coalition, the AAPI Immigrant Organizing Table, as are the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium and the HANA Center, among others. They were demanding a “clean” Dream Act, which would provide a pathway for Dreamers to obtain citizenship without adding measures that would harm other immigrants.
Earlier this month, 18 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) immigrant advocacy groups called on Asian-Americans to mobilize for a clean DREAM Act. “Currently,” notes the Huffington Post, “there are about 1.7 million undocumented Asian immigrants in the U.S. The group represents the fastest growing demographic among undocumented immigrants.“ Like the 12,000 black immigrant youth protected by DACA, Asian immigrant youth are often overlooked.
“I am participating in this civil disobedience for the 22,000 DACA recipients who cannot,” said Inhe Choi, National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) board member and executive cirector of the HANA Center, a NAKASEC affiliate. “Over 8,000 young people have lost DACA since September 5 and hundreds lose protection each week Congress does not pass legislation to protect them. We must pass a #cleanDREAMact NOW!”
”We are truly in this together,” said Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono during another demonstration in support of a clean DREAM Act. “I am standing here with you.” During a meeting with HANA Center representatives, Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth said, “I support the full DREAM Act, and that is what I will fight for.” Sign here if you agree: Congress must pass the Dream Act of 2017.