Arizona's New Immigration Law and Undocumented Asian Americans

Thanks to Lisette Le

 

Arizona's new law - SB1070 - is pretty devastating for all immigrant groups. It allows police to demand proof of citizenship from anyone who looks "illegal." A lot of people will think of the new bill as a "Latino" or "brown" issue, but the 2nd largest population of people crossing the Arizona/Mexico border are Chinese immigrants. Asian Americans have a long history in Arizona (Chinese Americans working on the rail roads, Japanese American internment camps), and there has been a great increase in Southeast Asians and Asian Indians. 

 

According to the New York Times, in fiscal 2009, 332 Chinese immigrants were caught in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector. This was eleven times the 30 caught the previous year. In fiscal 2010 first quarter, the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector arrested 281 Chinese immigrants from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

 

So the new bill not only a "brown" issue; it's also "yellow."