National Week of AAPI Action around Immigration Reform

Asian Americans groups are in the midst of a National AAPI Week of Action for comprehensive immigration reform that runs until Jan. 20. Part of a revitalized effort to create movement around the issue of comprehensive immigration reform, new efforts have catalyzed around a bill filed by Rep. Luis Guttirrez of Illinois called CIR ASAP.

The effort among national, state and local AAPI organizations intends to "demonstrate the collective power and voice of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the comprehensive immigration reform debate." Activities include rallies, call-ins and lobbying Congress.

The Guttirrez bill is a liberal Democratic conglomeration of past proposals and has numerous failings including border security policies. Despite these shortcomings, it is the most constructive proposal that has been advanced and is a marker that Asian American communities should rally around. Though not specifically supporting this bill, the National AAPI Week of Action's principles are consistent with it.

Certainly, for the AAPI community, there are crucial immigration issues. As Asian Pacific Americans for Progress has pointed out, nearly half the backlog list for families visas "is composed of AAPI applicants. U.S. citizens and green card holders are currently waiting 5, 10 or even 20 years to be reunited with their loved ones. Facing the longest backlogs, Chinese and Indian siblings must wait 10 years for a visa, while Filipino sibling applicants may wait up to 23 years."

The issue of undocumented immigrants involves AAPI's more than generally recognized. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that a little over 1 million Asian Americans were undocumented in 2005. Among Korean Americans, roughly one in five is undocumented.

The Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander and South Asian communities have also suffered from deportation and detention polices. It has involved hundreds of young Cambodian Americans, Tongans and Fijians. For South Asians, the consequences of 9/11 enforcement has curtailed South Asian and Muslim immigrants’ due process and civil liberties.

API Movement supports the Natinal Week of Action and CIR ASAP. It has organized its STIRR project to build greater support at the grassroots level initially through community meetings, petitions and letter writing.