Asian American leaders are mobilizing their communities to speak out in favor of Latinos, who have been the main targets of the enforcement sweeps, as federal immigration raids continue to upend life in Los Angeles. They are cautioning that Asian immigrant-frequented neighborhoods may be the next to be targeted.
Organizers claim that the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants has already had an impact on a large number of Asian immigrants. Immigration lawyers and advocacy groups said that dozens of Southeast Asian immigrants in Orange and Los Angeles counties who had deportation orders on indefinite hold were arrested after appearing for regular check-ins at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices.
Many immigrants from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos who had their deportation orders halted for decades have been informed in recent months that they will now be enforced.
Targeted Asian immigrants are typically those who were convicted of a crime after entering the country, which makes them vulnerable to deportation upon their release from jail or prison. Because the immigrants had been in the United States long enough for their home nations to no longer recognize them as citizens, ICE rarely followed through.
According to Connie Chung Joe, CEO of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California, “although our community is much more silent, we are being detained in really high numbers.” Because of the shame and fear, our community’s first response is to become more and more hidden, in contrast to the Latinx community, which wants to stand out and fight against injustices.
At a news conference in Little Tokyo on Thursday, over six leaders from the Thai, Japanese, and South Asian communities urged the community to unite and condemn the government move as an overreach.
When he took office in January, President Trump promised to deport violent offenders. However, administration officials have recently turned their attention to farmworkers, landscapers, street vendors, and other day laborers—many of whom have been employed in the nation for decades—in response to pressure to increase the number of deportations.
The Migration Policy Institute estimates that while natives of Mexico and Central America account for 79% of undocumented inhabitants in L.A. County, Asian immigrants make up the second-largest group, accounting for 16% of those without legal status. After Mexicans and Salvadorans, Indians comprise the third-largest group of undocumented residents in the United States.
The biggest concentrations of Cambodian, Korean, Indonesian, Filipino, Thai, and Vietnamese individuals in the United States reside in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, according to the Pew Research Center.
The most well-known raids in Southern California to far have targeted car washes, eateries, home improvement companies, churches, and other places where illegal people congregate and work in Latino communities.
Asian companies, however, have not been exempt. ICE agents have been spotted patrolling the streets of Thai Town, where a raid took place outside a Home Depot in Hollywood. When Department of Homeland Security officers stormed a nightclub in the Los Angeles region in late May, they detained 36 individuals they claimed were illegal Chinese and Taiwanese immigrants.
According to Manjusha P. Kulkarni, executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, a collaboration of more than 50 community-based organizations, immigration officials recently arrested 16 persons outside a grocery store in Little Bangladesh.
According to Kulkarni, they will target us considerably more in the days and weeks ahead. Therefore, we are only safe when we stand alongside our fellow Angelenos.
According to ICE data, 722 persons were arrested in the Los Angeles area between June 1 and June 10, when the federal sweeps began. The Deportation Data Project, a UC Berkeley Law enforcement data repository, provided the numbers.
According to a Times investigation, 69% of people arrested during that time had no prior criminal records. El Salvador accounted for 8%, Guatemala for 16%, and Mexico for over 48%.
Out of the 722 people arrested, 47 (about 6%) came from Asian nations.
Assemblymember Mike Fong, a Democrat whose district includes the west San Gabriel Valley and Monterey Park, places with significant Asian immigrant populations, stated, “We know the fear is deep and widespread.”
California
On Wednesday night, religious leaders from all around the Los Angeles area marched to the Federal Building to demand a halt to the federal immigration sweeps that they claim are destroying neighborhoods.
Nithya Raman and Ysabel Jurado, both members of the Los Angeles City Council, discussed the effects the raids were having on immigrant neighborhoods. Jurado is Filipino American, and Raman is Indian American.
According to Jurado, a significant number of caregivers in the area are undocumented Filipinos who look after the elderly and little children.
According to Jurado, their labor embodies the core ideals of our communities: interconnectedness, compassion, and service. Their humanity must be respected, and their labor is vital.
The federal government was urged to stop the raids by Jurado and Raman.
According to Raman, it is a crucial time to stand up and make sure that the Latino population doesn’t feel isolated. Additionally, I want to emphasize to all Asian Americans that these are not merely raids on other people. They are attacking us.
This report was written by Rachel Uranga, a staff writer.
This piece examines the difficulties faced by low-income workers and the initiatives being taken to close California’s economic gap as part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, which is supported by the James Irvine Foundation.
