​Washington, DC - Yesterday, Peter Liang, who was found guilty of manslaughter and official misconduct by a grand jury in February, was sentenced to five years of probation and 800 hours of community service. This was a reduction from the original conviction of a 15-year prison sentence for the second-degree manslaughter of Akai Gurley. The second-degree manslaughter was reduced to a criminally negligent homicide following the appeals process, and with this new sentence sends a message that killing innocent lives are justified when the crime is done by a police officer.   

"We must continue calling for an end to police brutality and uplift the voices and narratives of those directly impacted by this unending cycle of systemic oppression. We know all too well that people of color, and disproportionately Black lives, are lost at the hands of the state every day and families are left to navigate a system that was never designed for them in the first place," said APALA National President Johanna Puno Hester.

Akai Gurley died at 28 years old after Peter Liang shot him in a dimly lit Brooklyn stairwell. Immediately following the shooting, Liang failed to call for medical help, killing Gurley in the process. Gurley leaves behind his daughters without a father, a mother without her son, and siblings without their brother.   

"APALA believes Akai Gurley's life mattered and that Liang should have served jail time like any average civilian who is convicted of the same crime," said Gregory Cendana, APALA's Executive Director. "We want to reiterate our support for Akai's family, especially in this difficult time, and recommit ourselves to demanding justice for Akai Gurley and the many other lives lost to state violence. APALA stands firmly in our belief that #BlackLivesMatter and will continue to fight the mass criminalization of all people of color."
​
Read the Official Joint Statement from Asian/Chinese American Organizations on the Sentencing of Former NYPD Officer Peter Liang in the Killing of Akai Gurley here: bit.ly/1VABWTq. 

###

​Washington, DC - On April 18, 2016 the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) joined thousands of people on the steps of the Supreme Court urging the highest federal court of the United States to stand with immigrant families and vote in favor of President Obama's proposed executive actions that included an expanded Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (DACA) and the establishment of Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA). The President's proposed executive actions would grant protection against the deportation as well as the lawful right to work for over 5 million people, and of that, 400,000 are Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).

"Our country was built on the back of immigrant labor. Many have continuously contributed to our economy and to our society yet are the most vulnerable and exploited workers in America. By upholding President Obama's Executive Action, we are providing not just administrative relief for the millions of Undocumented immigrants who qualify for Expanded DACA/DAPA but also the dignity and respect they deserve," said Johanna Puno Hester, APALA's National President.
The case known as Texas v. United States was a result of the U.S. 5th Circuit of Appeals decision to block the implementation of the Expanded DACA and DAPA last November. Since then, many immigrant families have been continued to be deported and separated and the lives of million have been put in limbo unsure of what would happen next.

"Since the implementation of original DACA I have had the opportunity to support myself without the fear of deportation," said Yves Gomes, APALA National Executive Board Member. "Similarly, more immigrants and their families will have protection under President Obama's Executive Actions of expanded DACA and DAPA. However the majority of undocumented people, including the ones that fought for and demanded DAPA in the first place, are excluded from the newest provisions. They continue to live traumatized under the daily threats of detention and deportation."
​
"We have to call on the Supreme Court to stand in favor of President Obama's Executive Actions. With the millions of Undocumented immigrants and refugees living in the United States, expanded DACA and DAPA would provide necessary relief for the many communities who are disproportionately criminalized and deported as a consequence of this country's unjust enforcement policies," said Monica Thammarath, APALA National's 1st Vice President. "More importantly, we cannot stop here. While a favorable outcome would be a step in the right direction, APALA will continue fighting for immigration reform that supports all Undocumented Americans and their families."

###

Washington, DC – Asians Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) Beyond Bars, a coalition of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations, community leaders, and directly impacted individuals, join 39 organizations in an effort to improve the lives of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. Particularly, they are calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring up a vote on the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123), and for all Senators to support the bill.
“As a nation, we need to make criminal justice reform a priority especially as young people of color that come from immigrant, poor, and working class families, and communities become further disproportionately impacted by our country's ’tough on crime’ policies and perpetual school to prison to deportation pipeline,” said Minh Nguyen, Executive Director of VAYLA based in New Orleans, LA. "Bringing the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act to the senate floor for a vote would mark a step forward for the many communities fighting for comprehensive criminal justice reform policies in this country. We are committed to this fight to dismantle the system of oppression for the long haul and will continue to organize to ensure racial, gender and economic justice for all.
In the last thirty years alone, America's prison population has grown from 500,000 during the 1980s to the 2.2 million incarcerated people today1. As a result, the United States now shares 25% of the world's prison population2. Specifically for AAPI communities, the prison population has increased by 250% from 1990 to 20003.
"We understand that the Southeast Asian and broader AAPI narrative is continuously overlooked in debates surrounding criminal justice reform. From high poverty rates, high school dropout rates, a history of trauma, criminalization, and an increase in deportation rates, the experiences of Southeast Asian communities pose a unique challenge for the many policy makers who have little to no understanding of the nuanced experiences of the larger AAPI population," said Cat Bao Le in Charlotte, NC, Southeast Asian Coalition's Executive Director. 
In December 2015, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA), Asian Prisoner Support Committee, National Education Association and Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) published “AAPIs Behind Bars”, a first of its kind report on how the school-to-prison-to-deportation impacts AAPI communities. View the report: http://bit.ly/AAPIsBehindBars 
"As a community organization that supports formerly incarcerated AAPIs and works to end mass incarceration and the criminalization of people of color, API RISE is proud to stand with others in the AAPI community to call on Senator McConnell to bring up a vote on the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (S. 2123). Given many AAPIs in prison were juveniles sentenced as adults, we hope that this is just the beginning and that future efforts will be able to impact more men and women regardless of their crimes," said Duc Ta of Asian Pacific Islander Re-Entry and Inclusion Through Support and Empowerment (API RISE) based in Los Angeles, CA.
APALA Nevada’s Ray Takeda & member of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) added, "We will continue to engage our communities in Las Vegas, throughout the state and across the country to pass S. 2123 and move sentencing and broader criminal justice reform. It is especially important for our communities to stand together on this issue if we are to ever create a system of restorative justice for all."
The full letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell can be found here:http://bit.ly/1RWP4iq
1 The Sentencing Project, “Trends in U.S. Corrections”:http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_Trends_in_Corrections_Fact_sheet.pdf 
2 American Civil Liberties Union, “The Prison Crisis”:https://www.aclu.org/prison-crisis   
3 Oh, A., and Umemoto, K. AAPIs: From incarceration to re-entry. Amerasian Journal. 2005;31(3):43-59

###