​Washington, DC – Today, Trump and the GOP shut down the government due to their inability to pass a long term spending bill that invests in our families, communities, and children. The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) condemns the GOP's inaction that puts millions of people at risk and demands Congress to immediately find permanent legislative solutions for undocumented youth and recipients of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). 
 
Monica Thammarath, APALA National President, stated: "Instead of reaching a bipartisan deal, the GOP walked away from common sense policies that benefit the country as a whole. Rather than passing a DREAM Act which would provide relief for 800,000 undocumented youth, the GOP continues to criminalize immigrants of color and enable Trump's mass deportation, white supremacist agenda. In a political atmosphere where immigrants and workers are constantly under attack, what happens under the Trump regime could have irreparable ramifications for decades to come."
 
"The right wing needs to stop putting people's lives in grave danger," added APALA Executive Director Alvina Yeh. "Instead of providing healthcare for 9 million kids nationwide, Republicans are making our nation's children sick again. Passing the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) at the expense of the DREAMers is out of the question, just as putting our immigrant families on the line for a DACA deal is unconscionable. Children and working families deserve to have a fair chance to build healthy, stable lives here, but the GOP is clearly touting a literally sick, anti-immigrant, anti-worker agenda." 
 
"Republicans control every branch of government," continued Thammarath. "It is absolutely despicable that working families will feel the brunt of the GOP's political game and extremism. We demand the GOP to value our families and to find solutions that invest in our communities long term." 
 
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Washington, DC - Today, 19 Asian American peaceful protesters, including two of the highest-ranking Asian American leaders in the labor movement, were arrested in an action to demand Congress pass a clean DREAM Act before December 8. Protesters blocked the entrance of House Speaker Paul Ryan's office in Washington, DC and chanted that he move the DREAM Act to a vote. Those arrested include past and present leadership and staff of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA).
 
Luisa Blue, SEIU Executive Vice President, founding APALA member, and APALA National Executive Board Member, said: "I stood with my sisters and brothers to be arrested today because the AAPI community can no longer stand idly by while Congress and the Trump administration criminalize immigrants and people of color. More than 17,000 hard-working, law-abiding AAPI DACA recipients work and pay taxes in this country, and they now face being separated from their families and returned to the countries they left as children. Congress needs to pass a no-strings attached DREAM Act to protect 800,000 Dreamers, and act on behalf of our 300,000 sisters and brothers whose lives will be placed in limbo if Congress does not pass legislation extending Temporary Protected Status."
 
Johanna Puno Hester, AFSCME International Vice President, Assistant Executive Director of the United Domestic Workers of America, and immediate past president of APALA, added: "Our labor movement is ready to resist, organize, and fight back against hate. Today, I was proud to join eighteen other sisters and brothers on the front lines to say that the labor movement is not turning our backs on our undocumented community. The time to act is now, and we urge other organizers and leaders within the movement to join us in this fight for our freedom." 
 
Current APALA President Monica Thammarath of the National Education Association (NEA) concluded: “We thank all the undocumented youth for standing up and speaking out and also NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia and AFSCME Secretary Treasurer Elissa McBride for showing up for our communities. We are ready to put our bodies on the line -- that’s what this action was all about. Millions of undocumented working families live in fear of detention and deportation every single day. The Trump administration continues to stoke fear into our immigrant and refugee communities, and today and every day until white supremacists are out of office, we will protect and defend our family, friends, and communities from hate violence, racism, and xenophobia.” 
 
The action was held in coordination with the AAPI Immigrant Rights Organizing Table's Days of Mobilization to demand a clean DREAM Act. For more information, please visit: aapidream.org. 

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Washington, DC - Today, 19 Asian American peaceful protesters were arrested outside of Speaker Ryan’s office demanding that Congress pass a clean DREAM Act before December 8.  Protesters blocked the entrance of Speaker Ryan’s office and chanted that the House Leader call a vote to pass a clean DREAM Act.
 
The individuals below released the following statements in response to their arrest and detention:
 
Monica Thammarath, APALA National President and one of the peaceful protesters, stated:  “We are ready to put our bodies on the line -- that’s what this was all about. Millions of undocumented working families live in fear of detention and deportation every single day. The Trump administration continues to stoke fear into our immigrant and refugee communities, and today and every day until white supremacists are out of office, we will protect and defend our family, friends, and communities from hate violence, racism, and xenophobia.”
 
“It’s time to stop using the lives of immigrant youth as a bargaining chip in a cruel game of immigration politics,” said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. “These fearless protesters represent a much larger and determined Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) population standing with and in support of getting the DREAM Act passed through Congress now.”
 
“I am participating in this civil disobedience for the 22,000 DACA recipients who cannot,” added Inhe Choi, Board Member of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and Executive Director of the HANA Center, an affiliate of NAKASEC. “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!”
 
The action was coordinated as part of the AAPI Immigrant Organizing Table’s Days of Mobilization to demand Congress pass a clean DREAM Act.
 
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