​Washington, DC - The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) blasts the Administration's latest tactic to end the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Nicaraguans -- a move that further advances Trump's white supremacist, mass deportation agenda of communities of color.
 
"The administration continues to play politics with people's lives," stated APALA National President Monica Thammarath. "Thousands of Nicaraguans have created deep roots in this country and make meaningful contributions to our society every single day. Tearing working families apart and deporting our immigrant communities will have serious consequences on the moral fabric and economic stability of this country."
 
"Ending TPS for Nicaraguans without an alternative is yet another hateful reminder that immigrants are not welcome in this country," added APALA 1st Vice President Johanna Puno Hester. "As an immigrant myself, I am utterly disgusted. The administration has already unabashedly turned its back on undocumented immigrant youth, and now it is turning its back on families that have already escaped tremendous hardship - be it war or natural disaster. Put simply, to deport our families and our friends is to advance an ethnic cleansing agenda."
 
"As a daughter of refugees from Laos, my family's story is not so different from the thousands of TPS holders who've come decades ago. My family came to the U.S. to escape the dangers of war-torn country, and I would not be here if not for their bravery to start a new life in America," ended Thammarath. "APALA urges Congress to protect TPS holders whose status will soon expire, and we demand the administration save TPS for Hondurans, Salvadorans, and Haitians. Any elected official who refuses to stand up for our immigrant and refugee communities is complicit in the preservation of white supremacy at the highest level of government and ultimately the destruction of our democracy."
 
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Washington, D.C. — More than 18 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) immigrant advocacy, labor, civil rights, community health, service provider, and undocumented youth groups announced today the formation of an organizing collective to push for the swift passage of a clean DREAM Act.
 
On September 5, 2017, the Trump Administration announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, putting 800,000 DACA recipients, including over 30,000 Asian Americans, at risk for deportation. Since then, organizations have come together in the formation of the National AAPI Immigrant Rights Organizing Table.
 
The mission statement of the National AAPI Immigrant Rights Organizing Table reads:
 
The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Immigrant Rights Organizing Table was formed by a coalition of AAPI immigrant advocacy, labor, civil rights, community health, service provider and undocumented youth groups to collaborate and advocate for the swift passage of a clean DREAM Act.
 
By saying the bill must be “clean,” we mean that the DREAM Act should be passed without the attachment of any other provisions that would further negatively impact our immigration system. We oppose provisions that would enhance enforcement measures such as increasing the number of immigration agents, expanding the grounds of deportability or inadmissibility such as additional criminal bars, persecuting jurisdictions with policies that limit entanglement with ICE, and expanding the number of detention beds; add restrictive changes to our visa system; and further limit immigrants’ access to public benefits.
 
Together, we seek to mobilize AAPI communities and leverage our collective power to move elected officials and to lift up the voices and leadership of undocumented AAPIs and all AAPI communities in public immigration debates.  We plan to meet these goals through collaborative legislative advocacy and direct actions, community organizing, story collection, collective work in traditional and social media and information sharing and strategizing.
 
The AAPI Immigrant Rights Organizing Table will be convening a 2-day mobilization on November 15-16, 2017 in Washington D.C. For more information, RSVP at bit.ly/aapicleandream or visit aapidream.org.
 
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18MillionRising
Asian Americans Advancing Justice
Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF)
Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO)
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO
ASPIRE
HANA Center
Korean Resource Center
NAKASEC
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum (NAPAWF)
National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA)
National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA)
OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates Greater Seattle
South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT)
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)
The Office of Philadelphia City Councilmember Helen Gym
UPLIFT
 
Contact:
Becky Belcore
Co-Director, NAKASEC
[email protected]
 
Megan Essaheb
Director, Immigration Advocacy
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC
[email protected]

Washington, D.C. - The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) is disgusted and outraged by the Trump administration’s cruel, inhumane, anti-worker and racist immigration principles, which were released last Sunday night. In response, APALA National President Monica Thammarath issued the following statement:
 
"The Trump administration’s immigration principles is a White Supremacist's wish list and should not be taken lightly. This list includes building a border wall, hiring 10,000 additional enforcement and detention agents, heightening criminalization of those with overstayed visas or seeking asylum, expanding the E-verify program, deporting unaccompanied minors seeking refuge, and ending extended family sponsorship programs. Even while a bipartisan solution exists in Congress to protect Undocumented immigrant youth, the White Supremacists of the White House think they can exploit young people as bargaining chips to expand the U.S. police state and further criminalize and deport immigrants and refugees. 
 
As Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) working people, we will not be used as a wedge group nor will we remain silent or idle as this administration continues to harm our communities. We will continue to resist, organize and fight until a clean DREAM act is passed."
 
Since the cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program on September 5, APALA chapter members and our union partners have been driving calls, meeting with members of Congress, and standing on the front lines of grassroots mobilization to push for the passage of a clean DREAM Act. We must all continue to push members of Congress, regardless of party affiliation, to protect Undocumented immigrant youth without placing other immigrant communities at risk.
 
The time for action is now! You can call your members of Congress using APALA’s call line: 844-551-6921.

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