Elizabeth Warren Says She's Got a Plan For Asian America

Things to Know From Angry Asian America



Elizabeth Warren: A Working Agenda for AAPIs
From the Elizabeth Warren Campaign: "We need to collect comprehensive disaggregated data if we are going to make big structural changes so that our democracy works for everyone. This document is a work in progress and will continue to be updated based on input and insight from Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) activists, community leaders, organizers, policy experts, and stakeholders."

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U.S. Funding Reintegration Program for Laotian and Hmong Refugees
Laotian and Hmong refugees are preparing to face a possible increase in deportations, in part because the U.S. government is funding a reintegration program to help Laos accept nationals with final orders of removal.

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Larry Itliong and the Great Delano Grape Strike
At 15, Larry Itliong came to America with a dream. His plans changed when he learned the truth about his new home. In 1965, he led Filipino farmworkers in a historic fight for their rights. Episode 12 of Long Distance tells the story of the influential labor leader and the Delano Grape Strike.

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The Green Knight
Oh damn. Check out the teaser trailer for The Green Knight, a new cinematic twist on the Arthurian legend -- starring Dev Patel. The medieval fantasy adventures tells the story of Sir Gawain, King Arthur's reckless and headstrong nephew, who embarks on a daring quest to confront the eponymous Green Knight, a gigantic emerald-skinned stranger and tester of men. Dev's got a sword. Dev's on a quest. And I am here for it.

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Netflix to Serve Documentary Series on Naomi Osaka
Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka is set as the subject of a Netflix documentary series. The series will cover Osaka's pivotal year, from the US Open in August last year, on tour as Osaka plays in each of this year's Grand Slam tournaments, and prepares for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Sign this petition to protect our families and communities

Sign on against amendments to the current U.S.-Vietnam repatriation agreement.


Vietnamese American community members protest in Little Saigon. (Los Angeles Times)
You may have heard that the Trump administration, in its ongoing aggression against immigrants, is resuming its efforts to deport thousands of protected Vietnamese refugees who have lived in the United States for decades -- many of them having fled the country during the Vietnam War.

The community is watching. A coalition of Vietnamese community members, and local, state and national immigrant, civil rights and human rights organizations are urging folks to speak out, sign this petition and let the Department of Homeland Security and Vietnam know the community is watching.

SIGN-ON AGAINST AMENDMENTS TO US-VIETNAM REPATRIATION AGREEMENT 2008

The petition demands that the protections afforded to Vietnamese immigrants under the current U.S.-Vietnam repatriation agreement be maintained, established in 2008, and oppose any amendments that further threaten to tear apart families and upend communities.

The petition has further information (also translated in Vietnamese):

Trump wants to deport Vietnamese refugees

The administration is resuming efforts to deport certain protected Vietnamese immigrants.


Trump speaks in Hanoi in 2017. (Photo Credit: Associated Press)
Sooner or later, they will come for you, too. In its ongoing assault on immigrants, the Trump administration is reportedly resuming its efforts to deport certain protected Vietnamese immigrants who have lived in the United States for decades -- many of them having fled the country during the Vietnam War.

Basically, the administration has now decided that Vietnamese immigrants who arrived in the country before the 1995 establishment of diplomatic ties between the United States and Vietnam are subject to standard immigration law -- meaning they are all eligible for deportation.

From The Atlantic:

This Dy Nguyen and his baby girl.

Guest Post by Thi Bui



This is Dy Nguyen and his baby girl. Like me, Dy was three years old when his mother packed him into a boat to escape Viet Nam, risking everything to seek out safety and freedom.

A victim of political persecution, Dy's mother had been trying to escape since the fall of South Viet Nam. After three failed attempts, Dy's mother made it to Malaysia with her husband and their two boys. But unlike my family, who were resettled after a few months, they were left in the refugee camp for seven years. The camp eventually shut down and they were sent back to Viet Nam along with the other abandoned refugees. By then, Dy was ten years old.

Viet Nam and the U.S. negotiated a program called Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese Returnees, and through a complicated screening process, Dy's family was finally allowed to come to the U.S. when he was twelve. The next years of his life were marked by his parents' separation, moving between states, and getting into trouble. In his early twenties, he was convicted for theft by receiving stolen property, lost his green card, and served a five-year sentence. In prison, Dy began to reform. He studied and earned his GED. He found strength and healing in his spiritual faith. Since his release, Dy has been an active member of his church, where he serves as a youth leader and uses his past mistakes to steer those he mentors towards a better path.

Meanwhile, ICE keeps trying to deport him.

This is Mony Neth

Guest Post by Thi Bui



This is Mony Neth. He's the same age as me -- forty two. I came from Viet Nam; he came from Cambodia. His family fled the Khmer Rouge when he was just a few months old. He spent years in a refugee camp in Thailand. By the time Mony arrived in the U.S. as a refugee, he was ten years old.

When he was a teenager, he was convicted of possessing a weapon and receiving stolen property and lost his green card. That was twenty two years ago. Since then, Mony got married, raised a daughter who is now sixteen, and cares for his aging parents. He installs solar panels for a living and serves the homeless with his church community. Even the court that convicted him has recognized his efforts to turn his life around, granting him a certificate of rehabilitation.

But that wasn't enough for ICE.

ICE is targeting Cambodian Americans in the largest raid ever

Civil rights advocates file nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of 100+ refugees detained by ICE.


​Posda Tuot, cousin of Nak Kim "Rickie" Chhoeun, who was detained by ICE on October 20, 2017.
Cambodian refugees detained in recent raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have filed a nationwide class action lawsuit challenging their unlawful arrests. Since early October, ICE has rounded up over a hundred Cambodian refugees with deportation orders, making these the largest raids ever to target the Cambodian community. Nearly 2000 Cambodian refugees are at risk of being unlawfully arrested.

The complaint, filed last Friday by civil rights organizations Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, and Sidley Austin LLP, alleges the detentions are illegal, and argues that without that clear pathway to deportation, the detainees should be released.

The people detained in the raids arrived in the United States as refugee children fleeing the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Many of them were born in refugee camps and have never set foot in Cambodia. They made the United States their home and became lawful permanent residents.

In the U.S., Cambodian refugee families struggled with trauma and poverty in violence-ridden neighborhoods. Some refugees made mistakes in their youth, which led to criminal convictions and ultimately deportation orders. But because Cambodia has refused to accept them for deportation, ICE had to release Cambodian detainees instead of keeping them indefinitely and unconstitutionally detained.

Viet Thanh Nguyen talks refugees and writing on 'Late Night with Seth Meyers'

"I know I've made it when [my book has] made it to Costco."



On Thursday, author Viet Thanh Nguyen was a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers to talk about his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer and his latest collection of stories The Refugees.

Nguyen shared about his childhood memories of being a refugee from Vietnam, breaking it to his parents that he was an English major, and how you know you've made it: when they're selling your book at Costco. He also dropped some truth about the important, vital narrative that immigrants and refugees bring to America.

Check it out:

Oregon politician claims Vietnamese refugees ate dogs

Lane County Commissioner Faye Stewart complains "their culture and their lifestyle didn't mix with ours."



You know what happens when we allow refugees into this country? They'll eat your cats and dogs! Take it from one Oregon politician who claims that Vietnamese refugees who came to the area years ago "harvested" people's pets for food "because their culture and lifestyle didn't mix with ours."

Oregon Senate Candidate Complains About Vietnamese Refugees Eatings Dogs

Faye Stewart, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Oregon made the comments while discussing the current Syrian refugee crisis during a GOP candidate forum. He was apparently telling a story about Vietnamese refugees first arriving to the Pacific Northwest in large numbers in the late 1970s and early '80s.

"[W]e took in some refugees," Stewart recalled. "I believe it was some Vietnamese refugees into this state years ago and it created a huge problem because their culture and their lifestyle didn't mix with ours."

Among other things, Stewart claimed that the Vietnamese refugees "went to their natural ways" and ate people's dogs and cats.

VigilantLove: A Solidarity Community Vigil Against Violence and Islamophobia

Thursday, December 10 at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center



If you're in the Los Angeles area, you're invited to take part in a solidarity candlelight vigil to honor the lives of those who have passed away in recent attacks, the dignity of Syrian refugees, as well as the safety and justice of Americans, particularly Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and Arab American communities. It's happening Thursday, December 10 at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Little Tokyo.

Here are some more details:

Mark Takano: Courage is Choosing Compassion Over Fear

"What takes wisdom is recognizing that history is now repeating itself."



Many of us are still fairly angry about Roanoke mayor David Bowers' remarks calling for the refusal of assistance for Syrian refugees, citing the incarceration of Japanese American during World War II as model policy and historical precedent. Bowers is a moron who gets his facts dangerously wrong.

Of course, the hammer fell swift and hard, with Bowers getting blasted from all sides. Voices from across the Asian American community, from George Takei to Mike Honda, have spoken out about Mayor Bowers' remarks.

In remarks on the House floor last week, Rep. Mark Takano (D-California) also addressed Bowers' comments and urged fellow lawmakers not to give into fear regarding the resettlement of Syrian refugees, sharing about his own family's experience of forced relocation after the bombing of Pearl Harbor:

Roanoke Mayor apologizes for remarks on Japanese American internment

David Bowers clearly did not understand how the internet works.



On Friday, the mayor of Roanoke, Virginia apologized for his statement about Syrian refugees in which he invoked the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II as model policy.

Roanoke Mayor Apologizes for Japanese Internment Remarks

After basically getting his ass kicked with widespread backlash over what can at best be described as a piss-poor of one of U.S. government's greatest injustices, Mayor David Bowers apologized for his remarks.

"I apologize to all those offended by my remarks," Bowers said at a special meeting of the Roanoke City Council. "No one else is to be blamed but me."

Virginia mayor rejects Syrian refugees, because it worked so well when we locked up Japanese Americans

"It seems to me to be better safe than sorry."



This is troubling on a dozen levels. In Virginia, the mayor of Roanoke joined the growing chorus of intolerance, calling for the suspension of help in relocating Syrian refugees to the area. To make matters worse, he cited the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II as historical precedent for his reasoning. Oh hell no.

Roanoke Mayor David Bowers: No Syrian refugees to Roanoke Valley until security assured

On Wednesday, Mayor David A. Bowers issued an unsolicited statement requesting area governments and nongovernmental agencies to suspend and delay any further Syrian refugee assistance "until normalcy is restored," warning of safety concerns in the wake of the apparent bombing of a Russian airliner, Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris and threats on Washington DC.

"I am convinced that it is presently imprudent to assist in the relocation of Syrian refugees to our part of Virginia," Bowers said his statement, which also vowed to "protect Roanokers from harm and danger from this present scourge upon the earth." Oh, but wait, it gets much worse.