API Organizations Rally Behind County, City Leaders Against Mass Deportations

Los Angeles City Councilmember David Ryu speaks at an A3PCOM rally in front of the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration. At right is Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Twenty Asian Pacific Islander community organizations and members of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council (A3PCON) joined Jan. 25 with Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, Los Angeles City Councilmember David Ryu, Los Angeles Unified School District Board President Steve Zimmer and Los Angeles Community College Trustees Mike Eng and Mike Fong to support steps that local elected officials are taking to ensure due process and fairness for undocumented immigrants.

The rally was held outside the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration. Speakers said that Los Angeles’ diverse immigrant and refugee communities, including undocumented immigrants, face the increasing peril of their families being torn apart by the anti-immigrant policies of the Trump Administration.

“We need and must continue to support our strong and bold elected officials in upholding our values of inclusion, diversity, and equity by protecting all immigrants and refugees, especially those who are in detention and deportation proceedings,” said A3PCON President Debra Fong, adding that her organization remains firmly opposed to presidential actions blocking Muslims from entering the U.S. or re-creating a Muslim registry.

Immigration is widely seen as only a Latino issue, although APIs are the fastest-growing immigrant population with the fastest-growing number of undocumented. There are an estimated 130,000 undocumented APIs in Los Angeles County.

“A3PCON strongly backs the L.A. County supervisors, Mayor [Eric] Garcetti, the L.A. City Council, and local philanthropy in establishing the L.A. Justice Fund to provide $10 million for legal representation in deportation proceedings to ensure due process and fairness for immigrants,” A3PCON Policy Director Mark Masaoka said.

“A3PCON credits the Los Angeles Unified School District Board and the Los Angeles Community College Trustees for recognizing the importance of creating safe, inclusive, and equitable learning environments for immigrant students and their families, in part through protecting the privacy of the personal information of their students and their families.”

A3PCON also unveiled a multilingual poster titled “Immigrants Welcome.”

“Los Angeles is and will continue to be a place of refuge for people from all walks of life, regardless of one’s background, income, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or even immigration status,” Ryu said in a statement. “What we’ve seen from the Trump Administration is only the beginning. But we will resist and fight to ensure that the millions of immigrants who help build Los Angeles feel safe in their homes, confident on our streets, and loved in our communities.”