NBC News
By Chris Fuchs
December 15, 2015
Democratic
presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton addressed attendees at the
National Immigrant Integration Conference (NIIC) in Brooklyn Monday
afternoon, laying out parts
of an immigration reform policy that would affect the Asian American
and Pacific Islander community.
Clinton,
along with Democratic candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Gov.
Martin O'Malley, were the only presidential candidates who accepted
invitations to speak
at the three-day conference, held this year in New York City. The
conference is in its eighth year and brings together community leaders
and policy makers to discuss immigration in the U.S.
Speaking
at the Marriott in downtown Brooklyn on Dec. 14, Clinton told a packed
ballroom that she would expand application fee waivers for potential
citizens, close private
immigration detention centers, and expand access to healthcare for
undocumented immigrants.
Clinton
said she would also defend President Barack Obama's executive actions
on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), which defer deportation for
undocumented immigrants who grew up in the U.S. and parents of American
citizens or legal residents.
"If
we say that we support families in this country, then that has to mean
something," Clinton said. "I want to put an end to families being torn
apart, or hard-working,
law-abiding parents having to prepare their kids for the day that mom
or dad might be taken away."
Three
times during Clinton's speech, protesters interrupted the former
secretary of state, who continued to talk. One group of protesters
silently unfurled a banner that
read, "People are Starving for Freedom" in support of detainees
currently participating in hunger strikes in immigration detention
centers across the country. All of the protesters were escorted from the
ballroom.
Sanders
and O'Malley, who are scheduled to speak Tuesday at the conference,
previously issued statements supporting the detainees after protests
outside of Clinton's campaign
headquarters in Brooklyn on Dec. 3. Until Monday, Clinton had not
publicly commented on the hunger strikes, but acknowledged the detainees
during her speech, saying that ongoing hunger strikes should force
Americans to examine their immigrant detention system,
according to the Huffington Post.
Christina
Chang, immigration policy manager for the New York Immigration
Coalition, the local co-host of this year's conference, told NBC News
that Asian Americans are
overwhelmingly voting for Democrats because, just as it is for Latinos,
immigration is a core issue.
"We
just need to do a better job as a community of bringing that out into
the mainstream media, showing that one in eight Asian Americans are
actually undocumented," Chang
said. "We're the fastest growing population in the U.S., and so as an
electorate, we're kind of the up-and-coming power base that politicians
are going to have to look at."
"WE
ALSO NEED GOVERNMENT AGENCIES TO LOOK AT US IS IN A MORE NUANCED WAY,
AND NOT JUST BROADLY SAY, 'OK, ASIAN AMERICANS, CHECK THAT BOX.'"
Apart
from immigration, Chang said, language access is another significant
issue affecting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, who oftentimes
are grouped together despite
representing more than 48 ethnicities and speaking over 300 languages.
"The
way we're counted by government is not disaggregated by our language
abilities, so they don't think we have the numbers to then service us in
our languages sometimes,"
Chang said. "We also need government agencies to look at us is in a
more nuanced way, and not just broadly say, 'OK, Asian Americans, check
that box.'"
Steven
Raga, president emeritus and board of directors member for Pilipino
American Unity for Progress, a nonprofit based in New York City, told
NBC News that lack of
access to Medicare and Medicaid for seniors 65 and older is prevalent
in the Filipino immigrant community.
"Even though they qualify, they're hesitant to approach an agency in fear of rejection," Raga said.
Chang
added that this mindset is also common among Asian-American seniors as a
whole. "Because of language, there is a lot of isolation, and they
depend on their children,"
she said.
One
source of concern for some immigration advocates are the low numbers of
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have applied for DACA.
While
DACA does not grant legal status, it does offer applicants a chance to
apply for a work permit and social security number and to renew their DACA status every two
years. Earlier this month, the National Council of Asian and Pacific
Americans, along with 11 of its member groups, joined more than 200
immigration, civil rights, and social justice organizations to urge the
Supreme Court to lift an injunction issued by the
U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals against Obama's executive actions
on immigration.
According
to a 2014 White House report, DACA enrollment rates for Asian Americans
and Pacific Islanders were "disproportionately low." Mexico led as the
top country of
origin for DACA applications, while South Korea, the Philippines, and
India placed 5th, 10th, and 13th respectively, according to the U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services. China and Vietnam did not make the
list.
From
2012 to 2015, for both initial applications and renewals, the USCIS
accepted 1,267,761 DACA requests out of 1,349,875 received, according to
figures released by the
agency on Dec. 4. A total of 1,142,935 cases have so far been approved,
the data showed.
"In
terms of getting them to actually apply for some of the benefits they
are eligible for right now, I think government agencies really need to
do some targeted outreach
and recognize that there needs to be a little bit more of a heavier
touch if you want to ensure that Asian Americans are also benefiting
from these services," Chang said.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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