East Bay Asian Pacific Islander Community and Union Members Sound Off on Immigration Reform
The fastest growing electorate calls on Congress to pass immigration reform and stop the political posturing on legislation that affects
millions of aspiring Americans and working immigrant families.
Oakland, CA - Local Asian Pacific Islander (API) organizations held a press conference at the Asian Resource Center in downtown Oakland earlier today to highlight stories of impacted community members. Demonstrating the strength of the 18 million APIs across the country, the API community demands a fair immigration process with a broad pathway to citizenship, family unity without exclusions, protections for all workers, and an end to harsh enforcement policies.
Represented organizations are a part of local coalition called API Reform Immigration and Stand for Equality (RISE) that supports inclusive and humane immigration reform. Community speakers including Pysay Phinith, of Asian Community Mental Health Services, Annabelle Torio of SEIU-UHW, and Amy Lin of Asian Student Promoting Immigrant Rights through Education (ASPIRE) shared their stories of how the immigration broken system has adversely affected their lives.
"The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) supports comprehensive immigration reform legislation. We were honored to co-sponsor this API community and labor press event today to highlight the voices of Asian Pacific Islanders who are calling on Congress to address important concerns of our community for worker justice, family reunification for siblings and adult children, LGBT families, and much needed health care benefits as part of comprehensive immigration legislation this year." Kim Geron
Yesterday, on June 5th, hundreds of Asian American and Pacific Islanders rallied and met with congressional members in Washington D.C. to send a strong message on family unity for siblings and adult married children and demanding an end to separating families through deportation. Of the 4 million on family backlogs, 2 million are from Asian countries waiting to be reunited with their families. An estimated 1.3 million APIs are aspiring Americans that face the threat of detention and deportation. API RISE coalition, along with the millions fighting for justice in immigration reform, will continue to mobilize and urge Congress to pass fair and humane legislation.
The following are quotes from speakers and organizational representatives of the API RISE coalition:
- "Immigration reform is an issue that brings labor and diverse immigrant communities together. We are united in standing with families to be reunited. We need to further work place protection and oppose E-verify, which is used to fire undocumented workers. Labor and community groups are united for immigration reform." -Josie Camacho
- I know families where parents were deported and their children struggle with the separation putting them at risk for trauma. I strongly support immigration reform that keeps families together and that creates a just system to support those who contribute to our society."
-Pysay Phinith - "The exclusion of LGBT same sex families is simply not acceptable. The change from family-based immigration to employer/merit-based speaks nothing about the values we learn in school or teach to our children. Families should be first in immigration policy, all families."
-Amy Lin - "I was separated from my husband and children for two years. There are many families waiting to be reunited with their parents, children, and siblings. We need to fix the system. Immigration law needs to change." -Annabelle Torio
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API RISE (Reform Immigration and Stand for Equality) is a community and labor coalition including Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) Alameda Chapter, Alameda Labor Council, Asian Health Services, Asian Immigrant Women Advocates, Asian Law Caucus, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights through Education (ASPIRE), Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership, Filipino Advocates for Justice, SEIU 1021, SEIU UHW, SEIU ULTCW and UNITE HERE 2850, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Speaker Bios
Kim Geron is Chapter President of the Alameda APALA Chapter and on the APALA National Executive Board. The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance is the first and only national organization of Asian Pacific American workers and is deeply concerned about the support needed to move the immigration bill to the finish line. He is Vice-President of the California Faculty Association and teaches Political Science at California State University East Bay. He is a strong advocate for immigrant and worker rights and lives in Hayward with his family.
Josie Camacho is the 1st Asian Pacific Islander to serve as Executive Secretary-Treasurer for the Alameda Labor Council. Josie's parents are from the Island of Guam, a U.S. trust territory and she was born and raised in Oakland, California with nine other siblings. As EST, Josie runs the day to day operations of the Alameda Labor Council which serves as an umbrella organization coordinating political, community and educational programs for 104 unions representing 100,00 union households in Alameda County. Josie is also 2nd Vice President of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance APALA. The Alameda Labor Council is in strong support of Fair, Comprehensive and Commonsense Immigration Reform.
Pysay Phinith is an Assistant Projector Director with API Connections at Asian Community Mental Health Services. She has a B.A. in Psychology and a Master's degree in Social Welfare, with an emphasis in Community Mental Health from UC Berkeley. She specializes in serving the Cambodian Community. Her experiences include working with chronically homeless individuals with severe mental health disabilities, child development, domestic violence, complex traumas, mood disorders and other occurring disorders. Pysay's passion for mental health stems from her experience as a Cambodian refugee and genocide survivor.
Annabelle Torio is a member of SEIU-UHW. Her mother was born in the US and migrated to the Philippines with her grandparents. She was registered in the US embassy and was born in the Philippines. In 1979 at the age of 18, she came to the U.S. She left two children (3 year old son, 2 year old daughter and her husband). As a Blue passport holder, she couldn't petition for her family until she was a citizen. After a long arduous journey, a petition was approved. But, the immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. Annabelle's story is one that happens all too often where families are torn apart causing incredible emotional strain and hardship. Keeping families together is important.
Amy Lin is currently a student at City College of San Francisco (CCSF), transferring to UCLA in the fall. She is an active member of ASPIRE- Asian Students Promoting Immigrant Rights through Education, an API undocumented student organization. Her organizing history began at CCSF as student council senator, where she first came out to close peers as "undocuqueer". Although her identity as queer has always been known, the addition of undocumented status made her realize the intersectional experience of "undocuqueer" is unique and rarely shared-and therefore rarely advocated for. Since then, she has volunteered with OFA as organizing fellow, ASPIRE, and Chinese Progressive Association on immigration reform, particularly with the Bay Area student population and Chinese immigrants on why this issue is not simply for the undocumented. To her, as an identified member of the queer community, advocating for immigrant rights for all families, including LGBT bi-national families, regardless of their identities or differences, is important to creating a more inclusive proposal.
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