Archives

SEAFN | Week of Action Communications Toolkit

Southeast Asian Freedom Week of Action Communications Toolkit 

A political education and freedom campaign to end the detention and deportation of Southeast Asian migrants and refugees. 

Topline messages: 

  • The U.S. government is an agent of anti-Asian violence each time it detains and deports Southeast Asian migrants and refugees.
  • Detention and deportation are extensions of U.S. imperialism, whereby our people are continuously displaced from our homes and families by the U.S. government, as we had been in Southeast Asia.
  • Southeast Asian migrants and refugees are unconditionally deserving of dignity. The immigration system is bereft of that.
  • Detention and deportation does not create safe communities. In fact, it exacerbates violence and injustice.
  • Southeast Asian liberation is deeply intertwined with the freedom struggles of other migrants and refugees and of the Indigenous nations of the U.S. whose lands were also pillaged by the U.S.
  • Fighting anti-Blackness is a central pillar in ending the oppression of Southeast Asian people internationally.

Petition: http://bit.ly/seafreedom 
Share the toolkit: https://bit.ly/seafreedomtoolkit

SEARAC | #StopSEAADeportation PSAs

Video PSA Series on SEAAs and Deportation

The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) proudly presents a series of deportation-focused public service announcements (PSAs) featuring the stories of five impacted Southeast Asian American (SEAA) community members and their families. This video series is designed not only to educate the broader Southeast Asian community on the impact of deportations on our families and communities but also to build public support for the need to end deportations.

These PSAs come on the 25th anniversary of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRAIRA), which enables the mass deportation of noncitizens with who have come into contact with the criminal legal system and increases punitive measures against immigrants and refugees. Through this new series of PSA videos, SEARAC seeks to honor the individuals and communities who have been devastated by the heightened deportations of Southeast Asian Americans, a practice that began with the passage of IIRAIRA and continues today. 

To view any of the videos below, click on their image or their title. You can also find all videos on SEARAC’s YouTube channel.

Community Defense Against Southeast Asian Deportation

As an organization committed to pan-Asian organizing, we will respond and mobilize in the fight against Southeast Asian deportations. In Fall 2017, AARW began to organize locally and nationally, in response to the rise of deportations in the Southeast Asian community. We are committed to supporting and uplifting the leadership of our Southeast Asian community members, which means we will show up and organize to defend and protect our families and communities. If you or someone you know is vulnerable or impacted by deportation, contact [email protected].

Visit their website here

AARW, alongside other Southeast Asian grassroots groups across the country, is organizing to keep our communities safe, and calling for an end to all deportations. In the fight to end Southeast Asian deportations, AARW is part of the Vietnamese Anti-Deportation Network (VADN), the Northeast Region Pardons Project, and Southeast Asian Deportation Defense Network.

NCAPA COVID-19 Taskforce Factsheets

Our communities are facing unprecedented hardship during the coronavirus pandemic. Created by the NCAPA COVID-19 Taskforce, these factsheets assist communities in navigating through various resources available, including programs from recent federal stimulus legislation. These factsheets will be updated as new information becomes available. Additional translated versions coming soon.

Check out the factsheets here

Free Consultation of Legal Services + Application Assistance

The Korean Resource Center offers free consultations for various legal services and assistance in filling out applications such as:

  • Naturalization
  • DACA renewal
  • Green card renewal
  • Affordable Housing
  • Senior housing
  • Low-income housing
  • Medi-Cal
  • Medicare
  • My Health LA

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of their services will continue via email/phone. Visit their website at https://www.krcla.org/services for more information.

 

HANA Center – Citizenship, Immigration, Housing & Legal Services

Visit the HANA Center website for more information on all of their citizenship, immigration, housing & legal services: https://www.hanacenter.org/ihls

As a DOJ recognized organization, the HANA Center assist immigrants at varying stages of the immigration process, providing a wide array of application services: citizenship, adjustment of status, Consular processing, family petition, re-entry permit, and the smaller steps in between (passport, interpretation and “Green Card” renewal and replacement.

As a Housing and Urban Development-certified housing counseling agency, HANA Housing Services address barriers to affordable housing faced by Korean and other immigrants through one-on-one counseling, information, and referral services. We also host workshops in related areas. The goal of the program is to aid immigrants with limited English proficiency (LEP) to access affordable housing resources and understand tenant-landlord rights & fair housing law. HANA Housing Services help low to moderate income families remain in their homes via financial planning or even post-purchase education. Our housing program also assists LEP seniors in exploring housing options through public housing lists and aids in completing their senior housing applications.

HANA Center administers the IDHS’s Welcoming Center’s Housing and Utility Assistance Project, which was established to provide temporary emergency assistance to immigrants, refugees, and Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals who have experienced a COVID-19 related financial hardship between March 1, 2020 and December 30, 2020.

FREE LEGAL CLINIC – Our free legal clinic volunteer attorneys provide initial direction and advice in Spanish, Korean, and English. Immigrants have great difficulty in accessing or understanding the United States legal system. In addition to the significant monetary barrier for low income families, immigrants also face difficulties in securing legal services that are linguistically and culturally competent. They are often left with no option but self-representation, despite having no legal training or support. This situation too often results in individuals unable to communicate with court officers, and being unable to read and interpret court documents/notices. To address this base language barrier, they often bring friends or their children to provide translation. Nevertheless, because these translators are also unfamiliar with legal terminology, interpretations are often fraught with errors. While low-income immigrants have a great need for legal services (particularly in the areas of immigration, housing, credit and finance, domestic violence, and employment law), they are unable to meet these challenges.

 

 

Getting Through COVID-19 Together

Filipino Advocates for Justice has put together a COVID-19 resources page on topics such as Bay Area health and community resources, AAPI specific COVID-19 resources, Tagalog resources, employment, food resources, resources for undocumented communities, and more. Visit the page here: http://filipinos4justice.org/getting-through-covid19-together-resource-page-2/

Building Power & Safety Through Solidarity Campaign

As our communities of working-class immigrant and undocumented workers and families grapple with the impacts of the escalating COVID-19 pandemic, which will continue to grow into a social, health, and economic crisis, DRUM in New York City has launched the “Building Power & Safety Through Solidarity” Campaign. This campaign provides a practical, accessible, and participatory program for building community power while also meeting the material needs of our frontline communities.

Read more about their community tools and resources at https://www.drumnyc.org/powerandsafety/

EMPLOYMENT

  1. If you are currently unemployed:

HOUSING

  1. Landlords don’t have to make mortgage payments for 3 months
    • If you are a landlord, call your bank to make arrangements for your mortgage
  2. There are no evictions for at least 3 months
  3. This means that if you don’t have a lot of money, you should save your money for essential things like food, and not for rent
    • Talk to the other tenants and make agreements to not pay rent
    • Many tenants are organizing rent strikes
  4. People are working on passing a law to cancel the rent
  5. If your landlord is also poor, and depends on the rental income for survival or has to pay for utilities, work out an agreement with them for partial payment or a payment plan
  6. Rent Strike Toolkit: https://t.co/ChKHyTvluO

FOOD

HEALTH

  1. Testing for coronavirus is hard to find, but it is free
  2. Right now, there is no coverage of the costs for treatment
  3. If you need to get tested, you can find testing locations here: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/coronavirus/resources/covid-testing.page
  4. If you need access to general healthcare and are undocumented: https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/immigrant/

IMMIGRATION

  1. As of March 18th, USCIS has suspended routine in person services (Court dates, check-ins, biometric appointments etc.)
  2. If you have renewal biometrics appointments (ex. DACA) during this time, USCIS will use previous biometrics.
  3. ICE is continuing to do raids. We don’t know if they are more, or less, or same as before, but they are happening.

SCHOOLS

  1. NYC schools are closed for the rest of the school year.
  2. Remote Leaning is in effect until the rest of the school year
  3. Students in need electronic equipment to access remote learning can request an iPad device at coronavirus.schools.nyc/RemoteLearningDevices

GOVERNMENT STIMULUS

  1. The federal government passed a 2 trillion dollar package on March 27
  2. Most of the money went for large corporations

MENTAL HEALTH

  1. This is a time of great stress for many people, and it will likely get worse
  2. Make sure to make some time everyday to do things that relax you or calm you
  3. Find people you can talk to regularly to relieve the stress
  4. If you need more help coping contact NYC Well, a confidential 24/7 helpline http://NYC.gov/nycwell

FUNERALS

  1. A guide to funeral and burial option in New York: https://www.citybarjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Guide-Funeral-Burial-Options-in-NY-ENGLISH.pdf
  2. HRA can provide up to $900 in funeral expenses: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/hra/help/burial-assistance.page

CASH ASSISTANCE

  1.  For Undocumented Youth & Families: NYSYLC will be providing $250 or $500 funds. you can requests funds at https://www.nysylc.org/undocufunds
  2. Jamaica Muslim Center providing COVID impacted muslim families with $100 cash assistance call 718-739-3182

 

The Impact of COVID-19 on Non-citizens and Across the US Immigration System

A report from the American Immigration Council that discusses the impacts of COVID-19 on non-citizens and across the U.S. immigration system. Read more about the report here: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/impact-covid-19-us-immigration-system

Click here to read and/or download the report

“The COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus) pandemic, and the related federal response, disrupted virtually every aspect of the U.S. immigration system. Visa processing overseas by the Department of State, as well as the processing of some immigration benefits within the country by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), have come to a near standstill. Entry into the United States along the Mexican and Canadian borders—including by asylum seekers and unaccompanied children—has been severely restricted. Immigration enforcement actions in the interior of the country have been curtailed, although they have not stopped entirely. Tens of thousands of people remain in immigration detention despite the high risk of COVID-19 transmission in crowded jails, prisons, and detention centers that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) uses to hold noncitizens. The pandemic led to the suspension of many immigration court hearings and limited the functioning of the few courts which remain open or were reopened. Meanwhile, Congress left millions of immigrants and their families out of legislative relief, leaving many people struggling to stay afloat in a time of economic uncertainty.”

“This report seeks to provide a comprehensive overview of the impact of COVID-19 across the immigration system in the United States. Given that the landscape of immigration policy is changing rapidly in the face of the pandemic, this report will be updated as needed.”