Policy and litigation updates from Advancing Justice | AAJC
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A Month of New Beginnings           

2021 began in a way none of us could have possibly predicted. It's important to us that we recognize the anger, fear and betrayal that came with these last four years and the unprecedented attack on our fragile democracy. At the same time, we want to hold space for — and allow ourselves to feel — the renewed hope that a new year brings.

From the induction of our first Asian American and Black woman Vice President, Kamala Harris, to the inclusion of the Reuniting Families Act and the No Ban Act in Biden's sweeping Immigration Bill, so many civil rights advocates and organizations are appreciative that the groundwork we laid has paved the way for much-needed change. After four years of constantly being under attack, our communities finally have an opportunity to dare to hope for a more equitable future.

Read on to hear more about Advancing Justice | AAJC's wins, current initiatives and where we progress from here.
EVENTS

Do you know someone who has shown extraordinary courage or commitment to civil rights? Submit your nominations for the 2021 American Courage Awards today! Form closes Sunday, February 28.

Our Youth Leadership Summit is going virtual in the spring! Applications are currently open through Wednesday, March 3.
ADVANCING JUSTICE | AAJC IN THE NEWS

Our president and executive director John C. Yang spoke with WRCB TV about President Biden's stand against AAPI discrimination.

"It does send a signal to the Asian American community that we have an administration that cares about the community and wants to protect the community," he said.

John also spent time with USA Today to share important background for their article on Biden's Immigration Bill.
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Advocacy and Policy 

Landmark Wins for Immigration

On the very first day of the new administration, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris released a landmark immigration bill that would reunite immigrant families, create a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants and begin to rebuild the refugee resettlement program.

The Value Our Families campaign's collective advocacy efforts helped lead to a win on the inclusion of Representative Judy Chu's Reuniting Families Act in President Biden's bill, which would modernize and fix the family immigration system. The bill also includes the No Ban Act and a faster pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth eligible for the DREAM Act and TPS holders, putting us one step closer to a more humane and just immigration system that puts families first.

That same day, the administration also issued executive orders and memoranda that align with our nation’s values of compassion, hospitality and welcome: a full reinstatement of DACA, a repeal of the Muslim and African bans, a halt on border wall construction and a temporary moratorium on deportations.

Read more from Value Our Family's official statement here.

Census Wins

On January 12, a letter from the Office of the Inspector General outlined whistleblower complaints that U.S. Census Bureau Director Dr. Steven Dillingham, motivated by partisan objectives, ordered an unconstitutional and premature production of a report on documented and undocumented immigrants in the United States. Thanks to the swift response of leaders in advocacy by Advancing Justice | AAJC and National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), the co-chair organizations for The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Census Task Force, work on that report was halted and Dillingham resigned from his position a week later.

Within his first day in office, President Biden signed an executive order calling for all persons in the country to be counted in state population numbers, rebuking the previous administration’s efforts to weaponize the census for political gain. The move rescinds executive actions from the Trump Administration that sought to exclude undocumented individuals in the apportionment count, and is a huge win for the protection of accurate and representative data collection. Read Advancing Justice | AAJC's official statement here.
 

Wins in the Works

Together with Brennan Center for Justice and APA Justice Task Force, Advancing Justice | AAJC spearheaded a letter that urged President Biden and the administration to end the Justice Department’s discriminatory “China Initiative." Over 120 community organizations, advocacy groups, science associations, and individuals signed on to the letter, calling for greater steps to be taken to combat the pervasive racial bias and disproportionate targeting of Asian American and Asian immigrant scientists, researchers and students.

On racial equity day, President Biden issued a presidential memorandum acknowledging the harm caused by harassment and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and condemning anti-Asian bias and discrimination. This COVID-19 memorandum is an important first step in a longer road to stopping racist attacks against our community and building toward greater equity, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice will continue to push to ensure the concerns and experiences of our communities are actively incorporated into this administration’s race and equity priorities.

Finally, we saw the re-introduction of the New Way Forward Act by Representatives Jesús “Chuy'' García, Pramila Jayapal, Karen Bass and Ayanna Pressley. From 2015-2018, ICE arrested about 15,000 Asian immigrants, roughly 20% of which came from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia alone. Southeast Asian immigrants are three to four times more likely to be deported for old criminal convictions compared to any other immigrant group, which is why Advancing Justice | AAJC and SEARAC applauds the re-introduction of this bold piece of legislation that could disrupt the prison-to-deportation pipeline.
Blog Highlights
Diversity and Inclusion in Anti-Disinformation Work
Combating misinformation and disinformation is vital to countering White supremacy among Asian Americans and other communities that speak languages other than English.
The U.S. citizenship test should be a welcoming rite of passage, not an insidious obstacle
Naturalization should be accessible and affordable to all aspiring Americans, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have a lot to lose under the new changes to the citizenship exam.
Read more of our blogs!
Count On Your Census Podcast
Census Evolution: From White Supremacy to Racial Justice
Dan Bouk, a historian of data and bureaucracies, walks us through the enactment of Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution, the system of white supremacy that was embedded in it, and the transformative role of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the evolution of creating a more just Decennial US Census. Listen on Apple Podcasts here.
 
Race, Ethnicity, Politics, and the Census: A Global Perspective
In this episode, we speak with Dr. Melissa Nobles and Dr. Debra Thompson about how censuses operate in Brazil, Canada, and the UK. We all rely on an accurate count for a functioning government, but our varied histories with racial inclusion, exclusion, and democracy are important stories worth telling. Listen on Apple Podcasts here.
Take Action With Us

As COVID-19 and racial injustice persist, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC and Hollaback! have continued to provide their free three-part training series, which more than 16,000 people attended in 2020. The rollercoaster events of this past month served as a reminder that even as we usher in a new Congress and new administration, hate is still alive and present in our country.

See below for dates, times, and links to register for one (or all) of our upcoming virtual training sessions. Each event will be capped at 1,000 people, so be sure to register in advance!

Bystander Intervention Training
  • February 17th at 5pm ET / 4pm CT / 3pm MT / 2pm PT / 11am HST
  • March 15th at 6pm ET / 5pm CT / 3pm MT / 2pm PT / 12pm HST
Conflict De-Escalation Training (Bystander Intervention 2.0)
  • February 19th at 6pm ET / 5pm CT / 4pm MT / 3pm PT / 1pm HST
  • March 17th at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 12pm MT / 11am PT / 9am HST
Workshop for People Experiencing Anti-Asian/American Harassment
  • February 15th at 2pm ET / 1pm CT / 12pm MT / 11am PT / 9am HST
  • March 19th at 4pm ET / 3pm CT / 2pm MT / 1am PT / 11am HST

Sign Our Petition to End Denaturalization

Through denaturalization, the government can take away citizenship from naturalized Americans and their families — decades after they've built their lives in the U.S. The Trump Administration created an entirely new interagency apparatus to unjustly denaturalize Americans, especially Muslims and people of color. Sign our petition today to tell the Biden Administration to stop this practice: http://bit.ly/39OhAAP.

Join Us in Fighting for #Citizenship4All

Advancing Justice | AAJC is partnering with NAKASEC to call for the creation of a pathway to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants regardless of age, country of origin, or history with incarceration. Take action with us in these critical first 100 days by volunteering to call Congress and the White House or signing our petition to demand #Citizenship4All, as well as an end to all detentions and deportations!
New Staff Welcome
Tiffany Chang | Director of Community Engagement
Tiffany holds an MPA from Columbia University School of International Affairs (SIPA), and a Bachelor of Music from NYU. Most recently, Tiffany served as Deputy GOTV Director for the 2020 Michigan Coordinated Campaign to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Prior to this, she was Associate Director of Allied Groups for the 2020 Democratic National Convention, leading outreach to AAPI, Arab, and Muslim organizations; veterans & military families; the disability community; and gun violence prevention groups. Learn more about Tiffany and the work she does at Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Emily Chi | Assistant Director, Telecommunications, Technology and Media
Emily received her B.A. in Legal Studies and Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley. and received her MPP at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to joining Advancing Justice | AAJC, Emily worked as a researcher on various projects at the Harvard Kennedy School, including Product & Society at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy and the Technology and Public Purpose (TAPP) Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Learn more about Emily and the work she does at Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Joy De Guzman | Manager of Community Engagement
Joy received her B.A. in Political Science from the American University and earned her A.A. degree in Political Science from El Camino Community College. Prior to joining Advancing Justice | AAJC, Joy served as the government relations associate at a medical education association where she worked on issues like student debt and healthcare. Joy also recently served as the programs manager at Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote where she worked to mobilize Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in electoral and civic participation. Learn more about Joy and the work she does at Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Vivin Qiang | Program Coordinator, Anti-Racial Profiling Project
Vivin received her M.A. in Development Studies with a concentration in Migration from The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, and holds a B.A. from Eureka College in Communications with a minor in International Relations. Prior to joining Advancing Justice | AAJC, Vivin worked in China with a global environmental nonprofit organization, where she supported the program’s overall communication strategy and engaged with Chinese communities in building conservation projects across urban neighborhoods. Learn more about Vivin and the work she does at Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Anika Raju | Programs Associate, Census and Civic Engagement
Anika received her B.A. in International Affairs & Political Science from The George Washington University. Prior to joining Advancing Justice | AAJC, Anika was a communications intern for the governance studies program at The Brookings Institution. She has also worked as a political and communications intern at America Votes, as a federal and gubernatorial campaigns intern at EMILY’s List, and as a constituent services intern in the immigration sector of her Senator’s office. Learn more about Anika and the work she does at Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Daishi Miguel-Tanaka | Immigration Policy Associate
Daishi received his B.A. from Harvard University in Government. As a Filipino-Japanese undocumented activist, he led Harvard's largest immigrant rights organization, Act on a Dream, and appeared on 15 media publications to advocate for DACA. Prior to joining Advancing Justice | AAJC, Daishi was a public servant with the City and County of San Francisco where he helped shape a $89 million public transit technology system to launch multilingual information for customers. Learn more about Daishi and the work he does at Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Nicole Morgenstern | Programs and Executive Assistant
Nicole has a M.A. in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs with a concentration in human rights and social justice from American University and obtained a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Humanities with a concentration in history of art, global studies, and civil engineering from Michigan State University. Prior to joining Advancing Justice | AAJC, Nicole was a member of the executive team at the International Crisis Group in Washington, D.C. Learn more about Nicole and the work she does at Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Danielle Wong | Multi-Media Strategic Communications Fellow
Danielle received her B.A. from the University of St. Thomas in Communications & Journalism. During her time in college, she was heavily involved in shaping diversity and equity policies and led several initiatives to advocate for women of color victim/survivors of sexual assault. Prior to joining Advancing Justice | AAJC, Danielle freelanced as a multi-media journalist for various organizations, including Minnesota Public Radio News’ mental health awareness program, Call to Mind. Learn more about Danielle and the work she does at Advancing Justice | AAJC.
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