Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Jennie L. Ilustre
Asian American advocates have lauded President Joe Biden’s policy changes addressing their urgent concerns, which they assert are Mainstream America issues as well.
These are: 1) Immigration reform, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or DACA; 2) anti-Asian American racism; 3) the Census; 4) a fast-tracked, concerted pandemic response, and 5) the $1.9 trillion economic rescue plan. The last two policies would address the vaccine and economic inequities among Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and Blacks, as well as rescue the struggling Asian American small business sector.
The Value Our Families advocacy group “applauded President Biden in the fulfillment of his campaign promises to take action on day one to undo many of the harsh policies of the Trump administration.”
“Legalizing undocumented people and reforming our family-based immigration system are top priorities for Asian American and immigrant communities,” said John C. Yang, President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice|AAJC. “Through our collective advocacy with Latino and Black immigrant communities, through the Value Our Families campaign, we are one step closer to a more humane and just immigration system that puts families first.”
Gus Mercado, a Republican who votes Independent in presidential elections, is a Filipino American business and civic leader from Dallas, Texas. He served as State Chair of “Fil-Ams for Biden-Harris.” He welcomed Biden’s call for unity, healing and forgiveness.
Mercado said in an email: “Let us be inspired by the words of the new President Joe Biden, who promised to be president for all Americans. He said that ‘the days of rancor and division are over; it is now time to heal, to forgive and to reunite as Americans.’”
Mercado also said: “Let us also pray for former President Trump, who undoubtedly was devastated by his loss…After all, the former president garnered more than 70 million votes. He shook the tree and was a change agent, albeit in his trademark ‘bull-in-a-china-shop’ style. He strengthened the military and held some real and present dangers like China at bay. Unfortunately, he didn’t know when to stop and did not draw the line between legitimate reforms and abuse of power.”
DACA
Within hours after taking his oath of office on January 20, President Biden issued several executive orders, including extending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to four years. This means an estimated 700,000 DACA recipients–Including some 16,000 Asians–can continue to stay in the US to study and to work.
But advocates emphasize legislation by the US Congress–not executive orders, which can be terminated by whoever sits as President–is still the best solution to DACA. Reason: An adverse federal ruling on a Texas legal challenge, expected this month, can put the DACA program in peril. Biden’s proposed comprehensive immigration legislation includes a citizenship path for DACA recipients.
DACA is an executive order issued by President Obama in 2012. The recipients were children when their relatives or paid companions brought them to the U.S. without authorization.
The two-year renewable DACA program allowed them to stay in the country to study and to work without fear of deportation. Applicants should not have a criminal record, must have completed college education or are attending school, must pay a fee, and register with the government.
When he assumed office in 2016, President Trump called the Dreamers “incredible kids” and said he would try to address the problem “with a heart.”
The reference is based on the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act or DREAM Act, which repeatedly failed to pass in the U.S. Congress. But in 2017, Trump ended the program. The Supreme Court ruled against the termination on procedural grounds.
OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates Executive Director Rita Pin Ahrens has pointed out: “The DACA program is overwhelmingly popular across party lines, and it is easy to see why. DACA recipients are the parents of over 250,000 US-born children, contribute $8.7 billion in taxes and represent $24 billion in spending power.” She also noted that “DACA recipients include 43,500 healthcare workers” in the current pandemic.
Immigration
Two weeks after taking office, Biden so far has issued nine executive orders on immigration.
Politico, a top newspaper in the U.S. capital, reported the first Biden executive orders as follows: 1) Repealing the travel ban from several Muslim-majority countries; 2) stopping funding for the border wall between US and Mexico, and 3) lifting a moratorium on foreign workers, a policy implemented during the pandemic.
Biden also signed a policy change reuniting the children separated from their parents in 2018, under the Trump Administration’s “Zero Tolerance policy.” The Department of Justice recently rescinded this policy “effective immediately.”
Another executive order ended the policy of making the undocumented who crossed the border wait in Mexico. Critics point out this policy change would encourage more Hispanics to cross the border and enter the country without authorization. This has, indeed, been the policy’s result.
Immigration Legislation
A top Biden policy priority urges the 117th US Congress to pass his proposed comprehensive immigration reform bill, which covers both the legal applicants, as well as the undocumented.
Both advocates and critics of this policy change agree the proposed path to legalization and citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented, and also the fast tracked citizenship provision for DACA recipients, Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients, are not doable. Advocates see a better chance if the sweeping proposal is broken into a step-by-step, incremental legislation.
But Democrats, who have majority in the House of Representatives, albeit a slim one, are determined to pass the comprehensive Biden-Harris immigration bill–referring to Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the first Asian American and Black to win the nation’s second top post.).
On January 20, Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), announced she was among the select group of House members who have been tapped to shepherd the landmark Biden-Harris immigration reform legislation through the House of Representatives.
The group is called the Closers. It includes Chu, California Representatives Linda Sánchez, Zoe Lofgren Lucille Roybal and Karen Bass, and New York Representatives Nydia M. Velázquez and Yvette Clarke.
Representative Chu said the comprehensive bill includes several of her proposed legislation. The Biden-Harris bill, she pointed out, “transforms our immigration system into one that is best for our country and our economy. The package includes provisions from my bill, the Reuniting Families Act, to reduce employment and family-based visa backlogs and create a more inclusive definition of family members so more families can be reunited in a shorter time frame.”
She remarked that the COVID-19 pandemic “has shown us that immigrants make up a significant portion of essential frontline workers in industries like healthcare and agriculture.”
She added: “But, despite how much we depend on immigrant workers, some unscrupulous employers seek to exploit them, making them work extreme hours in difficult and dangerous conditions. That is why the inclusion of my bill, the POWER Act, which protects immigrants who report unfair labor practices, is key to ensuring immigrants are treated with dignity and respect in the workplace.”
Census
On January 20, President Biden signed an executive order calling for all persons in the country to be counted in state population numbers. Asian Americans Advancing Justice|AAJC noted the move “rescinds the July 11, 2020 Presidential Memorandum which sought to exclude undocumented individuals in the apportionment count and Executive Order 13880, issued in July 2019, which sought the creation of a block-level citizen-voting age population dataset.”
Remarked its President and Executive Director Yang: “With Biden’s Executive Order, the Census Bureau can refocus its attention and work to ensuring that upcoming census data is of the caliber and quality necessary to serve as a roadmap for distributing $1.5 trillion annually to each state for everything from roads and transportation planning to where to build or expand grocery stores, businesses, or schools to meet community needs.”
He added: “With the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and the chaos created by the Presidential Memorandum–including the truncation of Census operations, resulting in rushing data collection and protection–the Census Bureau must take the time necessary to provide the quality data we need to reallocate each state’s share of electoral votes and the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and for redistricting.”
Anti-Asian Racism
On January 26, President Biden issued a memorandum condemning and combating racism, xenophobia, and intolerance against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
Former US Commerce Secretary and former U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke is the Chairman-Elect of Committee of 100. The non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the advancement and inclusion of Chinese Americans for over three decades now “strongly supports the Presidential Memorandum.”
“We firmly reject all forms of prejudice, intolerance, and discrimination and stand together with other communities who have experienced systemic injustice and demand equity for all Americans,” Locke said.
The memorandum directs the Attorney General to explore all opportunities to support state and local agencies to combat discrimination, harassment and hate crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
It also directs the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to advance cultural sensitivity and mitigate any racially discriminatory language towards Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders related to Covid-19.
All executive departments and agencies are also urged to ensure all documents and statements do not contain any xenophobic or racist language.
Pandemic response
President Biden signed ten executive orders to combat the spread of covid-19 from vaccines to testing.
On February 11, Biden said his administration had secured hundreds of millions of additional doses of vaccine, leading to a vast majority of Americans to be vaccinated by this summer, according to a Huffpost report. Currently, nearly 40 million people have already been vaccinated, with healthcare workers and the elderly as priorities.
The report noted the US has now purchased 600 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which both require two shots. The quantity is enough to completely vaccinate 300 million people. The country’s population is 330 million.
The report added Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said on NBC’s Today show, “By the time we get to April…virtually everybody and anybody in any category could start to get vaccinated.”
Texas-based Asian American leader Mercado said, “The elusive proverbial light at the end of the tunnel appears to be within sight, with a new national leadership that promises to move mountains to beat the war on the pandemic and the untold economic hardships that it has wrought.”
He added: “Along with this hopeful promise comes a new and more optimistic attitude among the people that things will be better, buoyed also by the timely advances in science that will quickly produce more vaccines and cures.”
Economic Relief
President Biden has also urged the 117th US Congress to pass his $1.9 trillion economic relief legislation. But Republicans, who balk at the staggering amount, oppose the bill. Democrats said they would opt for budget reconciliation, which requires a simple majority to pass the bill. In a 50-50 Senate, Vice President Harris would cast the tie-breaking vote.
In the Democratic-dominated House of Representatives, the deadline for committees to craft the legislation was February 16. Marketwatch reported Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House intends “to finish our work before the end of February.”
Community leader and Virginia resident Bing C. Branigin said, “Lots of people lost their jobs, their homes. Several Asian American catering businesses and restaurants have closed, or are in danger of closing. Some of them are my friends, and it’s heartbreaking.”
“I order take-out regularly to support them. At the start of the lockdown, a group of young Filipino American professionals purchased meals from these restaurants, which they then brought to nurses in area hospitals,” she said. “The small business sector is really hurting. Asian Americans are shy or not knowledgeable about asking for aid. The economic relief plan would lift people up.”
