Editorial: Immigration crackdown bypasses criminals to punish family breadwinners

SYED AHMED JAMAL

The following is an editorial from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2018
THE NEW AND BEWILDERING policies of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seem more aimed at punishing harmless people simply for being in this country illegally, as opposed to going after the truly bad people who deserve to be removed.

The ordeals of two families, one in Missouri and the other in Kansas, put a human face on ICE’s inhumane crackdown.

Alex Garcia in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and Syed Ahmed Jamal in Lawrence, were arrested despite having no criminal convictions. The arrests deprived their families of breadwinners and induced untold stresses. Such arrests have increased substantially under the Trump administration even though deportations have lagged.

The net effect is just to split up families, as if by spite.

Does the nation benefit by forcing people whose only crimes were overstaying visas or entering the country illegally — the two most frequent immigration violations — to separate from their families? Until last year, ICE officers were forbidden by presidential order from arresting immigrants for either violation. Criminals were supposed to be the priority.

Garcia, 36, arrived illegally from Honduras in 2004. He got a job, met and married a local woman and went to work for her father’s construction company.

Jamal, 55, entered from Bangladesh legally on a student visa in 1987. A chemist, he overstayed two visas before receiving an H-1B work visa to be a hospital research scientist. Jamal taught college-level science for five years on legal work permits. He paid regular visits to ICE offices.

He is married with three children and recently ran for the school board. That didn’t stop authorities from arresting and handcuffing him in his front yard in January as he was preparing to take his 12-year-old daughter to school.

These family men have coped with a dizzying immigration system for years. Their situations are different, but neither tried to hide from authorities. The agency shifted from deporting undocumented criminal immigrants to detaining non-criminal immigrants. The agency’s 2017 data show a 41 percent increase in immigrant arrests compared to 2016, with the share of criminal arrests up 17 percent and non-criminal arrests up 171 percent.

Cracking down on men like Jamal and Garcia does nothing to make our streets safer. And for all Trump’s talk, immigration reform remains a distant dream.

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AAPIs react to Supreme Court's ruling upholding affirmative action's goals

By Louis Chan
Reprinted from AsAm News

By a 4-3 majority, this morning (June 23) the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the use of race in admissions at the University of Texas as constitutional.

The case was filed by Abigail Fisher, a white student, who alleged the university passed her over for admissions in favor of less qualified minority students.

"The Court’s affirmation of the University’s admissions policy does not necessarily mean the University may rely on that same policy without refinement,” Justice Kennedy wrote. “It is the university’s ongoing obligation to engage in constant deliberation and continued reflection regarding its admissions policies.”

RELATED: AAPI groups file briefs in Fisher vs. Texas case

Only seven justices participated in the decision because Justice Elena Kagan recused herself due to her participation in the case when she worked as Solicitor General.

The seat of the late Antonin Scalia remains vacant because the Republican Senate majority refuses to put up the nomination of Justice Merrick Garland for a vote.

RELATED: Asians & affirmative action

“We are pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledges the continued need for affirmative action policies that make it possible for students of all backgrounds, including many historically disadvantaged Asian American and Pacific Islanders, to access higher education and create a stronger country through their contributions to a diverse society,” said Mee Moua, president and executive director of Advancing Justice | AAJC to AsAmNews.

Affirmative action has divided the Asian/American community with second and third generation Asian/Americans generally in support of it, and first-generation immigrants, primarily Chinese/Americans, opposed.

Among those outspoken against affirmative action is 80-20, a political action committee, lead by former Delaware Lieutenant Governor S.B. Woo.

RELATED: A closer look at the complaint vs. Ive League schools

“Asian Americans on average must give 140 SAT points to white applicants,” said Woo this morning to AsAmNews. “It’s such a resounding contradiction that Fisher v University of Tex didn’t emphasize enough. If I had the money, it takes millions, I would challenge the university on exactly that point and work it on that point. Forget the Hispanics, forget the Blacks, just make a straight forward comparison between Asian Americans and White.

Woo pointed out the Supreme Court made it a point to say their decision does not mean the “University may rely on the same policy without refinement.”

“I’m not saying it's a victory at all,” Woo clarified. “It’s a victory for the current admission program. However, know what the court said. It requires refinement.”

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White House vetting Asian American judge for SCOTUS post

When he was sworn in as judge in 2013, Sri Srinivasan, placed his hand on the Hindu holy book, the Bhagwad Gita, held by his mother Saroja Srinivasan.

ONE OF THE names being seriously considered to fill the vacant position on the U.S. Supreme Court is an Asian/American. Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit -- a traditional launching pad for Supreme Court nominees, is being vetted, according to reports.

The friends and former colleagues of the 48-year old Indian/American judge are being interviewed, sources familiar with the vetting process told CNN today (March 5).

The news of Srinivasan making the short list for a seat on the Supreme Court came days after the White House talked with Asian/American leaders in an "off he record" phone conference March 3. Although no names were mentioned during the call, people had a chance to press that an Asian/American candidate be seriously considered for the open seat.

Tina Matsuoka, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association in Washington, said the call signaled the White House’s acknowledgement of excitement in the Asian-American community that the next Supreme Court justice could become the first Asian-American to sit on the high court.

RELATED: White House meets with AAPI leaders

Ever since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last month, Asian/Americans, along with other interest groups, have been lobbying for President Obama to nominate a new justice quickly even though Republicans have vowed to block the nomination until 2017, when a new president will take office.

“We’ve been really excited that there’s a number of Asian-Americans who have been talked about in the mainstream press, and it’s really galvanized the community,” Matsuoka said.

Srinivasan isn’t the only Asian/American or immigrant who’s been talked up as a potential Obama nominee for the Court. There’s also Jacqueline Nguyen, an appeals court judge who once lived in a refugee camp with her Vietnamese family, and Goodwin Liu, a Taiwanese/American justice from Georgia on the California Supreme Court. Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, a Mexican immigrant who is also on the California Supreme Court, is another potential option. But of these, experts say, Srinivasan is the likeliest choice. 

Of course, there are many others being considered also besides Srinivasan. 

RELATED: Why not an Asian American on the Supreme Court?

Even though his father went to U.C. Berkeley, Srinivasan chose to get his undergrad degree across San Francisco Bay at Stanford, where he also got his law degree. He clerked with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Conner and worked for the Solicitor General under the Bush and Obama administrations. He joined a Washington D.C. law firm before President Barack Obama first nominated him in 2012 for the D.C. appeals court, the same court where Scalia served before ascending to SCOTUS.

The Senate confirmed him 97-0 in April, 2013. During the oonfirmantion hearings Sen. Ted Cruz noted that “we have been friends a long time.” Sen. Orrin Hatch, now the chamber’s most senior Republican, called him “terrific” and added “I do not believe judges should be filibustered.”

During the hearings, he parried questions regarding his positions on controversial issues by testifying that he doesn't let his personal opinions affect his judicial decisions. 

Srinivasan was born in Chandigarh, India in 1967 and moved with his family to Lawrence, Kansas a few months later. His late father was a math professor at Kansas University; where his mother also taught art history and computer science. His sister Srinija was the fifth employee to join Yahoo. 

There’s never been an Asian on SCOTUS. “It’s time for America to achieve that historic first,” said Jin Hwang, the president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, in an interview with Fusion.  “The reason why it’s important to have judges who look like the population is it instills more confidence in the justice system… People can feel more a part of society and not be considered a perpetual foreigner.”

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For more news about Asian/Americans & Pacific Islanders, read AsAm News.