Chinese American immigrant named a CNN Hero

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Betty Chinn feeds the homeless at her shelters and by visiting them in her food van.

Betty Chinn doesn't sleep much.

Each day before sunrise until well into the night, this petite woman in her 70s covers a lot of ground—tending to hundreds of people living in homelessness along California's north coast.

"I tell myself, 'Time to go, somebody needs your help,'" said Chinn, a Chinese American immigrant who's lived in Humboldt County for almost 50 years.

She was named as one of 2018's CNN Heroes, an honor given by the news network every year to  people having a positive impact in the world.

She houses, clothes and feeds the homeless in Humboldt County in northern California getting donations for the food, the shelter and its furnishings.

She's been at it for nearly four decades, expanding her efforts well beyond meals and starting her nonprofit. She and her group operate three shelters—one just for families, where Chinn often sleeps and remains on call at all hours.

"American people were so kind to me," Chinn said. "When I come to United States, (it was) the first time I had experienced people smiling at me and not knowing me. They just looked at me and smiled, and that stuck in my heart."

As a child, Betty Chinn was separated from her family and tortured in her native China, eventually fleeing to begin a new life in America. As a young mother, she was moved by the plight of one homeless child in her son’s elementary school and began serving homeless individuals in her town of Eureka, CA. 

SCREEN CAPTURE / CNN

Nearly 40 years later, Chinn continues to give back to her adoptive community, where she operates three shelters, cooks and serves 300 meals a day and provides medical and support services, job training and childcare to those struggling to get off the streets.

Now a U.S. citizen, she has proven her leadership qualities through her outstanding record of humanitarian activity in Humboldt County, California, serving the homeless population. 

Betty's mission started with cooking extra food at mealtimes for a homeless family she knew. Upon her recognizing more families and individuals in need, her activity increased in capacity and scope. Betty began feeding hundreds of people breakfast and dinner with a hot cup of coffee, all out of her own pocket. 

Betty still presently rises before dawn to cook, and is out and about until well after dark, making extra trips with rain gear and extra blankets when the weather is cold or rainy and there is a need. Betty insists she gets more out of this work than she puts in, the chance to give back to the city and country that welcomed her with the freedom to start a new life. 

At its core, Betty's mission has always been about doing for others what was never done for her, showing kindness and compassion to each individual. But most importantly, ensuring that they know they matter, at least to someone. 

The Betty Kwan Chinn Homeless Foundation's mission is: "To honor all humanity by providing direct responses to immediate needs and helping the destitute achieve the dignity needed to return to society as contributing members." The Betty Kwan Chinn Homeless Foundation social service programs include: The Betty Chinn Day Center, Betty's House Family Shelter & Medical Respite, Betty's Village, Betty's Showers, and Betty's Blue Angel Outreach.

You can donate to help Betty continue her mission by clicking here.

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A glimpse at Trump's plans for deporting undocumented immigrants

The AAPI community will be impacted by President Trump's deportation strategy.

THE WORST FEARS of the American immigrant community may be coming true after details of Donald Trump's plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants were revealed today in draft guidelines from Homeland Security Sec. John Kelly to immigration officials.

UPDATED FEB. 22 to include White House response.

Even though Administration officials say the strict immigration enforcement will focus on those undocumented people who have broken the law, according to some immigration advocates, that could cast a much wider net if you consider entering the U.S. without documents or overstaying your visa "breaking the law.“

"President Trump’s plan for mass deportations is an affront to our values as Americans, and will strike fear in our immigrant communities that will harm our economy and public safety," said California's Sen. Kamala Harris, herself the daughter of immigrants. "These guidelines imply that all immigrants should be treated as criminals, regardless of their background or lack of criminal history, and will drain our local law enforcement resources because it makes them responsible for enforcing federal immigration law."

Of the approximately 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S., about 14 percent, or about 1.45 million to 1.65 million are Asian/Americans. Another way of looking at it is about 1 our of every 7 Asian immigrants is undocumented, according to the Center for Migration Studies and the Migration Policy Institute.

The memos, which still have to be given final approval by the White House, are guidelines to agents in the field to implement two executive orders signed by Trump on Jan. 25 intended to deter future migration and drive out more illegal migrants from the United States.

One memo instructs ICE agents to ignore Obama’s memos on immigration priorities that targeted only recent arrivals and convicted criminal migrants for deportation. Instead, migrants who simply have been charged with crimes but not convicted would be prioritized for deportation. The guidelines also allows ICE agents wide discretion in deciding who to deport and considers anyone in the United States illegally to be subject to deportation.

Despite the vow by President Trump to prioritize criminals for deportation, the executive order is so broad that anyone who committed even a minor offense, such as a traffic violation or jaywalking, could be deported. The order also applies to those who may have misrepresented their status to obtain work. 

The Trump Administration has outlined a mass deportation regime targeting all immigrants, including those on student visas, work visas, and the undocumented, for deportation enforcement, stated the lawyers of Asian Americans Advancing Justice. 

In response to journalists' questions, White House press secretary Sean Spicer sought to downplay fears about its impact. He denied the threat of "mass deportations," saying that Trump simply wants to "take the shackles" off government officials handling deportations "and say, 'You have a mission, there are laws that need to be followed, you should do your mission and follow the law.'"

The AAAJ statement also said the memos greatly increase the probability of tearing mothers and fathers from their children, leaving families with no main breadwinner, and forcing those who remain to pick up the pieces left behind from inhumane policies and enforcement efforts. 

"The enforcement memo seeks to promote fear of immigrants and orders the ICE Director to take funds from programs used to serve any undocumented immigrants – including immigrants who are trafficked and victims of crime – to this new office that will only further demonize immigrants and stir up hatred," says the AAAJ statement.

There is one ray of hope in the memos -- they leave in place Obama’s 2012 executive action that protected 750,000 people brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents. The fate of the policy, known as DACA, has been hotly debated within the White House, according to Reuters. Trump said in a news conference Friday that DACA was a “very difficult subject” for him.

The ICE memo also states that immigrants will not be afforded rights under U.S. privacy laws and the hiring of 10,000 more officers to "get the job done," but doesn't say where the money will come from to pay for the additional personnel.

From the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the recent profiling of Muslim and South Asian Americans in the travel ban, we are in a resurgence of xenophobia and hate that is being fueled by the Trump administration.

"Advancing Justice opposes the administration’s agenda of mass deportations and scapegoating of immigrants that are designed to create a wedge in American communities and marginalize communities of color," concludes the AAAJ statement.

“If we attack our immigrant community members, our neighbors, our friends and our colleagues, we will never be the country we aspire to be,” said Harris.

Bipartisan effort introduces bill to keep the Dreamers in the U.S.

About 18,000 Asian/Americans are registered in the  DACA program.

A BIPARTISAN group of lawmakers that included California Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Judy Chu introduced a bill to protect undocumented young people brought to the United States as children should the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program be discontinued under the incoming administration of Donald Trump.

"DACA is not a partisan issue — it’s an issue that touches on respect, justice, dignity, and equality," said Harris. 

The Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy (BRIDGE) Act, which was first introduced in the Senate late last year, would provide temporary relief from deportation and work authorization to undocumented youth. 

About 740,000 young people known as Dreamers, 18,000 of which are Asian/Americans, would be affected if DACA is repealed.

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the bill in the Senate and Representatives Mike Coffman (CO-06) and Luis V. Gutiérrez (IL-04) are introducing companion legislation in the House of Representatives.

“In my view, the DACA Executive Order issued by President Obama was unconstitutional and President-elect Trump would be right to repeal it," said Graham. "However, I do not believe we should pull the rug out and push these young men and women -- who came out of the shadows and registered with the federal government -- back into the darkness. 

"Our legislation continues to provide legal status to them for three years as Congress seeks a permanent solution. These young people have much to offer the country and we stand to benefit from the many contributions they will make to America."

The BRIDGE act is a temporary measure that would give Congress time to come up with a permanent resolution the dilemma of the Dreamers.

"While we strongly support these efforts to save DACA, we have grave concerns about placing anyone in permanent second-class status," said Mee Moua, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice. 

"Asians Americans were the first immigrants to be excluded from the U.S. based on race and national origin. Beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, Asians were effectively barred from immigrating to the U.S. and ineligible for citizenship,"

The BRIDGE Act has broad support from the faith, business, higher-education, civil rights, and immigrant communities. This week, 88 business leaders from around the country sent a letter to President-elect Trump and House and Senate leadership asking them to support the BRIDGE Act.

Rep. Gutierrez added that immigrants do not detract from American society: “The DREAMers who have DACA are not competing with Americans for a slice of the pie, they are helping to bake a bigger pie for our country and our economy.”

A report last month determined that a reverse of DACA would slash the country’s GDP by $433 billion over the next decade, including losses in contributions to Social Security and Medicare.

Sen. Harris said that people had shared stories about the crying children of immigrants and Muslims asking their parents if they were going to be sent away, and that law enforcement officials told her they worried victims of crimes would not report incidents out of fear that the police would turn them over to be deported.

“I feel very strongly that California’s voice must be a voice of leadership in Washington, D.C., on all the issues that we discussed,” she said. “We have an outsized stake in the outcome of the conversation about immigrants … and I feel very strongly that we must defend all people.”

California's schools chief encourages districts to become 'safe havens'

AAPI students fight for immigration rights.

IN A LETTER, California's top school official released a letter Wednesday (Dec. 21) encouraging all public schools in the state to be declared “safe havens” for students and their parents and to remind families about existing laws that protect students’ records from questions about immigration status.

“Unfortunately, since the presidential election, reports of bullying, harassment, and intimidation of K-12 students based on immigration status, religious, or ethnic identification are on the rise,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson in his letter to county and school district superintendents, charter school administrators, and principals.

“As State Superintendent of Public Instruction, safety is my top priority. And my strongest commitment to you, your students, and their families is that schools remain safe places to learn. California serves more than 6.2 million kindergarten through twelfth grade students with the most diverse population in the nation,” said Torlakson. 

Citizenship status is not a condition for enrollment in California K-12 schools. All kids must go to school, regardless of their paperwork. Citizenship is also not a condition for enrollment in California's system of community and four-year colleges. It is estimated that one in ten California students are "unauthorized."

While the majority of California's unauthorized students are from Mexico and Latin America, the next biggest group is from Asia.

The California Department of Education (CDE) will continue to provide local educational agencies (LEAs) with guidelines about existing laws that protect student records, including the 1984 Plyler v. Doe U.S. Supreme Court decision that requires schools to enroll all eligible children regardless of immigration status.

Schools must verify a student’s age and residency, but they have extensive flexibility in what documents are used and do not need to use pertaining to immigration status. No records can be released to law enforcement without a parent’s written permission, a court order, or subpoena. Schools should not collect or maintain any documents pertaining to immigration status, Torlakson said.

Some California schools districts, including the Los Angeles Unified School District and Sacramento City Unified School District, have already declared themselves safe havens and let their communities know they will maintain a welcoming environment for all students and parents.

The full letter is available on the California Department of Education (CDE) Public Schools Remain Safe Havens Web page.

Trump's scary, scary speech on immigration

Donald Trump gave a fiery speech on immigration in Arizona Wednesday.

SO MUCH for all that talk about Donald Trump softening his stance on immigration and reaching out to minority voters.

GOP Presidential candidate Trump gave a frightening nativist tirade in Arizona that should put away any doubt that he has any empathy towards immigrants, whether they are here legally or undocumented.

Down in the polls against Sec. Hillary Clinton, Trump must think he has nothing to lose so instead of trying to reach out to Latinos and other immigrant communities as he tried in recent days, he instead, doubled down on the hate-filled rhetoric in one of the most vicious, ugly speeches by a presidential candidate that I can recall. 

KKK leader David Duke voiced his opinion of the speech via Twitter. No comment needed.

For immigrants from Asia, now the largest source of immigrants to the U.S., it was disappointing to hear that he would do away with DACA, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and DAPA, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, which would affect thousands of undocumented Asian immigrants. "Everybody must go," said Trump.

RELATED: Trump says he would limit immigration from the Philippines

What was perhaps most startling was Trump's call to return immigration to its "historical norms," which could mean abolishing the 1965 immigration reforms that did away with the preferences giving  European immigrants an edge over the rest of the world.

Trump belied another pillar of his candidacy, which calls for a reduction of government, when he said he would add 5,000 Border Patrol agents, triple the number of agents for ICE, create a deportation task force and reiterated his call for building that damn wall on our southern border.

UPDATE (Sept. 1, 2016): Several of Trump's Latino supporters withdraw their endorsements

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