TGIF FEATURE: The 'Hamilton' Challenge goes viral: 'Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)'

THERE'S A LINE in the hit musical Hamilton that never fails to bring the house down: "Immigrants, we get the job done."

Although the lyrics were written before Donald Trump's election, a video has been produced to reflect the current debate over immigration. 

The new video of "Immigrants, we get the job done" was released Wednesday  (June 28) by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in time for America's birthday, July 4th, as we reflect on what makes this country great. It portrays refugees and immigrants from around the world in camps, garment sweatshops, fruit-picking fields and crowded trains. It is accompanied by a new song, set to rap lyrics, about their struggles, setbacks and contributions to society.

This election cycle has brought xenophobia and vilification of immigrants back to the forefront of US politics. This is a musical counterweight," Miranda wrote in a commentary on the music community website Genius.com.

Riz Ahmed, the British/Pakistani actor that starred The Night Of, is featured in one of the segments as Riz MC, along with rappers K'naan, Residente andSnow Tha Product, appear in the video to rap their verses as immigrants from various backgrounds work, struggle, and ultimately come together. 

"The music vid + track I always wished existed," Ahmed tweeted. "Beyond proud to be part of it."

The video, which was directed by Tomás Whitmore, is part of a social media campaign -- #Ham4All -- asking participants to sing a song from Hamilton and to make a donation to the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition,  and -- not unlike the viral Ice Bucket Challenge -- then challenge two friends to do the same, The coalition, made up of legal agencies, immigrants and civil rights groups, provides legal representation and advocacy for “immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers who come to us in search of the American Dream.”   

Entrants have a chance to win tickets to see Hamilton in Los Angeles. Famous contributors so far include Steph and Ayesha Curry, who challenged Olivia Munn and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Others who have taken part include Gina Rodriquez, Ben Stiller, Shonda Rhimes, and the cast and crew of The Beguiled.

Lin-Manuel Miranda joins Ayesha and Steph Curry in the video challenge of Immigrants (We Get The Job Done).

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Asian/Americans condemn SCOTUS ruling against Obama's immigrant plans

Protestors outside the Supreme Court in Washington D.C.

By Louis Chan
Reprinted from AsAm News

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S executive order protecting millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation and allowing them to work has been blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The justices deadlocked 4-4 and that means the Texas appeals court ruling blocking the plan remains in affect.

"For more than two decades now our immigration system, everybody acknowledges, has been broken," Obama said. "And the fact that the Supreme Court wasn't able to issue a decision today doesn't just set the system back even further, it takes us further from the country that we aspire to be."

Obama’s plan known as the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA) would have allowed parents of American citizens or permanent residents to apply for the program. It would affect almost 4 million people.

RELATED: Ruling may impact 400,000 in California

The justices who voted against DAPA acknowledged the president had the authority to prevent the deportation of individuals, but objected to the blanket protection DAPA offered.

“As a national civil rights organization that advocates for fair immigration policies, we strongly supported the president’s immigration actions that would have provided relief from deportation and employment authorization to almost 1.5 million undocumented Asian immigrants in this country,” said Margaret Fung, executive director of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund to AsAmNews. “While the Court’s 4-4 decision is a setback that has delayed the hopes of millions of undocumented immigrants and their families, we will explore all options in continuing the fight for immigrant rights.”

RELATED: Asians are part of the immigration debate

“The anti-immigrant forces and the Supreme Court are ignoring a clear truth,” said Grace Shim, executive director of the MinKwon Center. “Enforcement and deportation cannot solve the broken immigration system. Congress has repeatedly failed to enact large scale immigration reform, most recently in 2013 when the Senate passed a comprehensive reform measure but the House refused to even consider it. The Obama administration has also not been able to deliver on its initial promise of comprehensive immigration reform and has provided relief for a very select populations of DREAMers through his first executive action.”

The Supreme Court Justices who voted. 

“Each day these programs are delayed means that millions of immigrants and their families are left to live with fear and uncertainty,” said Sally Kinoshita, deputy director of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, which leads Ready California. “Today’s Supreme Court decision denies valuable members of our communities the opportunity to live and work without the constant risk of being torn from their families while more fully contributing to their local economies. When and if these programs become available, we are determined to help eligible Californians realize the full benefits of these critical immigration benefits and prepare for eventual immigration reform.”

According to Ready California,the original DACA program launched in 2012, continues to be available to more than a million qualified applicants and is not affected by the Supreme Court decision. Eligible undocumented immigrants can continue to apply for and renew DACA in order to access its many benefits, including a temporary reprieve from deportation, access to a work permit, and a social security number.

“I believe we are stronger together. When we embrace immigrants, not denigrate them. When we build bridges, not walls,” said presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. “That is why, as president, I will continue to defend DAPA and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), and do everything possible under the law to go further to protect families. It is also why I will introduce comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship within my first 100 days. Because when families are strong—America is strong.”

“Among the things America, its history and its people has really taught me: You don’t give up. You move forward. You fight on," said Jose Antonio Vargas, founder of Define America and an undocumented immigrant himself.

"By definition, immigrants are resilient, resourceful, courageous people. We will not give up. I will not give up.”

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

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The American story: Immigrants, innovation and entrepreneurship

Space X, a U.S. company founded by immigrant Elon Musk, seeks to  find ways to make space travel accessible to the general public. Above, one of their rockets underwent a test launch.

ASIAN IMMIGRANTS led the list of billion-dollar American companies started by immigrants, according to a policy brief by the National Foundation for American Policy.

Titled "Immigrants and Billion Dollar Startups," the research shows the benefits of making it easier for foreign students to study in American colleges and universities. A quarter of the companies in the study were launched by students who attended U.S. institutions and decided to pursue their dreams in this country.

Entering the U.S. as an international student has shown to be a good avenue for starting successful U.S. companies. Nearly one-quarter (20) of the 87 billion dollar U.S. startup companies – and almost half of the companies with an immigrant founder – had a founder who first came to America as an international student. 

Immigrants have started more than half (44 of 87) of America’s startup companies valued at $1 billion dollars or more and are key members of management or product development teams in over 70 percent (62 of 87) of these companies. 

The research finds that among the billion dollar startup companies, immigrant founders have created an average of approximately 760 jobs per company in the United States. The collective value of the 44 immigrant-founded companies is $168 billion, which is close to half the value of the stock markets of Russia or Mexico.

With 14 startups, India led all countries. Other Asian immigrant entrepreneurs came from China, Singapore, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. 

Other key findings of the research:

• Fifty-one percent, or 44 out of 87, of the country’s $1 billion startup companies had at least one immigrant founder. This illustrates the increasing importance and contributions of immigrants to the U.S. economy. A 2006 study conducted with the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) identified an immigrant founder in 25 percent of venture-backed companies that became publicly traded between 1990 and 2005, while a 2013 NVCA study found immigrants started 33 percent of U.S. venture-backed companies that became publicly traded between 2006 and 2012. 
• This study is one of the first to examine the role immigrants play on the management or product development teams in leading private companies in information technology, health, energy, financial services, and other sectors. The research found 62 of the 87 companies, or 71 percent, had at least one immigrant helping the company grow and innovate by filling a key management or product development position. 
• The billion-dollar startup companies with an immigrant founder excel at job creation. The leading companies for employment are SpaceX (4,000 employees), Mu Sigma (3,500 employees) and Palantir Technologies (2,000 employees). Uber has only 900 direct employees but has 162,000 active drivers.
• California was the headquarters of 32 of the 44 immigrant-founded companies, followed by New York (6), Massachusetts (4) and Illinois (2).
• Contrary to popular belief, holders of H-1B visas are not taking jobs away from Americans. As a matter of face, for every H-1B visa position requested, U.S. technology companies increase their employment by five workers.

The study concludes that the U.S. should be making immigration rules that encourage foreign students to flourish in America and warns against the restrictive policies encouraged by some of the presidential candidates. For example, if S. 2394, a bill by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL), had been in effect over the past decade, few if any of the billion-dollar startup companies with an immigrant founder would have been started in the United States. 

Immigrant entrepreneurs make important contributions to America, bringing new ideas and starting companies themselves or joining forces with native-born co-founders. Instead of making it more difficult for them to stay in this country, we should be finding ways to encourage them to stay. As the study shows, many of them come to this country to take advantage of the education and facilities offered by our best universities, founding a company and creating jobs is the best payback.

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

GOP makes a push for Asian/American voters

BELIEVE IT or not, the Republican Party is making an effort to woo Asian/American voters, who in the last two presidential elections have moved more into the Democratic camp.

The GOP hopes that they will be able to sway enough AAPI voters to weaken the impact the small but politically and financially potent influence that Asian/Americans have in key states and races. 

This past summer, the RNC launched the Republican Leadership Initiative, which hopes to recruit “Asian Pacific American grassroots leadership.”

The release of this commercial "It's Our Time," is part of that outreach.

Nothing groundbreaking or innovative, but at least the attempt is there.

"There was a time when Asian Americans seemed reliably pro-Republican. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush got 55 percent of the Asian American vote. Bob Dole also won more of the AAPI vote — 48 percent to Bill Clinton’s 43 percent," wrote Bobby Calvan for Al Jazeera in a three-part series about Asian/American & Pacific Islander voters.

Republicans pin their hopes on the fact that nearly half of Asian/American voters claim to be "independent," according to a Pew study.

The GOP believes that the AAPI vote still can be persuaded to vote GOP.  "In the 2014 midterm elections, some exit polls suggested that Asian Americans were about evenly split between Democratic and Republican candidates — a dramatic turn from the 2012 presidential election, when 73 percent of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) aligned with the Democrats," read the Al Jazeera article.

RELATED: 3-part series on Asian/American electorate by Al Jazeera

• Democrats, Republicans slow to woo the Asian voter
• Asian Americans lag in voter registration
• Seeking campaign case from the Asian boom

It remains to be seen if the party's new message can overcome what's coming out of the mouths of the GOP's presidential candidates. 

There are a number of factors why AAPI have shifted to the Democratic camp in the last eight years. One is President Obama himself, who spent most of his childhood among Asians in Hawaii and Indonesia. 

There is also a fear that the influence of the Christian right on the GOP raises questions about the Republican party's assertion of openness among Asians, the majority of whom are non-Christians.

The biggest obstacle for the GOP efforts is its stance on immigration. Most Asian/Americans, no matter how long they have lived in the U.S., favor a more liberal immigration policy including a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.


The "anchor baby" controversy has set back any efforts of wooing the Asian/American electorate, the fastest growing immigrant groups. In 2012, immigration from Asian countries surpassed immigration from Latin America. The statements and wild anti-immigrant statements the GOP presidential candidates constitute a strong push factor in making AAPI voters swing more towards the Democrats.

What the GOP doesn't understand is that if they take a stand against immigrants and you take a stand against family.

It does not help the Republican party’s attempts to dispel that unfavorable notion when most of the “Asians” in its newly formed “Asian Republican Coalition” turns out to be white businessmen in Hong Kong,

“We have a very broad definition of what constitutes the Asian American community," says white businessman Thomas Britt, the vice chairman of ARC and a former Asia Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee.

 "The Asian Republican Coalition is open to all Americans, including Asian Americans and those of us like me who are not ethnically Asian but have spent twenty years living in Hong Kong.” That might appeal to some Asians, but certainly not to the admittedly small group of  Asian/Americans that with whom I interact, most of whom strongly resent anything that might even hint at a colonial relationship.

"Is this a joke?" asks Frank Chi, a Democratic media consultant, when told how Britt defined  Asian American. "If not, then this is a fundamental misreading of politics in a multicultural America."

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In 1965, the Immigration & Nationality Act was passed; 5 decades later, it continues to change the face of America

As numbers increase Asian/Americans drawing the attention of bigots

"We are America."

ON OCTOBER 3, 1965, the Hart-Celler Immigration Act, became the law of the land and America was never the same.

Basically, the bill - also known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 - created for the U.S. a more fair immigration policy that gave immigrants from all countries an equal opportunity to immigrate to the United States. Prior to 1965, the immigration policies in place favored and encouraged immigration from Europe.

"The (1965) bipartisan law ended an unfair quota system, prohibited discrimination based on country of origin, and officially recognized our immigration system's role in reuniting families and attracting skilled workers, all of whom help fuel our economy." said President Obama in a statement on the anniversary of the Immigration Act. 

Fifty years after Hart-Celler, more immigrants are coming from Mexico, China, India and the Philippines. The United States' immigration population has doubled, from 5% of the pre-1965 population to today's 14%, hardly the "flood" nativists claim is "overwhelming" America.

By 2065, no racial or ethnic group will hold a majority in the U.S. Whites will be 46% of the population, Latinos at 24%, Asians at 14% and blacks at 13%. Currently, the country is 62% white, 18% Hispanic, 12% black and 6% Asian. 

If present trends continue and barring any major geo-political events that might skew the predictions, Asians will be the largest immigrant group by 2065 according to estimates in a new study by the Pew Research Center released last month.
 

In 50 years, the percentage of foreign-born, mostly Asian and Latino, is expected to jump to 18% of the United States' projected 441 million. That will be a record, higher than the nearly 15% during the late 19th century and early 20th century wave of immigration from Europe.

Much of the United States' population growth is due to immigration, according to the Pew report. Between 1965 and 2015, new immigrants, their children and their grandchildren accounted for 55% of U.S. population growth. They added 72 million people to the nation’s population as it grew from 193 million in 1965 to 324 million in 2015.

This demographic shift caused by immigration and the number of U.S. births from the same ethnic and racial groups potentially could result with a "good news/bad news" impact.

Good news: As in the past, America will continue to benefit from the influx of immigrants, most of whom are the most adventurous, the risk-takers, the most educated, most innovative and the most optimistic and driven foreign-born. They will become our neighbors.

Democrats and Republicans passed the 1965 immigration reform because, "they understood that immigration contributes to our economic growth by allowing hard-working, entrepreneurial individuals from around the world to pursue the American dream" said President Obama.

Bad news: Expect the xenophobia from current Americans to grow and the likelihood of a backlash increases such as calling for further limits on immigration, calls for "taking back our country," and a return to the "good old days" when Euro-Americans and their descendants dominated the political, social and economic realms.

Esther Cepeda, a columnist for Washington Post, warns, "Once they (Asians) become even more of a media sensation they’ll have to endure any number of silly, poorly worded, stereotype-laden articles that will present facts about them as though they are all brand-new visitors from a far-away land."

RELATED: America's challenge is learning to live with itself

And if Asians become the largest immigrant group, you can expect more incidents of good, old racism directed at Asian/Americans such as the anti-Chinese graffiti that's popped up in San Francisco even though that city has a reputation of being Asian-friendly, and the beatings and slaying of immigrants - including those of us who look like immigrants - in Los Angeles, Oakland, New York, Chicago and elsewhere.

There will also be attempts to divide the immigrant/ethnic groups and pit us against each other, such as Asian/Americans vs. Latino/Americans or Asians vs. African/Americans. We see this already in play in the GOP presidential campaign when Donald Trump and Jeb Bush in their "anchor baby" remarks drawing attention to the Chinese mothers on tourist visas giving birth in America thus giving their babies' automatic U.S. citizenship. Again, those who wish to stir things up don't distinguish between regular immigrants and those mothers and their infants, who almost always return to to their home countries.

Has anyone noticed whenever Trump mentions the "Chinese" or "China," - which is pretty often - he almost spits out the words, with a hard emphasis on the first vowel, such as "Ch-iii-na."

We see the anti-Asian sentiment rising in school admissions. In some cases, there are attempts to limit Asian enrollment by the institutions themselves; in other cases, we see a new "white flight" by those parents who don't want their children attending schools where there are a great number of Asian students.

The model-minority myth doesn't do us any favors among other ethnic groups who are looked upon less favorably by the dominant power group raising the question, "Why can't you be more like the Asians?" or "Asians work hard, study hard, so why can't you?" Is that a divide-and-conquer strategy?

Generally, Americans have a negative view of immigrants. Pew asked Americans surveyed for one word to describe immigrants in the US today. Twelve per cent said “illegal”; “overpopulation” was at 5%; “legality (other than illegal)” at 4%; and “jobs”, “deportation”, “Americans” and “work ethic” at 3% each.

Forty-nine percent offered general descriptions, and of those, only 12% were positive, 11% negative and 26% neutral, according to the report. That doesn't bode well for Asian immigrants and Asian/Americans.

Despite the increase in Asian immigrants, Latinos will still make up a larger number inside the United States. Latino/Americans' birth rate will be the main reason for that growth, said Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew’s director of Hispanic research. “It is really U.S. births that are now the driver of Hispanic population growth, and that’s a recent change from what we saw in the 80s and 90s.” 

“We have a diverse group of immigrants coming from Asian countries that are at different points of readiness to contribute to this country," said Mee Moua, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told the recent National Immigration Forum.  "They’re more highly educated, they come with ready skill sets and they’re coming prepared and ready to contribute to the progress of this country. And isn’t that the whole point of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965?”

Executive Action: Good news for 5 million

Audience members react to President Obama's speech
on his use of executive action.

WELL, President Obama did what he said he would do and used his power of executive action to provide necessary changes to America's policies towards undocumented immigrants.

And also, not surprisingly, the Republicans had a heart attack of a reaction: from impeachment threats to treason charges.

The president had to use executive action in order to  bypass the House of Representatives' inaction on  on a tough immigration bill passed by the Senate but Speaker Boehner refused to allow it to come to a vote in the GOP-controlled House even though it doubled the number of Border Patrol agents, increased their budget, extend the border fence  by 700 miles - all the things Republicans wanted.

Jose Antonio Vargas

One of the approximately 5 million beneficiaries of Obama's action last week is Jose Antonio Vargas, one of the most outspoken undocumented Americans. 

The Filipino American became an outspoken advocate of immigration reform when in 2011,  he revealed his undocumented status in an article in The New York Times Magazine.

Obama's 2012 deferred action plan for Dreamers didn't include the 33-year- old Vargas because he missed the age limitations by a few months. On Thursday, Obama announced he was removing the age limit. 

"It's one of those things where I've been thinking about it all day, and it hasn't really sunk in," he told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "I have been here since I was 12 -- 21 years. For somebody to just say, OK, now it is OK. You can get a work permit. You can get a driver's license. You can travel outside the country. ... It's a great night."

He said he'll finally be able to leave the U.S. to visit his mother in the Philippines, whom he hasn't seen for 21 years.

Although often perceived as a Latino issue, immigration reform will impact the Asian-American community. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that 1.3 million Asians are undocumented and over 60 percent of the Asian American community first-generation immigrants.

Unfortunately, the television networks didn't think Obama's speech was important enough to interrupt their regular prime-time programming so most of us missed it. (Heaven forbid we miss some of our favorite TV shows.) If you missed it, here it is.

Despite what Fox News insists on saying - and repeating over and over - Obama's plan is NOT amnesty. It also doesn't do anything for the remaining 6 million undocumented.

President Obama was late in delivering his campaign promise, but he's now made the leap despite the huge political risks. Now, get set for the fireworks as opponents prepare an all-out attack on anything -- I mean anything -- supported by the President. 

But wait, aren't they doing that already?

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Message to President Obama

IN JUST a few hours, President Obama is going to take executive action on immigration.

Although most of the focus has been on immigrants from South of the Border, and a lot of the fear has been generated against Latino Americans, Asian immigrants - which has surpassed Latinos in the number of immigrants coming here - will be greatly impacted by the immigration reform measures that will be proposed by the President.

One of the most outspoken undocumented immigrants is Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, who came out of the shadows in 2011. The video is from Balita, a Philippine/American broadcast agency.

"I think the president is saying inaction is not acceptable anymore and he's saying the status quo can't remain," said Vargas. "The House Republicans can supersede the president, what the president does, by actually passing immigration rearm, but if all they want to do is point fingers and say, 'Mr. President, you can't do it.' I think the American public. poll after poll, has shown the Amerian people want a solution."

"I think our job is to get it out of both of these parties and make it a civil right, human rights issue,"said Vargas, "that people what's happening and people know we must act on."

The President is taking this action because:

"Give me your tired, ..."

One - he is on perfectly legal grounds and there's lots of precedence. Every American president since 1957 - Republican and Democrat - have used executive action on immigration reform.

Two - The U.S. Senate passed an immigration reform measure last year and the ROP-dominated House of Representatives have been sitting on it all this time, preferring no action than to grant any legislative victory to President Obama. This measure included elements to double our border patrol, the construction of a 700-mile fence along the Mexico-U.S. border, increased use of drones and other measures to assuage the ultra-conservative House members. No dice, was their response, thus necessitating the President's use of executive action.

What he proposes won't be a cave-in to most immigrant reform advocates. In fact, it may downright piss off the more liberal forces. Nevertheless, something is better than nothing. Nothing is what the country will get in the next two years when the GOP take over both Houses.

In his last two year's in office, here's hoping that the President stops catering to the conservatives and return to values and strategies he cultivated as a community activist on the streets of Chicago. To hell with compromise.

Of course, as President, Obama won't do that ... but, here's wising ...

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Jose Vargas asks government for protection against deportation

JOSE ANTONIO VARGAS, who we last saw at the Texas border with Mexico (See earlier blog below) has kept himself busy. 

Days after speaking at the Asian American Journalists Association's annual convention held in Washington D.C., Vargas and 10 other undocumented immigrants held a press conference to put themselves on the line and to push the Obama administration to act on immigration reform and the status of the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. In doing so, he puts himself at risk of immediate deportation.

The ball is now in the court of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson at which time deportation would be delayed or immediate. The decision could come any day.

The Pulitzer-prize winning journalist came out of the shadows in 2011 to become one of the leading spokesman for undocumented immigrants and immigration reform.

Here's the CNN report of August 21:

(CNN) -- Filmmaker and activist Jose Antonio Vargas and 10 others asked the U.S. government on Wednesday to halt deportation proceedings against undocumented immigrants like themselves who have strong and productive ties to the United States.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, they requested that he defer such punitive action and then ask President Barack Obama to consider "administrative relief" to those "who are integral members of our evolving American community."

Vargas and the others said in their letter that they represent just a few of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

"Often, we're treated as abstractions, nameless and faceless, subjects of debate rather than individuals with families, hopes, fears, and dreams," they wrote.

Undocumented leader: 'We're tired'

Undocumented activist of CNN film detained

"Over the past decades, we have been working, worshiping in churches, going to school, and contributing to the communities we call home. We love, fight for, and pledge allegiance to an America whose flag does not recognize us," they added.

In a statement, Johnson's office did not mention the letter, but said he has "been taking a hard look" at "tough issues" around shortcomings in immigration policy and working to submit recommendations to Obama within "the confines of existing law."

Customs and Border Patrol agents detained Vargas, also an award-winning journalist, last month in McAllen, Texas, after learning of his immigration status.

Immigration question: How far can the President go on executive actions?

He was there to call attention to the plight of tens of thousands of migrant youth from Central America, many of them unaccompanied, who have streamed across the southern border this year.

The surge has strained border services and reignited the debate over immigration reform in Washington, a cause that Vargas promotes.

A decision by Johnson to grant the request would delay any deportation proceedings with the hope that Obama would then use his executive authority to expand deportation protections or that Congress would agree to an overhaul of immigration law.

Obama used his executive authority in 2012 to grant work authorization for two years or more for those who came to the United States as children. Vargas missed the age eligibility by only months.

With Congress divided, Obama to go his own way on immigration