MAGA podcast sparks outrage after host calls for internment of Chinese Americans

During WWII Japanese Americans were rounded up and incarcerated in desolate camps.

In a chilling reminder that the "perpetual foreigner" trope remains alive and well in right-wing media, a panelist on a popular MAGA-aligned podcast recently floated the idea of locking up Chinese Americans in the event of a war with Beijing.

Asian American members of Congress were quick to respond, mincing no words: 

"“These comments invoke centuries-old racist tropes that cast Chinese Americans as perpetual foreigners and question their loyalty to the United States," they stated. "Such rhetoric fuels discrimination and violence against Chinese Americans and those perceived to be Chinese, and contributes to a climate in which one in five Americans are currently concerned about Chinese Americans posing a threat to US society."

During an episode of Timcast IRL, co-host Ian Crossland was not subtle when brainstorming a hypothetical military conflict between the United States and China.

 "Do (you) think we should intern all the Chinese Americans we can find?" Crossland asked his fellow commentators. He then answered his own question: "Because it kind of seems like we should."

Ian Crossland during one of his podcasts.

While another panelist, Kevin Smith, pushed back slightly, his objection wasn't rooted in basic human rights or constitutional protections. Instead, Smith merely questioned the logistics of modern-day concentration camps, arguing that social media and public protests would make replicating World War II-era internment too difficult to pull off in the 21st century.

Blistering response

The casual mainstreaming of wartime incarceration has drawn fierce, immediate condemnation from Asian American lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) issued a blistering joint response led by Reps. Grace Meng, Ted Lieu, and Judy Chu, blasting the podcast's rhetoric as both dangerous and xenophobic. 

Congressmembers Grace Meng, Ted Lieu and Judy Chu.

Lawmakers drew a direct line from Crossland's remarks to the dark legacy of Executive Order 9066, which led to the forced relocation and imprisonment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.

“To call for a return to one of the darkest chapters in US history — the incarceration of more than 120,000 American citizens of Japanese descent during World War II —is dangerous and unacceptable," the Congressional statement continued. This kind of rhetoric has no place in our country and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

View from the edge

These comments invoke centuries-old racist tropes that cast Chinese Americans as perpetual foreigners and question their loyalty to the United States. Such rhetoric fuels discrimination and violence against Chinese Americans and those perceived to be Chinese.

It contributes to a climate in which one in five Americans are currently concerned about Chinese Americans posing a threat to US society, according to a survey by The Asian American Foundation.

This casual revival of mass incarceration rhetoric isn’t happening in a vacuum—it is the direct product of an ecosystem that profits off xenophobic fearmongering and extreme outrage among MAGA believers fueled by a regime that is using White fear as a recruitment strategy.

By framing the systemic violation of constitutional rights as a mere policy debate, media figures normalized hate under the guise of geopolitical strategy. 

As the Asian American lawmakers rightly noted, silence in the face of such rhetoric is complicity; confronting and exposing these modern-day echo chambers is essential to ensuring that one of the darkest chapters of American history is never repeated.

For those who don't believe this could never happen, factual history tells us it did happen to the Japanese Americans and US residents. These same naysayers are the same people who thought that Americans would never vote in TV host, failed businessman,  sexual predator and convicted felon Donald Trump.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective interesting, please repost. 

As AANHPI needs go unheeded and unfunded, Trump's regime gives us a car race

SHUTTERSTOCK

The nation's Capitol lost a bit of its luster as the backdrop for a racing spectacle

The corporate suites are gone, the tire tracks are fading from the National Mall, and the  engines' roar from the Freedom 250 Grand Prix have finally gone quiet. But in Washington D.C., the real roar is just beginning.

While the racing world applauds the Penske Corporation for eating a loss on the $35 million production bill, a look behind the curtain reveals who really kept the lights on. It wasn't just corporate sponsors like Boeing or SpaceX. It was you. 

To pull off this high-octane spectacle last weekend, the federal government quietly funneled a jaw-dropping $78 million to $80 million in taxpayer funds into security, logistics, and site preparation.

Let that sink in.

While racing crews were busy fusing shut 220 manhole covers and dropping 1,800 massive concrete walls into the pavement, the US Department of the Interior was dropping $68 million just to prep the streets. Add another $10 million to $12 million for police overtime and Secret Service screenings, and the public bill skyrocketed.

Race supporters and regime officials will tell you this was an investment in national unity and a massive tourist boom for local hotels. But let’s call a distraction what it is. While the city cheered for cars going in circles, that same $80 million could have addressed the severe problems actually crushing everyday Americans—including deep, systemic needs within our AAPI communities.

A race with no winners but plenty of losers

Instead of watching tax dollars evaporate into tire smoke, imagine what that $80 million could have done if invested back into the community.

That money could have provided $25 million for vital language access and legal aid clinics to help low-income immigrants navigate housing and healthcare. 

It could have put $20 million into grass-roots hate crime prevention and neighborhood safety patrols. Another $20 million could have thrown an economic lifeline to mom-and-pop small businesses fighting gentrification in historic Chinatowns and Little Saigons. 

The remaining $15 million could have funded culturally competent health clinics offering language-specific mental health care and medical services.

Instead, Washington chose to throw a party.

View from the edge

As Representative Grace Meng, (D-NY) chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), recently warned, these massive national spectacles are taking place "at a time when programs supporting minority communities are under attack." 

While the federal government easily finds tens of millions for a single weekend of racing entertainment, grassroots organizers from APIAVote are reminding us of what real freedom looks like — demanding resources to live, work, and learn safely, rather than watching public funds get funneled into billionaire-backed vanity projects.

The Freedom 250 might have been a thrilling ride for a weekend, but for the taxpayers left stranded by the roadside — and the AANHPI communities left waiting for real support — it is just another reminder of misplaced priorities of the Donald Trump regime.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective meaningful, please share.

Lame-duck politician seeks to dissolve Congress' ethnic caucuses

With nothing to lose, Rep. Nancy Mace is leaving Congress attacking minority initiatives.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace is trying to leave Congress with a bang. Following a humiliating loss in her 2026 gubernatorial primary bid and with her exit from office locked in for January 2027, the South Carolina congressmember  introduced a resolution that would dissolve the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC).

Besides CAPAC, the resolution to ban race- and ethnicity based caucus would target the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, known collectively as the Congressinal Tri-Caucus? Not coincidentally, the three caucuses are dominated by Democrats and strong critics of the Trump regime.

“Race-based caucuses are not about diversity. They are segregation sanctioned by the legislative branch of the federal government,” says Mace. “You do not get to lecture America about inclusion while running an organization checking skin color at the door or advocating for Americans of one race over another.”

“Nancy Mace rose to infamy for her cheap political stunts, and this is just the latest distraction from her failed primary and complete inability to deliver for her constituents. Members of Congress have every right to organize around shared policy priorities and the constituencies they serve.," reads a combined statement from the Tri-Caucus.

        RELATED: Read Nancy Mace's resolution

"There are dozens of bipartisan congressional caucuses dedicated to ethnic communities, geographic regions, industries, veterans, faith traditions, and countless other interests. Singling out the Congressional Tri-Caucus—which represents nearly half of all Americans—is racist and a shameless attempt to silence the voices of minorities," the statement continues.

Mace took to social media to blast the historic groups, calling them "federally-sanctioned segregation" and telling minority lawmakers to "kiss your little clubs goodbye."

While she frames the resolution as a battle for a "colorblind" society, critics point out it aligns with her dramatic pivot toward radical right culture-war populism, designed to secure her conservative relevance after being rejected by voters in her home state.

The resolution has virtually no chance of passing the House, serving instead as a loud, final piece of political theater.

Asian American lawmakers and the broader Democratic leadership are not letting her walk away quietly. CAPAC Chair Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06), alongside fellow Tri-Caucus leaders, fired back with a blistering joint statement. They dismissed the resolution as a "racist and shameless attempt to silence the voices of minorities" and a desperate distraction from her own failed primary race.

APAICS

Officers of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus were sworn in.

The roots of Mace’s anti-diversity crusade

To understand why Nancy Mace is spending her final months in Washington waging a war on identity politics, you have to look back at her personal history—specifically, her time as the first female graduate of The Citadel military college in 1999.

Mace survived a notoriously brutal, male-dominated environment by leaning into a philosophy of strict individual merit, asserting that rules should be entirely uniform without regard to group identity.

Once a moderate Republican who supported LGBTQ+ advocacy, her stinging primary defeat in 2026 accelerated a desperate shift toward right-wing grievance politics, leading her to weaponize her "trailblazer" background against modern diversity initiatives.

Barred from achieving higher office and heading toward political unemployment, she is leveraging this "individualist" ideology to try and dismantle institutional support systems for minorities before she goes.

For Asian American members of Congress and their allies, Mace's weaponization of her personal history is an insult to the actual work of civil rights.

“The Tri-Caucus does not need a lecture about what constitutes federally sanctioned segregation—least of all from a member who has repeatedly made racist and bigoted comments about minority communities over the course of her tenure in Congress.

“The Congressional Tri-Caucus was formed to address the needs and concerns of Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander American communities that are too often ignored in the halls of power. These caucuses existed long before Nancy Mace arrived in Congress, and will remain long after she fades into irrelevancy.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective interesting, please repost.

ELECTION 2026: Mixed bag for AAPI candidates in New York’s primary drama

STEVEN RAGA / FACEBOOK

Incumbent Steven Raga got caught in Democratic Socialist wave and lost his Assembly sesat.

The dust is finally settling on the high-stakes June 23 Democratic primary, and for Asian American candidates, it was a night of historic holds, heavy heartbreak, and high-dollar celebrity defeats. 

From the streets of Flushing to the halls of Lower Manhattan, Asian American communities proved once again that we are not a monolith — neither in how we vote nor in how we fare at the ballot box.

Two Asian Americans incumbents lose their offices

The biggest shockwaves of the night were felt across Queens, where the political muscle of the newly minted Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) completely reshaped the borough's leadership by defeating two Asian American legislators.

Moderate South Asian incumbent Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar suffered a staggering defeat in Assembly District 38. Rajkumar, the first South Asian American woman elected to the state legislature, had closely aligned her political brand with disgraced former Mayor Eric Adams—a gamble that backfired heavily as Mamdani voters prioritized socialist policy over identity politics.

Jenifer Rajkumar

Rajkumar made history as the first South Asian woman and first Hindu elected to New York State office when she was elected in 2021.

DSA-backed challenger David Orkin unseated Rajkumar in a landslide, capturing 59% of the vote to her 41%.

Meanwhile, history-making incumbent Assemblyman Steven Raga faced his own heartbreak. Making a bold gamble to vacate his Assembly seat to run for State Senate District 12 in Western Queens, New York's first Filipino American state legislator ran straight into Mamdani's organizing machine.

Even though Raga had backed Mamdani's mayoral race, the Indian American mayor chose to endorse progressive Aber Kawas, who swept the district with 60% of the vote. 

Both Kawas and Raga were considered "progressive," but the difference being their position on Palestine. Despite co-sponsoring a bill that would cut New York support of nonprofits supporting the Israeli settlements. In the end, critics felt that Raga was not pro-Palestine enough compared to Kawas, who is Muslim and Palestinian American, which appealed to the large Arab population in the district.

Raga vowed to his supporters that his fight for the people of Queens “will not end tonight. 

“I will continue fighting for affordable health care, housing, immigrant justice, and human dignity, because no child in New York should have to endure what that seven-year-old boy endured,” he told his supporters as he conceded. 

“This campaign may be ending, but our work is not. I will never stop fighting for the communities that raised me, and I remain hopeful about what we can build together. The movement we built belongs to the people of Western Queens. And its story is far from over.”

Here’s the breakdown of how the AAPI political landscape shifted on primary night.

Meng fends off insurgent challenge

In New York's Congressional District 6, incumbent Representative Grace Meng proved why she remains the gold standard of Queens politics. Facing a spirited, progressive challenge from former U.S. diplomat Chuck Park, Meng locked down the Democratic nomination with 56.8% of the vote. 

Surrounded by a sea of blue-and-orange "Grace Meng for Congress" Knicks-style shirts at her downtown Flushing watch party, New York’s first and only Asian American congressmember thanked a community that stood by her even on a rainy election day. With the district rated as solidly Democratic, Meng is smoothly cruising toward November.

FACEBOOK

New York's Rep. Grace Meng with her family and supporters celebrate her primary win.

“This victory belongs to every volunteer, organizer, and neighbor who believed that the work we’ve been doing together matters, and I want to congratulate Chuck Park on running a hard and spirited campaign,” said Meng on election night.

“November is next, and I am asking every New Yorker who believes in what we’re fighting for to stay engaged, show up, and help us take back Congress so we can take back this country from Donald Trump and his corrupt regime.”

Meng, chair of the Congreassional Asian Pacific American Caucus, is also co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism.

In November, she will face an immigrant from Taiwan, Joseph Chou, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Grace Lee triumphs

Down in State Senate District 27, we saw a battle of titans. Assemblywoman Grace Lee — the historic first Korean American woman elected to the state Legislature—handily defeated former Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou. 

The open seat, left vacant by retiring Senator Brian Kavanagh, saw both progressive women clash over local issues like affordable housing and the controversial Chinatown jail site. Ultimately, Lee commandingly secured the nomination, defeating Niou 62% to 37%.

George Conway fails to launch

In the high-income NY-12 spanning Manhattan’s Upper East and West Sides, high-profile anti-Trump pundit and Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway (who is of Filipino descent) learned that national media fame doesn't always translate to local love.

George Conway

Aiming to succeed retiring liberal icon Jerry Nadler, Conway’s hyper-focus on fighting Donald Trump failed to resonate deeply with local primary voters. 

In a jaw-droppingly expensive $26-million primary dominated by tech-backed Super PACs, Conway finished a distant fifth place with just 6% of the vote. Assemblyman Micah Lasher ultimately claimed the victory in a crowded field of Democrats that included fellow Assemblyman Alex Bores and Kennedy family scion Jack Schlossberg.

Conway, who changed parties from Republican to Democrat, also was a newcomer to the district. He lost in the crowded campaign field, won by Assemblyman Micah Lesher, who had the endorsement of the Democratic Party. Lasher emerged from a very competitive field of Democrats that included fellow Assemblyman Alex Bores and Kennedy family scion Jack Schlossberg.

When asked about his single-issue campaign to fight Trump and fascism, Conway didn't back away. "That was the thrust of my campaign, and I think a lot of people are, you know, getting the message."

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump were issues in New York's primary.

View from the edge

Establishment Democrats are reeling after a historic, progressive clean sweep in New York, proving that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s political playbook has rewritten the rules of the game.

The progressive, democratic socialist wing did not just compete in Tuesday's congressional primaries—they staged a absolute takeover, shattering the status quo and sending shockwaves directly through the national party leadership.

For years, party insiders claimed progressives couldn't win broad, institutional primary matchups against deep-pocketed incumbents. Tuesday's results proved those outdated myths entirely wrong. Despite heavy backing from party titans like House Minority Leader Hakeems Jeffries, the establishment slate collapsed.

Perhaps the biggest blow was the victory of progressive veteran Brad Lander who completely dismantled two-term incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman in New York's Congressional District10, walking away with an overwhelming 30-point victory over the liberal.

In NY-13, democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier toppled five-term veteran Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the powerful chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Mandami-endorsed State Assemblymember Claire Valdez ccaptured the open seat in NY-7, beating out Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.

This election wasn't just about local neighborhood issues; it was a defining mandate on the war in Gaza. All three of Mamdani’s backed winners ran unapologetically on platforms demanding Palestinian rights and an end to unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel. Avila Chevalier, a prominent anti-war organizer, successfully translated grassroots activism into electoral dominance, proving that progressive voters are demanding a massive shift in American foreign policy.

The ripple effects stretch far beyond the borders of New York. As Mamdani boldly declared on election night, this sweep effectively fires the opening salvo for the 2028 Democratic presidential primary cycle. Any candidate looking to lead the national ticket will no longer be able to ignore or dismiss this heavily organized, ascendant wing of the party.

Mamdani and the DSA victories showed that they are a new factor in the big-tent Democrats. But it is still a question mark whether or not the sentiment in New York reflects the rest of the country. That's the question the Democrats must answer before 2028 if and when we must choose the whether or not our country will continue the American experiment.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge. If you find this perspective interesting, please repost.

The death toll of Asian immigrants in ICE Custody is growing: Part 2 of 2

Family and supporters of Parady La demand answers after he died while detained by ICE.

The numbers are in, and they paint a grim picture of what’s happening in our detention centers. In what’s being called the deadliest year in two decades, at least 12 Asian immigrants have lost their lives while in the custody of federal agents between 2024 and early 2026.

ICE agents arrested Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal around 7 a.m. on Friday, March 13, outside his apartment in Richardson, Texas. His family reported that masked agents detained him as he was preparing to drive his children to school.

“His children watched as he was surrounded and taken away,” the family said in a statement. “That moment will stay with them forever.”

A day after being arrested, Paktyawal died, of "unknown causes," according to an ICE press release. He was the twelth Asian to die while in ICE custody.

“We cannot understand how this happened. He was only 41 years old and was a strong and healthy man,” his family said.

        RELATED: ICE's wide net catching Asian Americans: Part 1 of 2

ICE described him as "illegal criminal alien,"  but he was never charged and never convicted, say his supporters.

Paktyawal was a refugee who fought for 10 years with US Special Forces in Afghanistan. When the US left Afghanistan, he and his family were allowed to apply for asylum.

The Trump regime has effectively shut refugee pathways for Afghans, curtailing the US refugee programe and instead giving preference to white South Africans.

The administration also ended temporary protected status for Afghans, leaving an estimated 11,700 Afghans in the US without protection from deportation, according to the organisation Global Refuge.

Refugee dies after being abandoned by ICE

Nurul Amin Shah Alam, 56, was one of the latest victims of federal agents carrying out the orders of Donald Trump and his hatchet man Stephen Miller.Shah Alam sas released from custody on Feb. 19. A Rohingya refugee with legal status in the United States, his body was found Feb. 26. According to publicly available reporting and information provided by his family, Shah Alam was nearly blind, did not speak English, and was unable to independently navigate transportation after being released miles from his family residence.

“Nurul Amin Shah Alam should be alive today. He is dead because US Border Patrol agents abandoned a blind refugee miles away from home and then lied to cover it up. Video footage proves that Mr. Alam was left outside of a coffee shop that was closed, not a ‘warm, safe location’ as they claimed," said Rep. Grace Meng, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

"The Department of Homeland Security’s cruelty, callousness, and indifference to human life is absolutely sickening," the New York congressmember continued. "As members of Congress, we demand answers and justice for his family. The Department of Homeland Security must be held accountable.” 

The death of Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal and Shah Alam are just the latest deaths of Asian American detainees in the first two months of 2026. The other two deaths this year so far include: 

• Lorth Sim (59, Cambodia): Passed away Feb. 16, 2026, at the Miami Correctional Facility in Indiana.
• Parady La (46, Cambodia): Died Jan. 9, 2026, in Philadelphia while reportedly being treated for drug withdrawal.

Asian American deaths in Trump's first year

These aren’t just statistics; they are members of our community whose stories were cut short. Eight other Asians died while in custody of Donald Trump's immigration enforcement officers in 2024 and 2025:

• Shiraz Fatehali Sachwani (61, Pakistan): Died Dec. 6, 2025.

• Kai Yin Wong (63, China): Died Oct. 25, 2025, in San Antonio after heart surgery complications.

• Huabing Xie (53, China): Died Sept. 29, 2025, after a seizure at the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in California.

• Chaofeng Ge (32, China): Died Aug. 5, 2025, in Pennsylvania; a death his family is still seeking answers for through a lawsuit.

• Tien Xuan Phan (55, Vietnam): Died July 19, 2025, following a hospitalization for seizures.

• Nhon Ngoc Nguyen (Vietnam): Died in 2025.

• Jaspal Singh (57, India) and Pankaj Karan Singh Kataria (60, India): Both died in late 2024.

Community advocates like Stop AAPI Hate point to medical neglect and language barriers as a "human rights crisis" within these facilities.

An Asian American mother joins a memorial for her son and others who died in ICE custody.

The scale of the surge

The crackdown hasn't just been about those who have died; the entire system has seen a massive ramp-up:

• Asians in custody: As of early 2026, the number of Asian immigrants held in detention has ballooned. Between January and mid-October 2025 alone, 7,069 Asian individuals were detained. This is part of a broader trend where total ICE detention reached a record high of over 68,000 people by February 2026.

• Already deported: From January 20 to mid-October 2025, 2,631 Asian individuals were removed from the country.

• Who is being targeted?: Despite the rhetoric of targeting "criminals," recent data shows a "supermajority"—between 74% and 84%—of Asian detainees in 2025 had no prior criminal convictions. The top countries of origin for these arrests include China (30%), India (28%), and Vietnam (15%).

Southeast Asians targeted

In the wake of Operation Metro Surge and Operation PARRIS, Asian Americans and Asian immigrants in Minneapolis are living in fear, afraid to leave their homes without carrying their passports and worried they could be detained or deported at any moment. ICE agents have reportedly asked Minnesota residents to tell them where their Asian neighbors live.

The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul is home to one of the largest Hmong American communities, most of whom are refugees because their family members aided or fought for US forces in the Vietnam War. As legal refugees, they were given Temporary Protected Status visas.

“Southeast Asian communities are being systematically targeted. Immigration enforcement knows where they live. People are not getting the medical support they need, workers are refusing to go to work, and families are living in hiding. Survivors of violence and refugees who fled war are being retraumatized. That’s no way to live,” said Xay Yang, executive director of Transforming Generations.

“Southeast Asian American communities have been dealing with ICE violence for decades, with more than 15,000 people living under deportation orders to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. We know that the problem isn’t new—but the scale is. In 2025 alone, nearly 900 individuals were deported to Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, compared to an average of about 90 per year between 1996 and 2023," said Quyen Đình, Executive Director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC).

“My people consider being Hmong to be synonymous with being free, because of our resilience and survival, despite a history of persecution from ruling governments in the many places where we have migrated for thousands of years. It deeply saddens me that Trump and federal leaders are choosing to mark the 250 years of our beautiful country by undermining our democracy and taking away our human and civil rights,” said Minnesota State Representative Liz Lee, Secretary of the National Asian Pacific American Caucus of State Legislators. 

“For the Karen communities in my district and across Minnesota, the loss of Temporary Protected Status and the burden of immigration re-vetting interviews are placing immense strain on families. We will continue to organize and gather to ensure that all of our legal rights are observed and respected.”

View from the edge

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) racial profiling and aggressive enforcement practices have resulted in trauma, family separation, and death. 

2025 was recorded as the deadliest year for ICE in over two decades, with deaths nearly tripling from 2024 as the detained population reached record highs of over 68,000.

“Forty people have died in ICE custody since the President took office last year. These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a broader pattern of lawlessness and moral decay that has come to define the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and it is our communities that are suffering,” said Meng. 

“We must rein in DHS and take every action to protect our communities, like passing the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act, which would end the deportation of Southeast Asian American refugees and provide a pathway for them to live and work in the United States. CAPAC is proud to champion this legislation.”

It's only March and we have nine more months to go. At the current rate, we are at a looking at 12 more Asian American deaths as a result of ICE activities by year's end. How many more must die before someone is held accountable?

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news, views and chismis from an AANHPI perspective, follow me on Threads, on X, BlueSky or at the blog Views From the Edge.