How Hmong farmers are building collective power in Minnesota

PINTEREST

Hmong American farmers have changed the face of Minnesota agriculture.

Minnesota's frigid winters are about as opposite of the tropical climes where the Hmong came from as refugees, yet not only have the transplanted people from Laos and Vietnam been able to adapt, they have planted roots in the state and thrived.

In a state where non-white farmers face considerable barriers, the Hmong American Farmers Association looks toward land ownership.

By Cirien Saadeh

REPRINTED FROM PRISM

Lillian Hang works at the Hang Family Farm in Vermillion Township, Minnesota, alongside her children, siblings, and parents, growing a mix of vegetables and herbs local to the area and those the family brought with them 30 years ago when they moved to the U.S. from Southeast Asia. From carrots, onions, and potatoes to lemongrass, Thai basil, mustard greens, and bitter melons, the Hangs and other Hmong American farm families who’ve come to Minnesota as immigrants from Thailand, Laos, and other areas of Southeast Asia have helped reshape the state’s agriculture and contributed significantly to the growth of local farmers markets over the last 30 years. And they’re continuing to innovate, growing new crops that might not be expected to thrive in Minnesota’s notoriously frigid climate.

“Mom and Dad are testing with sweet potatoes … Japanese sweet potatoes, the purple sweet potatoes, as well as these cream-colored sweet potatoes. For the longest time, people said, ‘You cannot grow those in Minnesota. It’s too cold,’” said Hang.

But even as Hmong farmers like the Hang family have made an impact locally, many continue to face barriers to land ownership that have left their farms struggling to put down roots. There are approximately 400-500 Hmong farm families in the State of Minnesota. Many also worked and lived as farmers in their home countries, and in the U.S, some own their farms and work the land themselves as family farm workers. However, according to a 2015 report from the Minnesota State Legislature, 99% of farm owners in Minnesota are white, though the number of Hmong (and other Asian community)-owned farms is increasing. 

A 2020 report from the Minnesota State Legislature names several challenges to ethnic farm ownership in Minnesota: financial barriers and access to capital and resources; systemic and institutional racism; land availability and cost; access to health insurance and the cost of health care for farmers; education, training, and resources; broadband access; climate change; market access; a lack of “culturally appropriate resources;” navigating regulations; and a statewide focus on larger farms.

The Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA), of which the Hang Family Farm is one of more than 100 members, has been working to change that.

“We are a membership-based nonprofit organization that was created in 2011 to kind of adjust the injustice that Hmong farmers face around lack of access to land, markets, trainings, research, and also credit and capital,” said Janssen Hang, co-founder and executive director of HAFA. “The inception really started out of an act of self-determination.”

Many Hmong farmers live in Minneapolis-St. Paul or the surrounding metro area, but land available for ownership is scarce, and that imposes real limits on how farmers are able to plan and execute their work from season to season.

“The other week my parents were planting garlic. Garlic you need to plant it prior to the summer’s harvest. So, if you are renting land from year to year, you have to spend all the money and it’s expensive. You spend all the money to plant garlic, but man, no one wants to be in a situation where next year they are saying, ‘Oh, am I going to get that money? Is the farmer going to let me harvest the garlic that I invested so much money into?’” said Lillian Hang.

Working collectively has been at the forefront of HAFA’s strategy to increase family farmers’ control over their own futures.

“Farming is not an individual activity,” said Lillian Hang. “You really need a group of people dedicated to farming.”

In 2013, an anonymous donor purchased a 155-acre farm in Vermillion Township, located halfway between St. Paul and Rochester, Minnesota. The farm was then leased to HAFA and members have sub-leased plots and collectively managed their use of the farm and its plots since then, splitting the land into five-to-10-acre plots.

“The farm is about building intergenerational and community wealth,” said Janssen Hang.

The land’s relative permanence allows the farmers to build their businesses, and the collective management means that all members have a support structure for their work and for that work to be sustainable.

Hmong refugees find a home in Minnesota.

“What we do is we would actually model sustainable practice on the farm, from cover cropping, contour planting, looking at the efficacies of soil and water quality here. We actually have a designated area for our pollinator habitat, and actually have a bee apiary on the farm here,” said Janssen Hang. “The other thing is that, programmatically, we also run an alternative market program.”

Many Hmong farmers sell their goods at the Minneapolis and St. Paul farmers markets, despite the farm being located in a rural part of Dakota County, south of the Twin Cities. Janssen Hang notes that Hmong farmers make up 50% of the farmers at the St. Paul and Minneapolis Farmers Market, but he says that lack of access to resources, training, credit, and capital turned the vital Hmong family farmers into “second-class citizens.”

According to Janssen Hang, developing an alternative market program is necessary so that the Hmong farmers are not so dependent on the whims of the farmers markets. Both the Minneapolis and St. Paul farmers markets run year round, but the number of markets that operate between October and April is very limited.

In addition to challenges with the markets, HAFA’s farmers are also contending with possible loss of land from a state infrastructure project. The Sahan Journal has reported that Dakota County and the Minnesota Department of Transportation are currently exploring the possibility of transforming a local highway into a more traditional freeway, and the proposed plan would include the acquisition of four-to-seven acres from the HAFA farm for freeway redevelopment. This would mean two of the family farms would lose access to their land. Currently, the county’s research is still preliminary.

In the meantime, HAFA members are trying to raise the money to purchase the Vermillion Township farm outright, and they are in the midst of a $5-million capital campaign. HAFA received $2 million from the state in 2020, and it has just over $9,500 left to raise.

According to Lillian Hang, the effort to buy the farm outright is still worth it even with Dakota County looming.

“Whenever any of the aunties, or uncles out of town come and visit us, the first thing mom and dad say is, ‘Hey, let me take you to our farm. Let me take you to our farm,”’ she said. “And I love it. Because, they call it our farm, even though their name is not on the ownership. It’s like, ‘This is ours, almost. And the way they say it, it’s almost like, ‘This is part of me.’”

About the author: Cirien Saadeh, PhD is an Arab American community journalist, community organizer, and college professor teaching Social Justice and Community Organizing at Prescott College. 

Asian Americans call for U.S. government programs and policies to help Afghan refugees

SCREEN CAPTURE / INDIA TODAY

Desperate Afghanis jostle each other to get on an outward bound airplane

Helicopters flying in and out of the U.S. Embassy and desperate crowds streaming out of the city. The chaos surrounding the U.S. departure from Afghanistan looks all too familiar to the Southeast Asians who fled Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos decades ago when the U.S. hastily pulled out of the Saigon.

“As representatives of the largest refugee community to have ever resettled in the United States, we call on the Biden Administration to uphold its promise of protection for Afghan refugees and their families and children,” said Quyen Dinh, executive director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC), in a joint statement with Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Asian American Advocacy Fund.

“Our country has a responsibility to immediately resettle Afghan refugees, many of whom saved the lives of American soldiers and are in great danger of being targeted for persecution," said Dinh. 

"The 1980 Refugee Act allowed my family and our refugee community to find safe haven in the United States. The people of Afghanistan deserve the same refuge during the crisis that befalls their country today.” 

The events of the past week underscore America’s moral and political obligation to the tens of thousands of Afghan allies who served alongside American troops and the millions of other Afghanis who supported the social, political and educational reforms that were installed during the 20 years-long war during the U.S.'s time there, states the press release. 

Nearly 50 years ago, millions of Southeast Asian refugees were displaced from their homes following war, genocide, and U.S. intervention in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Through the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975, the United States immediately resettled more than 130,000 individuals from these countries, while millions of other individuals escaped for their lives. 

Over the next three decades, the U.S. would open its doors to more than 1.3 million Southeast Asians, marking the largest resettlement of refugees in American history. 

"In this current moment, America has an opportunity to learn from the past and do better than it did in 1975 by providing immediate refuge and relief to Afghan refugees,
 the community-based organizations said. 

The Afghan American Foundation has published a list of organizations providing direct, emergency relief to Afghan refugees, which you can find here.

“The United States must act urgently and boldly to help Afghan refugees,” said LaVita Tuff, Policy Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. 

“After our decades long military presence in Afghanistan, we cannot now turn our back on the Afghan community during this humanitarian crisis. We know the immeasurable human cost of failing to meet our political and moral obligations to refugees, and we cannot let history repeat itself. We urge this administration to act swiftly and meaningfully to protect Afghan refugees.” 

In their joint statement, the trio of CBOs urged the Biden Administration to: 

• Increase the refugee resettlement limit and capacity;
• Evacuate all Afghans beyond just Special Immigrant Visa eligible individuals, their families, and U.S. citizens; 
• Designate Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status;  
• Employ emergency humanitarian parole for Afghans escaping, including women, children, religious and ethnic minorities; and
• Keep airports in Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar Sharif open to facilitate travel.

Tony Pham steps down as acting director of ICE

Tony Pham was the first refugee to head Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

After serving for five months as the acting director of ICE, Tony Pham is stepping down.

“I am grateful for the Trump Administration for providing me the single highest honor of my career in serving my adopted country as both the Principal Legal Advisor and the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Pham said in a statement.

“Leading a law enforcement agency with such a committed workforce has been the honor of a lifetime. I have gotten to meet with many extraordinary employees across the United States. I will continue to be that tireless advocate for the hard working men and women at ICE. However, at the end of the year, I will be returning home to Richmond, VA to be closer to my family.”

After being appointed by Donald Trump in August to succeed the retiring Matt Albence, Pham's tenure was controversial for Asian Americans, the group with the highest rate of immigration in recent years.

Phan came to the U.S. as a refugee fleeing Vietnam as the South Vietnamese government fell to North Vietnam forces. While heading ICE, his actions were seen as enforcing the Trump administration's efforts to stem immigration or portray immigrants in a negative light,

“Five months ago, we said it was time to bring human rights home. Instead Tony Pham chose to promote Trump’s apartheid worldview, and turned his back on refugee communities, here and abroad," said community nonprofit VietRISE in a statement. "Tony Pham will not easily wash off the stain of abuse and corruption that he supervised and oversaw."

Dec.18, is World Migration Day: People seeking a better life

US farms can't find enough workers.

Today, December 18, is International Migrants Day. More people are moving across the globe, fleeing violence or natural disasters or seeking opportunities and safety in other countries.

In 2019, the number of migrants worldwide continued to increase. Over the past 12 months, 272 million people, representing 3.5% of the world's population, have been driven to seek a better future elsewhere. Some are seeking new economic and employment opportunities, while others, such as refugees and asylum seekers, have been overwhelmed by their situation, and are fleeing war, persecution, hunger or disease.

Many of these problems are caused by climate change: Farmlands become infertile, wells run dry, ocean levels rise, stronger weather events.
In the United States, we see the thousands of people at the Mexico-US border, migrants and refugees from Latin America -- and surprisingly, from Africa and Asia. South Asians and Chinese pay years of earnings to human smuggling operations to enter the US illegally.

On Tuesday (Dec. 17) Myanmar authorities seized a boat filled with hundreds of Muslim refugees from northern Rakhine State who tried to get from Bangladesh to Malaysia. 

Over 1 million Rohingya have fled Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh and Thailand.

The migration of war-weary Syrians  and Kurds into neighboring countries, the movement of Africans across the Mediterranean Sea into Europe have created a backlash fueled by racism, much like the Trump-inspired white supremacist movement in the US.

I

Less known is the massive ongoing migration from the poorer countries in Asia to wealthier countries like Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The number of documented migrant workers in Southeast Asia and the Pacific is an estimated 11.6 million - 5.2 million of whom are women.

The so-called Philippine Diaspora is real, a result of Filipinos seeking economic opportunities abroad. Ten million Filipinos live abroad and more than 1 million Filipino leave the country each year to work abroad. Remittances to the Philippines from around the world continue to grow, according to the International Labor Organization - Philippines.

Throughout human history, migration has been a courageous expression of the individual’s will to overcome adversity and to live a better life. Today, globalization, together with advances in communications and transportation, has greatly increased the number of people who have the desire and the capacity to move to other places.

This new era has created challenges and opportunities for societies throughout the world. It also has served to underscore the clear linkage between migration and development, as well as the opportunities it provides for co-development, that is, the concerted improvement of economic and social conditions at both the countries of origin and destination.
The US government recently endured a month-long partial shutdown due to a partisan dispute over funding to build a wall on the country’s southern border with Mexico. While those on both sides of the issue were digging in their heels, I got to thinking about migration trends in Asia.

According to the most recent edition of ADB's Asian Economic Integration Report, Asia remains the world’s largest continental source of international migrants. Indeed, one in three migrants worldwide comes from the region.

The number of Asian migrants has grown steadily to about 87 million, and the report notes that leading source countries of migrants to Asia are the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with 5.2 million, the Russian Federation (3.8 million), and Bangladesh (3.7 million), reports the World Economic Forum.

Primary drivers for the movement of such large numbers of people include conflict and the desire for better educational and economic opportunities. Another emerging driver of migration that has received more attention of late is climate change, the subject of a landmark ADB study.

The majority of Asian migrants are semi- and low-skilled workers such as maids, caregivers and manual laborers, including those working on construction sites. Skilled Asian migrants tend to move to advanced industrial economies outside the region.

Economist Mita Adhisti calculated that ASEAN’s overall economic growth could increase 7.1% by 2025 if member countries took steps to support migration, such as improving labor market information, providing language and skill training, simplifying administrative requirements, and expanding MRAs to semi-skilled workers.

Demographically-driven labor shortages in high-income economies are creating new opportunities for migrants from developing countries in the region.

Australia’s Pacific Labour Scheme kicked off in July 2018 to allow citizens of Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu to take up low and semi-skilled work opportunities in rural and regional Australia for up to three years.

Beginning in 2019, Japan plans to begin issuing more than a quarter-million five-year visas for workers in 14 sectors that are experiencing serious labor shortages, including caregiving, construction, agriculture and shipbuilding. A separate new visa category for high-skilled workers will grant permission for long-term stays, and the right to bring families into the country.

Australia and Japan are not the only countries in the region that will require more workers.

The Economist has reported that countries in East Asia will have to import 275 million people between the ages of 15 and 64 by 2030 to keep the share of the population at working age steady. Malaysia, Viet Nam, Singapore, Thailand, and the PRC will need workers. Countries with a surplus of workers include Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines.

In the US, a bill in Congress has been introduced to allow agricultural workers to have temporary visas to work on American farms facing labor shortages.

As these global movements of people occur, we can expect more racist backlashes against the migrants even though their labor is vital for the economies of the destination countries.

“At a crucial moment when migration policies are being reviewed in many regions and countries, it is vital that security concerns do not override the human rights of migrants,” say experts in global migration trends.

“On this International Migrants Day, I call on the international community to act on the global compact on safe, regular and orderly migration as an important contribution to building a world of peace, prosperity, dignity and opportunity for all,” said UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon

_______________________________________________________________________

Padma Lakshmi condemns using tear gas against asylum seekers

SCREEN CAPTURE / GUARDIAN

U.S. border guards fired tear gas into Mexico to dissuade refugees from illegally entering the U.S.

PADMA LAKSHMI spoke out against the Trump administration’s attacks on refugees at the United States-Mexico border in a Monday morning (Nov. 26) appearance on NBC’s Today.
As an immigration advocate for the ACLU, the Top Chef host, model and activist has been outspoken against the policies of Donald Trump.

Lakshmi was being interviewed about her decision to publicly share her experience as a survivor of rape, and why the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh moved her to come forward in a September New York Times op-ed. During the course of the interview, she brought up her work as an advocate for the ACLU. She condemned U.S. officials’ tear gas attacks on migrants, including children, at the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday.

"The migrants at our southern border include mothers and small children exercising their legal, human right to seek asylum," declared the ACLU in a tweet on Monday morning, and told the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, "Tear gassing children is outrageous and inhumane."

"Obviously even this morning, coming here, I was reading about all the tear-gassing of children on the border and it’s devastating,” Lakshmi told Today hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie. 

“I am an immigrant, and I really identify with those people. My mother literally came to this country with $100 in her pocket. That is it. And she made a life for me and her and she left a very bad situation for both of us in India. That takes courage.”

Migrants fleeing violence and unrest in Honduras and Guatemala have traveled thousands of miles through Mexico to ask for asylum at border entries, but the number of people and the long process has frustrated some of the refugees.

On Sunday afternoon, Central American refugees, including families with children and infants in strollers, attempted to cross the border into the U.S., from Tijuana, Mexico, to San Diego. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency responded by closing down the border crossing and firing tear gas at the migrants, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The port of entry near San Diego is the most common place for Central Americans to seek asylum in the US. What those in the latest caravan didn't realize is that Tijuana is already full of asylum seekers from previous caravans.

Under a policy of “metering” asylum seekers, in which US officials limit the number of people who are allowed to enter the port and ask for asylum each day, migrants currently wait two months or longer in Tijuana before being allowed to enter the US to be processed, according to Vox.

U.S. border officials allow only 60 to 100 asylum seekers — or fewer — to be precessed  each day. An unofficial wait list of hundreds of people over the summer ballooned to thousands this fall. Before the caravan arrived, wait times stretched to two months, and the temporary migrant shelters in Tijuana were already near capacity.

“When someone leaves their home and everything they know and belong to, to go to another country, it’s because they have little other choice, and we forget that,” Lakshmi said during her NBC interview.

“We have plenty in this country. Plenty to share, plenty for everybody. And I think we need to remember that the reason we’re great is because of this melting pot of immigrants, and this great cornucopia of influences and cultures and traits and expertise that we cull from all over the world. That’s really, to me, what makes America great.”
_______________________________________________________________________________

June 20 is World Refugee Day ... does the U.S. care?

WKYT graphic

BREAKING NEWS: June 20, 5:30 p.m. EDT -- Donald Trump signed an executive order this afternoon ending the policy of separating children from their parents. Come back to read a new post for updates and anallysis of what this 180-degree turn-around means.

TODAY (June 20) is World Refugee Day but does the current U.S. administration even care? People who came to this country and accepted as refugees in years past are now being deported, including those from Nepal, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in a statement that “We will continue to help the world's most vulnerable refugees, reflecting the deeply held values of the American people.”

Pompeo also said, “commitment to the world’s most vulnerable individuals remains a critical component of America’s national security policy.” 

The statement does not mention Central American refugees, focusing on Syria—though Trump banned Syrians from entering the United States—as well as the Rohingya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Asylum seekers from Central America and Mexico are being detained in jail-like environments, their attempts to enter the U.S. legally to ask for asylum is being blocked and thwarted physically and their children are being ripped away from them and kept in cages where workers are not allowed to comfort them.

Yesterday, the U.S. also formally quit the United Nations Human Rights Council. The explanation was supposedly because of the council's continued criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians but it also occurred the day after the human rights body criticized Donald Trump's zero-tolerance policy towards asylum seekers at the U.S. southern border crossings that includes the separation of children from their parents.

The number of refugees entering the United States each month has declined sharply so far in fiscal 2017, falling from 9,945 in October 2016 to 3,316 in April 2017, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. State Department data.

By executive order of Donald Trump, the number of refugees being accepted annually by the U.S. has been cut in more than half, from 110,000 to 50,000.

Despite Trump's zero-tolerance policy, asylum-seekers are still forming unusually long lines at the Mexican border, with parents and children sleeping on cardboard in the sweltering heat and waiting for days or even weeks to present themselves to U.S. inspectors, according to the Associated Press.

“You must come every day to see if it’s your turn. If you don’t come, you’ll lose your place in line,” said Teresa Ramirez from El Salvador. After waiting 20 days, Ramirez got her turn at the border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico.

Lawyers said asylum-seekers at the Nogales, Arizona, crossing are camping out for up for five days to make a claim.

At the Hidalgo, Texas, border crossing, parents and children sleep on cardboard on a bridge separating the two countries, waiting for U.S. authorities to signal their time has come, according to volunteers bringing them food and water.

So, is Pompeo's proclamation about America's "commitment to the world's most vulnerable," a cruel joke?

___________________________________________________________________

Nepalese refugees have a year to leave U.S. says Homeland Security

YOUTUBE

Nepalese refugees ordered to leave U.S.

HAVING TARGETED Cambodians, Vietnamese and Indonesians for deportation, the Department of Homeland Security is expanding its efforts towards Nepalese refugees who are in this country because their country is still reeling from a 7.8 earthquake in 2015.
DHS announced Thursday (April 26) that it will terminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Nepal in one year on June 24, 2019. At that time, approximately 9,000 TPS holders will lose their work authorization and be at risk of being swept up in ICE’s aggressive deportation raids.

“The devastating damage in Nepal and the challenges its government faces to rebuild clearly meet the definition of ‘extraordinary circumstance’ required to extend Temporary Protected Status to Nepalese nationals,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii. 

“Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen’s decision to terminate Nepal’s TPS designation is another heartless example of Secretary Nielsen’s attacks on immigrants and vulnerable communities.”

Ironically, it was three years ago on April 25, that Nepal was struck by a massive earthquake. Over 9,000 people lost their lives, another 22,000 were severely injured, and nearly 3 million people were thrust into a humanitarian crisis. The damages amounted to over 50% of the country’s annual gross domestic product.

Critics assert that the DHS directive continues the Trump administration's overall effort to remove people of color from the U.S. by cutting the use of temporary protected status, a system designed to allow refugees to stay legally in the U.S. rather than send them home while their country is ravaged by crises.

Nielsen said the Nepalese with TPS status will have one year to either prepare to leave the U.S. or find other means to stay before the protections expire.

Under Trump, DHS has been aggressive in ending TPS categories for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, a majority of whom have lived in the US for upwards of 15 to 20 years and whose countries are still in dire straits. 

The department has used the same reasoning to target refugees from Haiti and El Salvador among other countries.

The justification from the administration for ending the protections has been that by law, when the conditions from the original disaster that triggered the protections have improved, they must expire. The problem is that DHS might not have all the necessary information available to make that subjective judgement.

“Three years later, over half of Nepal’s water infrastructure still requires repair and over 90 percent of those who were originally displaced by the earthquake are still living in temporary shelters," said Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. "The failure of the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to fully analyze the perilous and unstable conditions in Nepal is irresponsible and inhumane.

“Let me be clear – this is a failure of the entire administration and is clearly a way for President Trump to hasten his mass deportation agenda at the expense of innocent lives," says Rep. Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
_______________________________________________________________________________




"This administration continues to ignore humanitarian concerns in its decision to end TPS programs. The administration has been systematically terminating TPS programs as part of a larger agenda to restrict immigration and increase deportations.," stated Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

The civil rights coalition  urges Congress to step up and pass legislation — specifically the American Promise Act of 2017 (H.R. 4253) and the SECURE Act (S. 2144) — to provide a permanent solution for all TPS recipients.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Mazie K. Hirono denounced the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Nepalese nationals living in the United States following the devastating earthquake in April 2015 that killed more than 9,000 people and rendered thousands more displaced and homeless.

“The devastating damage in Nepal and the challenges its government faces to rebuild clearly meet the definition of ‘extraordinary circumstance’ required to extend Temporary Protected Status to Nepalese nationals,” Senator Hirono said. “Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen’s decision to terminate Nepal’s TPS designation is another heartless example of Secretary Nielsen’s attacks on immigrants and vulnerable communities.”

Last week, Senator Hirono led 23 Senators in urging Secretary Nielsen and Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan to extend Nepal’s TPS status. 

Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced its decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Nepal. The decision will impact approximately 9,000 Nepalese who were granted TPS status to reside in the United States in the aftermath of a 7.8 magnitude earthquake that devastated Nepal in 2015.

Congresswoman Judy Chu (CA-27), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), released the following statement:

“The Trump Administration’s decision to terminate TPS for Nepal is not only heartless, but it is a slap in the face to the 9,000 Nepali TPS recipients who are still working to rebuild their country in the aftermath of an earthquake that devastated Nepal in 2015.

“Three years later, over half of Nepal’s water infrastructure still requires repair and over 90 percent of those who were originally displaced by the earthquake are still living in temporary shelters. The failure of the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security to fully analyze the perilous and unstable conditions in Nepal is irresponsible and inhumane.

“Let me be clear – this is a failure of the entire administration and is clearly a way for President Trump to hasten his mass deportation agenda at the expense of innocent lives. In Congress, I will continue to fight for a permanent legislative solution to protect TPS recipients and allow them to remain in the United States.”

LOS ANGELES — Today, the Department of Homeland Security announced that it will terminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Nepal in one year on June 24, 2019. At that time, approximately 9,000 TPS holders will lose their work authorization and be at risk of being swept up in ICE’s aggressive deportation raids. 

 Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an affiliation of five civil rights organizations, issues the following statement: 

 “Asian Americans Advancing Justice (Advancing Justice) urges the Department of Homeland Security to reconsider its decision to terminate temporary protected status (TPS) for Nepal. The government’s plan to strip TPS from Nepali immigrants is cruel and unnecessary. We encourage TPS holders to contact attorneys to see if they qualify for other types of relief. 

 TPS was granted to Nepali nationals after a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake in 2015 caused major destruction. Nepal has not yet recovered from this earthquake as 75 percent of the infrastructure that was destroyed has yet to be rebuilt — impeding access to basic needs such as housing, health care, education, and food and water security. 

 This administration continues to ignore humanitarian concerns in its decision to end TPS programs. The administration has been systematically terminating TPS programs as part of a larger agenda to restrict immigration and increase deportations. Advancing Justice urges Congress to step up and pass legislation — specifically the American Promise Act of 2017 (H.R. 4253) and the SECURE Act (S. 2144) — to provide a permanent solution for all TPS recipients.” 

Judges give Indonesians a reprieve, delay deportation

GROUNDSWELL

Indonesians and Indonesian Americans in New Hampshire support the Christian refugees efforts to stay in the U.S.

THE DEPORTATION of Indonesian Christians was delayed by a pair of federal judges in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

U.S. District Judge Esther Salas ordered the temporary halt while she reviews a class-action lawsuit filed Friday (Feb. 2) that seeks to give Indonesian Christians another shot at applying for political asylum status.

“We’re really really happy about the ruling today because it shows that people need a chance. They need to have a fair chance to make fair claims for protection,” said ACLU attorney Farrin Anello to USA Today.

The ruling means four Indonesian immigrants who sought sanctuary at the Reformed Church of Highland Park — Harry Pangemanan, Yohanes Tasik, Arthur Jemmy and Silfia Tobing — can leave the church without risking deportation.

“Praise God,” said Pangemanan, a married father of two. “I feel so much relief and for my daughters. There’s still so much to do, but I just praise God for what we have now.”

The New Jersey ruling came a day after U.S. District Judge Patti Saris said 50 Indonesian refugees living in New Hampshire must be given time to reopen their immigration cases and argue that if they would be perseuted if they return to Muslim-dominated Indonesia.

"This opinion may literally save lives," said Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the Indonesians of New Hampshire. "As the court recognized ... this country's laws do not permit the government to send people back to persecution or torture," said Gelernt, of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project.

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-NH, called the judge's order a significant development. "Many of these families fled religious persecution in Indonesia, and it is wrong that the Trump administration has been prioritizing them for deportation," she said in a statement.

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu hailed the decision as good for the Dover Indonesian community. "The Federal Court in Boston continues to agree and reaffirm that these cases deserve re-examination," Sununu said in a statement. "I will continue to advocate for a resolution that protects these individuals from religious persecution and allows them to remain in the United States."

A number of Indonesian Christians came to the United States on tourist visas in the 1990s and early 2000s, escaping religious persecution from Muslim extremists in their home country. Recently, in Indonesia, there has been an uptick in violence against Christians resulting in church burnings and arrests of Christian leaders.

Many of the Indonesians went to live in New Jersey and New Hampshire, where they found jobs and raised families. Under the Obama administration, they were allowed to stay as long as they regularly reported to the ICE officials.

In recent months, with the hardline position taken by the Trump administration towards refugees, as the Indonesians complied with the reporting requirement, they were told to buy one-way tickets back to Indonesia and prepare to be deported.

In the New Hampshire case, Judge Saris said the Indonesians have 90 days after they receive paperwork of their prior immigration proceedings to file a motion reopen their case. Her order blocks the government from deporting the Indonesians until after the Board of Immigration Appeals rules on their cases and they have a chance to seek a stay in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"A brief delay in unlawful deportation of residents who have lived here with government permission for over a decade outweighs the public interest in prompt execution of removal orders, where petitioners have been law-abiding and pose no threat to public safety," Saris said in her opinion.

_______________________________________________________________________________

ICE targeting Indonesian refugees

Yohanes Tasik, holding his daughter, receives encouragement from New Jersey Gov. Phi Murphy.

LAST WEEK, Harry Pangemann was given Highland Park’s 2018 MLK Humanitarian Award for organizing 3,000 volunteers to rebuild more than 200 homes damaged in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Today, Pangemann lives in fear of being deported.

Two members of the Indonesian community in Highland Park, New Jersey, Gunawan Liem, of Franklin Park, and Roby Sanger, of Metuchen, were arrested this morning (Jan. 25) by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as the Indonesian parents were dropping their children off at school.

Pangemann would have been the third arrest if he hadn't spotted a suspicious car parked outside his house as he backed his car down the driveway. When he saw the car, he put the car back in the garage, and ran into the house. He told his daughter to walk to school and he called his pastor.

“He had this eyes open because of all this stuff,” said the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale, who heads the Second Reformed Church in Highland Park, where Pangemanan is employed as a minister.

Upon hearing of the ICE action Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy rushed to the church.

"We obviously have to put our heads together and figure this out," Murphy told the crowd of supporters who had gathered at the church.

"It's not our country, it's not our values, it's not the country you came to to escape persecution," he later said.

Pangemann now is now seeking sanctuary at the church, hoping that ICE respects the historical practice of not making immigration arrests at a house of worship. He joins three other Indonesian Christians who live at the church. All are in the U.S. as refugees from religious persecution in Muslim-dominated Indonesia.

At least seven local Indonesians without legal status have been deported over the past year. Four others returned to Indonesia voluntarily for fear of being detained. Liem, Sanger and another Indonesian Christian have been detained and remain in ICE custody, Kaper-Dale said.

Under the Obama administration, the law-abiding Indonesian refugees were low priority for deportation, focusing only on those who had committed crimes. But that policy changed after Trump issued an executive order shortly after he took office that makes all unauthorized immigrants, no matter their situation, priority for deportation.

The New Jersey Indonesians are among about 2,000 Chinese/Indonesian Christians who fled to New Hampshire to escape rioting in Southeast Asia's biggest economy that killed about 1,000 people in 1998 at the height of Asia's financial crisis.

The community of Indonesian Christians fled religious and ethnic persecution from Indonesia, a Muslim-majority nation, and could have qualified for asylum when they first arrived. But the rules surrounding asylum petitions required that asylum candidates apply within a year of entering the U.S. Many local Indonesians said they were not aware of the requirement or they couldn't afford the fee.

The Second Reformed Church acted as a sanctuary in 2012 when several Indonesians feared deportation. ICE later changed their priorities.

The three Indonesians who are at the church now include Arthur Jemmy and Silfia Tobing, an Indonesian couple who feared deportation have been at the church since October. 

The other resident, Yohanes Tasik, has been living in the church for since Jan. 12. "I'm not a criminal here," said Tasik, 54. "I'm always working. I pay taxes."

Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., who came to the church with the governor, said the Indonesians who were targeted had cooperated with federal officials since they came to the United States.

"They are valuable members of their community and there is absolutely no reason for ICE to prioritize their detainment," said Pallone, a Democrat.
_______________________________________________________________________

Court: Travel ban legality still up in the air; in the meantime, some restrictions will be allowed

The Supreme Court Monday breathed some life into Donald Trumps Muslim ban.

THE SUPREME COURT agreed Monday morning (June 26) to review Donald Trump's controversial executive order restricting travelers and refugees from entering the U.S. 

The court then allowed a watered down Trump's Muslim ban to go into effect by opening the door to the majority of travelers from the six targeted Muslim countries - family members, students, foreign employees, lecturers and business travelers. That includes refugees who are usually sponsored by a church or other human rights organization.

“Almost anyone coming to the U.S. who has a visa or who has been in the refugee program has some kind of tie to a U.S. person,” said Becca Heller, executive director of the International Refugee Assistance Project.

It is far from the "victory" claimed by a White House desperate for a "win" after being stymied by the courts and a Congress immobilized by infighting.  Two federal courts ruled that the Muslim ban was unconstitutional and questioned Trump's authority to order travel restrictions had ordered stays on Trump's executive orders.

"Most of the people who stood to be affected by the ban will still be allowed to come in," said Omar Jadwat of the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. "So you know, I think it's significant that the court decided to take - to allow only this limited portion of the ban to move forward at this time. And of course, you know, the ultimate question about whether any of this is lawful or constitutional at remains to be decided. And all the court so far that have looked at it have - you know, there's kind of an overwhelming consensus among the courts that this cannot withstand that sort of scrutiny."

The Supreme Court voted unanimously to hear arguments for and against the travel ban during their next term which begins the first Monday of October. Historically, the court issues decisions in the spring. By then, the 90-120 day "pause" that the executive order asked for will be over and the court might just say the question is moot.

Despite the ACLU's assurances, that didn't stop travel ban opponents from expressing their concern.

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court ignores the anti-Muslim bigotry that is at the heart of the travel ban executive orders and will inevitably embolden Islamophobes in the administration to expand efforts to target the Muslim community with unconstitutional and counterproductive policies," said a statement from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). "It also ignores the almost-unanimous rejection of the Muslim ban by lower courts due to its religious intolerance and racial animus."

"The administration’s Muslim ban foments disturbing trends of anti-Muslim sentiments within the U.S. and abroad," agreed the Asian Americans Advancing Justice. "The Supreme Court should not have allowed any part of the Muslim ban to move forward while this executive order is under review.

"The Muslim ban restrains travel and freedom of movement for the communities affected without a rational basis. Any attempt to limit travel based on religion or country of origin is an egregious attack on the Constitution," says the AAAJ.

"From the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II to the Muslim ban today, xenophobia has fanned the flames of fear and hatred, driving immigration policy in irrational ways."

Although disappointed that the court allowed part of the ban to be implemented, Rep. Judy Chu, chair of the Congruessional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said the real important decision will be inte court's next term. 

"The circuit courts, relying on President Trump’s own tweets, public statements during the campaign and the transition, and his conversations with his advisors, have established that the President acted in order to ban followers of the Muslim faith from entering our country," said Chu. "The decision today does not address these facts, but I am confident that when the Court reviews the merits of the challenge against the Muslim ban it will find that it violates both the spirit and the letter of our Constitution.”

The court's decision on the partial implementation won't be implemented until Thursday when demonstrations might occur at the airports as they did when the first travel ban was announced. 

"Reinstating any part of this ban could create chaos in the nation’s airports and tear families apart,” Margaret Huang, Amnesty International’s executive director, said in a statement.

"The religious intolerance and racial discrimination that the administration continues to unabashedly display in its rhetoric and policy is not only disgusting but is a direct attack on our nation’s core values,” said Johanna Puno Hester, APALA National President and Assistant Executive Director of the United Domestic Workers, AFSCME Local 3930, 

The ruling negated any thought that Justice Neil Gorsuch, might moderate his views once he took his seat on the Supreme Court. He joined the right wing cohort of justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who thought the entire ban should be put into effect.

“With Gorsuch rounding out the Supreme Court, these rulings will have a tremendous, far-reaching impact on millions of people both nationwide and abroad,” said Alvina Yeh, executive director of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance.  “That’s why our fight for immigrant and refugee communities continues despite whatever decision the Supreme Court rules in the fall. Our fight goes beyond holding elected officials accountable; it extends to protecting the very people in our families, friends, and communities from hate and discrimination.”