APAs Feel Ignored by Immigration Reform Proposal
January 23, 2004
Although President Bush’s immigration proposal sheds light on the flaws of the immigration system, Asian Pacific American advocacy groups say the plan fails to address critical issues impacting immigrant communities, and added that the president’s proposal is misleading, giving only false hopes to immigrants.Critics said Bush ignored the needs of APAs, and concentrated more on the Hispanic community — a move many believe is an attempt to garner Hispanic votes.
“The plan for immigration reform offered by President Bush, takes the lives of vulnerable immigrant workers and makes them pawns in a game of presidential politics,” said Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) in a statement. “The administration’s proposal to expand the guest worker program and offer restricted opportunities for immigrant workers is an election-year ploy to reach out to the same Latino voters he has ignored for the past three years.”
Community activists were disappointed that Bush neglected to include any path to permanent legal status for long-term residents who have already established families and live in the United States.
“We were disappointed by the content of his proposal, because he didn’t go far enough to address the concerns of APAs regarding the immigrant process,” said EunSook Lee, executive director of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) in Los Angeles. “We were expecting something more than the temporary work program. But Bush’s proposal was well-timed, and immigration has always been a key issue for election.”
Some of the concerns of APA immigrant communities include family reunification and lowering the backlog of applicants awaiting citizenship, and Bush failed to mention either of the two in his Jan. 7 speech. According to Lee, there are some 17 to 18 percent of Koreans who are undocumented workers in the United States.
Lee added that two major faults of the plan are the fact that it’s temporary with no permanence, and the wording of the plan was confusing to many in the immigrant communities.
“It’s not legalization of immigration status, rather, it’s legalizing your work status,” she said. “So right after Bush gave his address, many APA immigrants called into agencies and our organization asking if Bush meant that all undocumented workers have a chance to be legalized soon. He has recognized that there are major problems with undocumented workers, but he doesn’t recognize that they’re not welcomed here in this country. He also didn’t talk about the DREAM Act, the CLEAR Act or the Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits and Security Act.”
Kent Chaegu Lee, executive director of the Chicago-based Korean American Resource and Cultural Center said Bush’s plans didn’t relate with the Korean and other APA communities, since he only focused on the three-year temporary work program, his refusal to grant amnesty and border safety. He said although some of the nearly 80,000 Koreans living in Chicago may benefit from this program, more are concerned about the visa and processing backlogs.
“Families must now wait one year to naturalize and two or more years to have their application for adjustment of status processed,” Lee said. “Immigration reform must include significant measures to clear the bureaucratic obstacles toward citizenship, adjustment of status and family reunification.”
Asian Pacific American Legal Center (APALC) staff attorney Mark Yoshida, said he fears people will get the wrong information and get duped by agencies that prey on immigrants, promising expedited visa processing.
“Most are so desperate to grasp onto anything that will get them one step closer to legalization,” Yoshida said. “If they only get part of the information — that this is temporary and they could stand to be deported — and go to these people who guarantee that they can get them green cards, it will be a tragedy with what can happen.
“Bush recognizes a problem, but his plan falls short. His plan does so little, but it will hurt a lot of people.”
Currently there are 9.3 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, according to a study by the Urban Institute. Mexicans make up more than half of the undocumented immigrants with 57 percent and about 10 percent are from Asia. About 27 percent of the 9.3 million live in California, followed by Texas with 13 percent; New York, 8 percent; Florida, 7 percent; Illinois, 6 percent; and New Jersey, 4 percent.
The study also found that about 6 million undocumented immigrants are in the workforce, representing 5 percent of U.S. workers. Most of these workers are men, and earn considerably less than working U.S. citizens. About two-thirds of undocumented workers earn less than half the minimum wage of $5.15, compared with only one-third of all workers, according to the Urban Institute study.
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