NCAPA member statements in support:

• Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum: Upholding Deferred Action Will Provide Stability for Millions of Families
• Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance: APALA urges the Supreme Court to Stand with Immigrant and Refugee Families
• Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations: AAPCHO Joins More than Two Thousand to Rally in Support of Immigrant Rights at Supreme Court
• National Asian Pacific American Bar Association: NAPABA Statement on Today’s Arguments in United States v. Texas
• National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum: National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum demands justice for immigrant families
• National Korean American Service & Education Consortium: Korean Americans & Asian Americans from Illinois, California & Virginia Join Advocates & Families to Deliver Message in Support of President’s Immigration Action
• National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance: LGBTs Press U.S. Supreme Court to Support Immigrants’ Rights
• OCA: OCA Encourages Supreme Court to Reject Anti-Immigrant Politics
• South Asian Americans Leading Together: The fight for immigrant rights reaches Supreme Court
• Southeast Asia Resource Action Center: SEARAC Joins Immigration Advocates in the Fight for Families

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans Urges Supreme Court to Allow Programs that Benefit Immigrants, their Families, and All Communities to Proceed

This morning, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in United States v. Texas to determine whether the immigration executive actions that President Obama proposed in November 2014 will proceed, which would benefit the lives of millions and boost our economy. Unfortunately, these actions have been blocked by lower court rulings. NCAPA and ten of its members joined an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief led by the National Immigration Law Center, and the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), another NCAPA member, led an amicus brief to inform the Supreme Court about the special concerns facing LGBT Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

The President’s proposed executive actions would expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and establish a Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) program. Of the five million people these programs would benefit, an estimated 400,000 are Asian Americans. Expanded DACA would allow immigrants of any age to apply, as long as they meet the other DACA requirements and have been residing in the U.S. before Jan. 1, 2010. DAPA would provide parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents temporary relief from deportation.

“Our Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have been fighting for years for a fair and more humane immigration system,” said NCAPA National Director Christopher Kang. “We urge the Supreme Court to allow the President’s immigration actions to move forward, as they are clearly constitutional. The President’s original DACA program already has given many Asian Americans the opportunity to contribute even more to our country through education and through the workforce, but we must do more to keep families together. NCAPA and our communities are united  and stand ready to ensure that expanded DACA and DAPA are implemented as the next step toward  long overdue and much-needed comprehensive immigration reform.”

Not only would these programs provide relief for immigrant families, research shows the economic impact would result in an additional $805 million paid in state and local taxes and a GDP increase of $230 billion over 10 years, according to FightforFamilies.org.

Immigration resources from several NCAPA members are available at ncapaonline.org/immigration. Read stories at Advancing Justice | AAJC and watch video stories from South Asian Americans Leading Together to hear from impacted Asian Americans. Additionally, the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium launched a multi-city AAPI DACA video tour.

Find more information and join the movement at FightforFamilies.org.

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Based in Washington, D.C., the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans is a coalition of 35 national Asian Pacific American organizations that serves to represent the interests of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities and to provide a national voice for our communities’ concerns. Our communities are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, currently making up approximately six percent of the population.