National Council of Asian Pacific Americans Applauds DOJ’s Swift Response Requesting Supreme Court Review of President’s Executive Immigration Action

One Year after Executive Action, NCAPA Renews Call for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Today is the one year anniversary of President Obama's immigration executive action announcement that would have protected an estimated 5 million people from deportation, including nearly half a million Asian Americans. Earlier this month, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled 2-1 to block this action, and today, the Department of Justice requested that the Supreme Court review this decision.

“We support the Department of Justice’s prompt appeal that the Supreme Court review this decision, and we urge the Supreme Court to grant this petition without delay,” said NCAPA National Director Christopher Kang. “Today is the one year anniversary of President Obama’s historic leadership, but because of this legal battle over a clearly constitutional action, more than 400,000 Asian Americans continue to wait for relief. It is time for the Supreme Court to allow these programs to move forward.”

“This delay underscores the need for comprehensive immigration reform,” Kang continued. “Our immigrant communities contribute to American society each day, yet too many live in fear of deportation and being torn apart from their families and communities. We mark today’s anniversary of the immigration executive action with a renewed call to fight for immigration reform. We also join our member Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC in recommendations that the Administration should consider immediately.”

NCAPA, our members and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities pushed the Administration to take action prior to last year’s announcement and welcomed the President’s Immigration Accountability Executive Action. This would have expanded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows undocumented youth to temporarily remain in the country, and would have established a Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), to extend protections to parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents.  Earlier this month, we expressed our disappointment when the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocked the President’s executive action.

Today, NCAPA joined member Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC in its letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson assessing the impact of the executive action on Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Recommendations in the letter refer to concerns with the uneven application of prosecutorial discretion guidelines and the negative impact of the Priority Enforcement Program, which encourages local police to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement; the need to move forward with parole for family members of Filipino World War II veterans to come to the United States; and suggestions to improve resources to help our communities naturalize.

More immigration resources for our communities can be found at ncapaonline.org/immigration.

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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