When Trump attacks our communities, we fight back!
From Trump’s horrendous revival of the Alien Enemies Act to his attacks on international students, this administration is not slowing down — but neither are we! In the first months of Trump’s second presidency, CAA has hosted more than 30 Know Your Rights sessions for immigrants, including at Stanford University and UC Berkeley, led advocacy campaigns for language access in San Francisco and California statewide, and hosted a historic, week-long gathering to celebrate the 127th anniversary of United States v. Wong Kim Ark and mobilize for birthright citizenship.
We’re doing all of this and continuing our important grassroots work supporting community members with a range of in-language immigration, job assistance, and other direct services in Chinatown.
Read more below because we need your help to make this important work happen. Please — will you make a gift today so we can keep fighting for us tomorrow?
In solidarity,
Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA)
P.S. Don’t forget to register for our annual Celebration of Justice on June 4 at Yank Sing! We’ll have a great time celebrating the work of civil rights activist Dale Minami, former Assemblymember Phil Ting, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC, and the Asian American Scholar Forum.
Happy AAPI Heritage Month! Check out our Self-Guided Justice Walk
It’s so important to find moments to celebrate our communities, especially now. For this AAPI Heritage month, we’re taking our Chinatown Justice Walk online!
For those who haven’t been able to make it in person, our Chinatown tour is now available in a self-guided online format. It highlights the same stories of community activism, resilience, and hope, sharing powerful yet little-known events that took place in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Included in the tour is an interactive neighborhood map and narrated tour stops that you can listen to when you arrive at each destination.
Wong Kim Ark and the Fight for Birthright Citizenship
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on birthright citizenship and whether federal district court judges have the right to issue nationwide injunctions. Though this has important implications on whether Trump’s executive order may proceed in certain states, the hearing was not on the merits of the underlying case. We do expect that the Court will determine the constitutionality of Trump’s executive order later this year.
Nevertheless, CAA is mobilizing in support of birthright citizenship. This includes a historic week-long gathering in Chinatown on the 127th anniversary of United States v Wong Kim Ark where we renewed our call to action to defend immigrant families, and honored Wong Kim Ark’s pivotal role through book talks and displays, community conversations, and a new plaque commemorating his birthplace in San Francisco Chinatown.
CAA has also been leading the charge to pass Assembly Joint Resolution 5 (AJR 5) in the California state legislature to affirm our right to birthright citizenship. Yesterday, AJR 5 was voted out of the Assembly with 61 aye votes, but two Republican Asian American Assemblymembers — Phillip Chen (Assembly District 59) and Tri Ta (Assembly District 70) — took the cowardly path of abstaining from the vote. Without birthright citizenship, hundreds of thousands of immigrant families and their children in their Southern California districts will suffer irreparable harm.
Know Your Rights at Stanford and Berkeley
In April, CAA organized a host of Know Your Rights sessions, from San Francisco’s Chinatown to the Silicon Valley. These sessions, including on-campus gatherings at Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley, helped immigrants navigate increased scrutiny of student visas, H1-B visas, and green cards. We also discussed rights at the airport including electronic searches, the process for H1-B and F-1 student visa holders, and the impact of Trump’s executive orders more broadly. Thanks to all who came!
Immigrant Day of Action
Now more than ever, we need to make our voices heard! CAA and Chinese-speaking community members traveled to Sacramento to speak to state legislators in-person about birthright citizenship and voice concerns about ICE working with local law enforcement.
Together with one of our community clients, we also submitted public comment on AB 667, a bill that would provide greater economic opportunity for California’s multilingual workers and make certain career pathways more language accessible.
Worker’s Rights are Immigrant Rights!
Every day, CAA’s economic justice team works directly with community members to help them gain stable employment and provide for their families. What does this look like?
- Speaking with city departments to reduce barriers that immigrant workers face
- Advocating for more trainings and job opportunities in non-English languages
- Teaching new immigrants how to use local transit systems, find non-exploitative jobs, practice interviews, and write resumes
For example, last year, when we learned that one of our long-term clients was working three different jobs to make ends meet, we jumped into action to help find better-paying work so they could provide for their family without being stretched so thin.
Together, we practiced mock interviews, filled out the necessary forms, and helped them submit applications. With our support, they received an offer for a role with higher pay from a local city department to stabilize their financial situation.
Standing Against the Alien Enemies Act
CAA stood strong with our community partners at the Japanese Cultural Community Center to rebuke Trump’s use of the “Alien Enemies Act” to arrest and deport more than 200 Venezuelan nationals to a supermax facility in El Salvador without due process. To mount local pressure, CAA joined Supervisor Myrna Melgar in urging San Francisco to pass a resolution condemning Trump’s cruel unlawful invocation of this wartime power that was last used to detain Japanese Americans during World War II.
