FULL AGENDA PACKET_2021-05-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

AB 937 Page 9 amnnunitics intlicied by ICE that motivated the I--gistniun: to enact SB 54 began long bef7re. the TrLunrp adnrinisnation and still persists today_ The recent rise in violence directed at the Asian Pacific islander (API) C'onnnturily is the latest development it a long history of bias and violence against margirralized communities, iv:hrding by abluc of the itntnigration system Wl&- the in diir aril the; public have focused on the recent rise ofuaun>ilic and honendotLS interpersonal acts of violence a�-,tinsl Asian and Pacific Islander American coumittnity ncnbcrs, it is also iurport<ant to also recognize the less discussed large- scale and multi-generruiotral irrlpaCt of systemic. violence against APT canmruniLies. At sLrch a tine, California would be rcrriiss to not rctlect on and address its role in the criminal i7ation, family separation, and perpcntal plinishment Of APT refitgec communities. Southeast Asian refugees have been especially irgracted by mass incarceration, ICE transfers, and deportation. U-S. involvement in the Vietnam Warand U_S_-led carpet bombing, in SOLrtheast Asia caused mass migration ofrefirgees from fauns, Cambodia, and ViettlaIn to C:al.116Mia. Southeast Asian refugees who resealed iu Cahi6rni<r were generally honied it poor, hyper-criuilialiced, aril under-rexnlrced neighborhoods with little to no cullwally competent support services. Southeast Asian refugcc children — likc other Jinatigrants -- laced incise bullying. At the saine ii<ru, all of thasc youth as well as those who were Black, indigenous, and pcoplc of color (BIPOC) a 1ggkd to survive the 1990S a decade narked by a proliferation of local and national "tough on crime" P0116cs, including mandatory nnininuun scntcnccs, the "war on drugs" and scnlencing children as adults it criminal proceedings - In 1996, IT-S. Congress passed an inrmigraLion bill that severely limited immigration rY licl' lin- non-iT.S. citizens with criminal convictions—hrchrding refirgees <urd Been card holders. I3y the time Soudtcast Asian reiof;oc children, whose lanrilies survived laritine and genocide, were teenagers, the school to prison to deportation pipeline was in full ellect. The perlcet storm of draconian criminal justice and inunigratioo laws risulted in not only the mass incarceration ofthe inrn»grant and I31POC comnntnitics, but also the mass deportation of Central American, South American, and Southeast Asian refitgees. 'I'oday, Southeast Asian refugees arc. at Icast tin -cc times more likely to be deported for past convictions than other inuiligiaut commullitics are. In 2018, at Least 16,000 of the 2.7 million Southeast Asians hr the United Slimes had received linal deportation orders, more tlurn 13,000 ol'which were based on past criminal records (Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, `iT.S. T)epornion OuLCOnres by Charge, Completed Cases it 1nwvgration COUrLs", available at Irnp /tracsyr.edLJphptnol immigration/cotut_bLicl:log/deport_outconle_charge_php). This means that 80% of the total Southeast Asian deportation orders were linked to old crurrinal records, compared to 29%ofall innnig-anns with deportation orders. (Ihid) Between 2017 and 2018. Ihere was a 279% spike in deportation ofCanibodim refugees and a 58`) increase ui the deportations of Vic.irituricsc. refugees (Ibicn. This targetine ofthe Southeast Asian refitgec conurntnity has continued under the Iliden administration. On March 15, 2021, the same week as the horrific Adanta niaNs shunting that targeted Asian woolen and during President Biden's inoratoriunr on deportations, 33 Vietnamese refitgec cwrrrntnity incinbers were tragically deported. Among those deported wctc individuals Who fought alongside IT-S_ troops druing the Vietnam War_ Ace d-r� d to accept the fewest relitgees this y a of y modern president, ine�l{i '