The Asian Law Caucus strongly applauds the decision issued by the Supreme Court today in Padilla v. Kentucky, holding that defense counsel have an obligation to give correct information to their clients about the immigration consequences of a guilty plea to a criminal charge.

By: Christopher Punongbayan In the last week, the cases of two immigrant families surfaced in the mainstream media and highlighted the ways our federal immigration system is failing our country.  In New York City, the New York Times covered the story of Qing Wu, a young Chinese American man who committed an offense from which […]

Source:  By Reporter Cheryl Hurd, NBC Bay Area, March 1, 2010 Photo:  Washington Family – Mother and her 13-year-old son will be torn from her husband and deported to Australia.  Mother's 5-year-old boy also to accompany her. It was just a couple of quarters — 46 cents to be exact — but a San Francisco […]

By Angela Chan, Staff Attorney, Juvenile Justice and Education Project, Asian Law Caucus In July 2008, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom implemented a draconian policy requiring probation officers to report all suspected undocumented youth to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation right after they are arrested.  This means that youth are being reported to […]

Originally posted by New America Media California lost an estimated $2 billion in federal funding over the last decade due to the undercount of Asians and Pacific Islanders during the 2000 Census, according to the Asian Law Caucus. To prevent that from happening again, advocates who serve the Southeast Asian community in Northern California gathered […]

By Ana C. Perez, February 3, 2010 This article was originally posted on The Progressive Magazine online. As a Latina, I am fed up with President Obama’s lack of leadership on immigration reform. Not addressing immigration head-on contributes to the invisibility of immigrants and fuels an atmosphere of discrimination and hatred against Latinos. This ultimately […]

By Titi Liu Is it just me, or is social justice, especially racial justice, feeling particularly hard to achieve right now? A year after the euphoria of the Obama inauguration, the reality sinks in. We are all in need of inspiration and some kind of road map. At Asian Law Caucus, we have been pushing […]

By Raj Jayadev This piece appeared in New America Media.  It is re-printed here with the author's permission. Around this time last decade, I was wading through clouds of tear gas and dodging rubber bullets from the Seattle Police Department. I was 24, it was the World Trade Organization (WTO) protests and a moment that […]

Minutes after the San  Francisco Board of Supervisors overrode Mayor Newsom’s veto of a practical policy to restore due process to undocumented youth, faith leaders and community members gathered for a ceremony to celebrate the passage and to urge the City to swiftly and effectively implement the policy change.  At the gathering, Attorney Abigail Trillin read […]

By Karin Wang Originally posted on APAs for Progress. Photo courtesy of New America Media. On November 4th, 2008, Proposition 8 passed in California, eliminating the right to marry for same-sex couples. One year later, the rights of the LGBT community are again up for a popular vote, in Maine, Washington and Michigan. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As […]