19 Asian Americans arrested in demo for ‘a clean DREAM Act’

WASHINGTON, DC  — Police arrested 19 Asian American peacefully demonstrating outside of Speaker Paul Ryan’s office demanding that Congress pass a clean DREAM Act before December 8.

Protesters yesterday, November 15, blocked the entrance of the Speaker office and chanted that the House Leader call a vote to pass a clean DREAM Act.

Monica Thammarath, APALA National President and one of the protesters, stated:  “We are ready to put our bodies on the line — that’s what this was all about. Millions of undocumented working families live in fear of detention and deportation every single day. The Trump administration continues to stoke fear into our immigrant and refugee communities, and today and every day until white supremacists are out of office, we will protect and defend our family, friends, and communities from hate violence, racism, and xenophobia.”

“It’s time to stop using the lives of immigrant youth as a bargaining chip in a cruel game of immigration politics,” said John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. “These fearless protesters represent a much larger and determined Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) population standing with and in support of getting the DREAM Act passed through Congress now.”

Inhe Choi, Board Member of the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and Executive Director of the HANA Center, an affiliate of NAKASEC, explained, “I am participating in this civil disobedience for the 22,000 DACA recipients who cannot,” added. “Over 8,000 young people have lost DACA since September 5 and hundreds lose protection each week Congress does not pass legislation to protect them. We must pass a #cleanDREAMact NOW!”

The action was coordinated as part of the AAPI Immigrant Organizing Table’s Days of Mobilization to demand Congress pass a clean DREAM Act.