This is the last of the Immigration Is HERstory and Our Story Campaign email series, but it certainly will not be the last opportunity to engage in comprehensive immigration reform. As CIR continues to gain momentum, NAPAWF will keep sending action alerts to inform you of opportunities to ensure justice for API immigrant women and girls.

In the meantime, we want to connect you to the larger national movement through the Campaign to Reform Immigration for America. The Campaign is a national effort working to build support for comprehensive immigration reform at the grassroots level. It is based on inclusive Campaign Principles that are in line with NAPAWF’s Immigration Principles.

Here are actions that you can take to become a part of the Campaign:

• Visit the Campaign website to learn about events happening across the country and sign up for email updates.
• Text “AAPI” to 69866 to join the National Cell Phone Action Network, which will keep you looped into the fight for immigration reform by sending urgent action alerts and the latest news, specific to your state.
• Send a FREE fax through the Campaign to your member of Congress urging them to support just and humane immigration reform! In total, the Campaign has sent over 150,000 faxes so far and we want to keep them coming!
• Call your representatives to urge them to support comprehensive immigration reform! Contact the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to be directly connected to your Representative. If you don’t know who your Representative is you can find out here.
• Sign a postcard remotely and demonstrate your solidarity with the API community for immigration reform. Help us reach our goal of 500 signed postcards!
• Connect the personal to the political. Share your immigration story with NAPAWF (email lnguyen@napawf.org) and help us show Congress why immigration reform is important for API women and girls.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to participate in NAPAWF’s Immigration Is HERstory and Our Story Campaign so far!

For questions or assistance with these actions please contact Lan at lnguyen@napawf.org.

For justice,
NAPAWF

Last Thursday, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and key White House officials met with advocates, labor organizations, faith leaders and other stakeholders to discuss the progress of immigration reform. The meeting was an important opportunity for proponents of immigrant justice to voice central concerns about the state and movement of CIR, and garnered broad media attention.

In week five of the “Immigration is HERstory and OUR Story” campaign, we want to focus on the media visibility of API women and girls in immigration reform. Along with your participation in the AAPI Week of Action, completion of the immigration community survey, and sharing your personal immigration narrative, we ask you to engage in one of the following actions to promote visibility for API women:

• Submit photos of your family, of NAPAWF members participating in advocacy events, of anything related to the immigrant API women experience and what that means to you.
• Write an op-ed to your local newspaper discussing specific issues within the reform movement, local immigration events, or your perspective on how this is affecting our communities.
• Blog for Warrior Prose, the NAPAWF blog, and share your thoughts on any issue relating to API women and girls.
• Submit an article on the impact that immigration reform could have on API women in your community, and get it published in your local ethnic newspaper.

For questions or assistance with these actions or about “Immigration is HERstory and OUR story,” please contact Lan at lnguyen@napawf.org.

For justice,
NAPAWF

Thank you for keeping the momentum for immigrant justice going! There has been an overwhelming number of responses to the immigration community survey and some very powerful stories shared. The survey will remain open until Aug. 31, at which point we will report back with stats and findings. Be sure to take the survey if you haven’t done so already, and to forward it to friends and allies.

This week, we encourage all NAPAWF members to TAKE LOCAL ACTION in your communities. The National AAPI Week of Action is finally here! And with it comes many exciting events and opportunities to take action and support comprehensive immigration reform (CIR):

Postcard Drive

Each of the NAPAWF offices (DC, New York, and Bay Area) has a stack of glossy postcards ready to be signed and sent to congress with the message to support family immigration and CIR. We need your help! If you are attending or hosting an event and would like to distribute and collect these postcards, PLEASE LET US KNOW!

Alternatively, if you are not near a campaign event, you can still sign a postcard remotely by going HERE and providing us with your contact information. Help us reach our goal of 500 signed postcards!

National Text-In Day

One of the most important ways of supporting CIR is to be informed about the debate. An easy way to do this is by signing up for the Cell Phone Action Network through the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign. On AUGUST 20 we’re asking our networks to text “AAPI” to 69866 to join the network and receive periodic text messages on the latest news and action opportunities around immigration reform, specific to your state or local community.

Made In L.A. Film Screenings and Discussions

NAPAWF-DC Chapter
When: Aug. 30, 3pm EST
Location: contact napawfdc@yahoo.com
Contact: Meredith at meredith.higashi@gmail.com

NAPAWF-LA Chapter
When: Sept. 12, 12pm PST
Location: 409 W. Winnie Way, Arcadia, CA 91007
Contact: Cathy at cathyldang@yahoo.com (RSVP by Sept. 11)

NAPAWF-NY Chapter
When: Early Sept. TBD
Location: CUNY
Contact: Wen-Hua at Wyang@napawf.org

NAPAWF-Bay Area Chapter
When: Sept. TBD
Location: Oakland
Contact: Candace at csummer1978@yahoo.com

Updated List of Week of Action Events

Immigrant Service Day – Food Drive
When: Aug. 20
Location: Los Angeles – Los Angeles Food Bank
Organizers: Asian Pacific American Legal Center & Japanese American Citizens League-Pacific Southwest District
Local contact: Scott Chan, schan@apalc.org; Kristin Fukushima, Kristin.Fukushima@gmail.com
Town Hall with Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Mike Quigley (D-Ill.)

When: Aug. 22, 1-3pm CDT
Location: Chicago – Mayfair Salvation Army Community Church
Organizers: Asian American Institute, Korean Resource and Cultural Center, Coalition for a Better Chinatown & Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Engagement
Local contact: Sung Yeon, sungyeon@aaichicago.org

Town Hall with Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.)
When: Aug. 27, 6pm PDT
Location: Los Angeles – St. John Baptist Church, Baldwin Park
Organizers: Asian Pacific American Legal Center & Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles
Local contact: Connie Choi, cchoi@apalc.org

South Asians and Immigration Town Hall
When: Sept. 26, 11am-2pm EDT
Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL – To Be Announced
Organizers: South Asian Americans Leading Together and Sahara
Local contact: Priya Murthy, priya@saalt.org

Legislative visits
Date: All Week
Location: Across California
Organizers: Asian Pacific American Legal Center and Asian Law Caucus

Please remember to take pictures and document your experiences during the Week of Action and immigration reform activities. Next week we will be focusing on media visibility!

For questions about the Immigration is HERstory and Our Story Campaign, please contact Lan at lnguyen@napawf.org.

For justice,
NAPAWF

In one week, over 45 members have completed NAPAWF’s Immigration Community Survey. Have you? If not, please take a few minutes right now to fill out the survey.

Of the responses so far, we’ve found:

• 53% were born in the United States. Those who were not, were born in Canada, Colombia, England, Hong Kong, Japan, Kuwait, South Korea, and Vietnam.
• NAPAWF members and their families came to the U.S. as early as the 1850’s and as recently as 2000.
• 12% have family members who immigrated solely through employment-based visas, 21% through a mixture of employment and family-based visas, and overwhelmingly, 68% listed family-based visas as their family’s sole means of immigration.
• 37% know someone who has been detained and/or deported.
• 32% know someone who was in/affected by an ICE raid.
• 40% have or know someone who has experienced a hate crime because of perceived immigration status.
• 70% have or know someone who has been negatively affected by English only material.

Help us to continue gathering these critical data by forwarding the survey link to other API women you know: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=YAXaEZQUgXhanfdQp2xFmQ_3d_3d!

Week THREE: What’s Your Immigration Story?

For Week THREE of the Immigration is HERstory and OUR Story Campaign, we’re moving from the political to the personal. We want you to tell us your personal immigration story.

Consider these questions:

• What obstacles did you/your family face in coming to the United States?
• What motivated you/your family to come?
• Were your family members separated for long periods of time? If so, how did that impacted you?
• As an API woman, have gender roles played a part in your immigration experience?
• Have you/your family had a negative experience with immigration enforcement, such as through raids or the 287g program?

If you have a story to share and help lift up the voices of API women and girls, please email Lan at lnguyen[at]napawf.org. We’ll post your story on our blog, Warrior Prose and may deliver your message on one of our Hill visits. Please indicate if you would like to remain anonymous when we post or share your story.

Also, remember the National Week of Action starts next week! Come out and join other fierce sisters in support of comprehensive immigration reform!

For questions about the Immigration is HERstory and Our Story Campaign, please contact Lan at lnguyen[at]napawf.org.

For justice,
NAPAWF

The Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA and NHPI) communities need quality affordable health care. One in six Asian Americans and one in four Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are uninsured. Even with coverage, AA and NHPIs experience disparities in health outcomes and quality of care.

On August 19th, the Asian American Justice Center, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum will be hosting a national Call-in Day to support health care reform. The Call-in Day will give members of the AA and NHPI communities the opportunity to raise their voices together to tell Congress to support quality affordable health care for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Call your Senator and Representative on August 19th and ask them to:

1. Ensure fair treatment of legal immigrants: Congress should treat legal immigrants the same as everyone else by including them equitably in the subsidy structure, removing waiting periods for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and ensuring that tax-paying immigrants have the same opportunity to access affordable health care.

2. Enact a Public Plan Option: Everyone should be able to participate in our health care system and pay their fair share for health coverage. A public health insurance option would allow more Asian American and Pacific Islander families to purchase affordable health insurance.

3. Cover All Children and Pregnant Women: Despite the recent expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, at least five million children will still be uninsured. No child in America should have to go without health coverage.

***

Stay tuned for details. In the meantime, please let your friends and networks know about the August 19th AAPI Call-in Day. We need your voices! For more info, please contact Priscilla Huang at phuang@napawf.org.

Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH
Director
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
1600 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30333

RE: HPV Vaccination Mandate for Immigrant Women and Girls

Dear Dr. Frieden:

The undersigned, over ­­140 immigrants’ rights, women’s rights, public health, medical, and reproductive justice organizations write to urge the CDC to act quickly and finalize the proposed criteria for identifying Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommended vaccines as immunization requirements for immigrants.

As you know, ACIP recommended in 2007 that Gardasil, the only FDA-approved human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, be administered to females ages 11 to 26 in the U.S. This recommendation became an automatic requirement for prospective immigrants when the government updated its vaccination list in July 2008, mandating that female immigrants ages 11 to 26 seeking permanent residence or entry to the U.S. be immunized against HPV. In the enclosed January 26th letter to Dr. Besser, we outlined our concerns about the HPV vaccination mandate on immigrants and urged the CDC to retract its listing of HPV as a required vaccination for immigrants in the revised Technical Instructions to the Civil Surgeons for Vaccinations Requirements, and to direct ACIP to modify its recommendation to state that the HPV vaccination should not be mandated for immigrants.

At the February 25-26, 2009 ACIP meeting, the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) proposed a set of criteria for identifying ACIP-recommended vaccines as immunization requirements for immigrants, which was published in the Federal Registrar on April 8, 2009 for comment. We are greatly encouraged that the CDC has responded to public concerns by proposing the criteria and we submitted comments in support of the proposed rule, however, it has been months since the public comment period closed and the rule has not yet been finalized. In the meantime, advocates continue to receive stories and concerns from those adversely affected by this mandate. In one of the many emails received, one woman wrote:
“… I have been raising my grand-daughter since she was 20 months old and was abandoned by her mother. To cut a long story short on how we came to be alone in the US etc. I will just say we were in very difficult circumstances and in the care of the Domestic Violence unit…

In July 2008 I sent all the paperwork and fees to apply for change of status/permanent residence for her. She was 16 years old. After the finger print [sic] appointment we were told to get the medical exam. The appointment came for August and that is when we found out about the HPV vaccination requirement.

I did some research and couldn’t understand why it had been made a requirement for immigrants … I sent all the paper work in to the USCIS and said that my grand-daughter doesn’t want to have that vaccination. Today, almost a year later, I have received notice that they have determined she is inadmissible to the United States without it… [but] we can file the I-601 waiver with the fee!

I am a single person, 62 years old working for $13,000 per year supporting myself and my adopted daughter and think it is ridiculous to have to pay another nearly $600 on top of the $1,700 I have already paid to do things the legal and correct way.[1]”
We urge you to act immediately to finalize the rule and begin the process of correcting this egregious mandate.

Thank you for your consideration. We welcome the opportunity for further communication on this issue. Please contact Priscilla Huang at phuang@napawf.org, or (301) 270-4440, with questions or concerns.
Sincerely,

Undersigned Organizations
[1] Email has been edited for brevity.

Last week we introduced you to NAPAWF’s inaugural “Immigration is HERstory and Our Story” campaign by connecting you to the National August Week of Action. It’s been very exciting to hear from NAPAWF sisters interested in getting involved. Please continue to contact us with any questions or for more information about the events!

This week, we want to bring the attention closer to home.

Although we are all united in our belief and advocacy for social justice and humane immigration reform, our communities are also hugely diverse in history, languages and migration stories. To capture these diverse narratives, NAPAWF has created an Immigration Community Survey. The stories of API immigrant women and their families are rarely, if ever, depicted in mainstream media. We hope this community survey will help elevate immigrant API women’s issues and bring attention to the compelling stories that are too often not told.

Please take the next 8-10 minutes to fill out the survey. Together, we can give voice to the most urgent issues facing immigrant API women and girls as comprehensive immigration reform approaches Congress.

For questions about the Immigration is HERstory and Our Story campaign, please contact Lan at lnguyen@napawf.org.

For justice,

NAPAWF

The time is now! Congress has announced plans to introduce a comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill by Labor Day. This gives us roughly three months to mobilize around this critical issue.

Immigration is a major platform area for NAPAWF because immigration policies affect so many Asian and Pacific Islander (API) women and girls. Nearly two-thirds of the API population in the U.S. are foreign-born, with the majority being women and girls. Approximately 1.5 million of those immigrants are undocumented. The current immigration system is broken and detrimentally impacts API communities by the huge visa backlogs, raids and deportations that tear families apart, unreasonable barriers to public services, deplorable detention conditions that neglect basic health needs, employer exploitation in the underground economy, and insufficient protection for victims of violence, sexual abuse and trafficking.

NAPAWF believes that true comprehensive immigration reform must be grounded in principles of human rights, and include provisions that support all immigrants, their families and their communities. But the API immigrant women’s narrative is rarely, if ever, depicted in mainstream media. We need to promote visibility around this important issue to insert both an API and gender analysis to the immigration debate.

In the next six weeks, we will be sending out a six-part series of action alerts as part of NAPAWF’s “Immigration is HERstory and OUR story” campaign, to inform you about what NAPAWF members and chapters can do to support comprehensive immigration reform. This campaign is meant to not only invoke action around CIR, but also generate dialogue about how immigrant API women and girls are affected by immigration policies.

Week One: Immigration Reform for Asian Americans
In this first week, we’re connecting you to the Asian American Week of Action (August 17-24), which is a chance to show solidarity with other APIs who are committed to passing comprehensive immigration reform. During the August congressional recess, when Members of Congress will be home in their respective districts, several national and state API organizations will be teaming up to host town halls and events across the country to show Congress that APIs have a stake in the immigration debate. Events will be concentrated in the Week of Action, but will also be supported by related events in the preceding and following weeks.

What chapters can do
–Attend and help advertise the events listed below
–Schedule your “Made in LA” screening during the Week of Action
–Set up an in-district meeting (contact staff for assistance)
–Host a panel discussion/issue forum

Week of Action events

Community Briefing on Immigration
Local Host: Asian American Justice Center and Asian American Civic Association
Place: Boston, MA
Date: Friday, August 14

Asian American Town Hall Meeting
Local Host: Asian American Institute and Community orgs
Place: Chicago, IL
Date: Saturday, August 22

Asian Americans for Immigration Reform Press Event
Local Host: Asian Pacific American Legal Center and Asian Law Caucus
Place: Los Angeles, CA
Date: TBD

Other: Legislative visits organized by the Asian Pacific American Legal Center and Asian Law Caucus.

For questions or assistance with any of these events or activities, please contact Lan at lnguyen@napawf.org.

For justice,
NAPAWF

During my four day hospital stay, I was scarcely seen by the attending physician. And when I did see him, he simply said to my husband and I that I was not going to die from my symptoms. I was bathed only once. I was pushed down on a bed and told to “calm down” while I was having an uncontrollable muscle spasm. I was asked if I spoke English. I was mimicked and laughed at. I was put on a diabetic meal (though not allowed to eat) and had my blood sugar tested four times a day even after I told the nurses I was not diabetic. I pulled my own ivy line out of my arm because the pain was unbearable after waiting over 10 minutes and telling two nurses and the tech. The excuse that was given was that my nurse had to see other patients. My bladder was bloated from the pressure of the catheter because no one had come to check on me for a long period of time.

My husband took better care of me during my hospital stay than the nurses. He took care of my bag. He fed me. He moved me into different positions on the bed to prevent bed sores. He exercised my legs.

I was eventually discharged from the hospital, but without seeing my case worker. I was sent home with nothing. Absolutely no resources. The nurse expected me to get up and walk out of the hospital even though I had only regained slight mobility in my arms and even less in my legs. She did not believe that I needed a wheel chair or a shower seat. The nurse sent an occupational therapist in to make recommendations for me, because, perhaps I was not trying hard enough.

Needless to say, my husband and I are looking into purchasing health insurance coverage and with the help of family we may be able to afford it. I have never felt less like a human being than during this experience. I hope no one else has to go through this type of treatment. It really tears at your soul. And even I at some points doubted my worth as a person in that hospital bed. I do not have to imagine how something like this can make a negative and lasting impression on someone’s life.

- Lona Loudon

At the hospital, the doctor told us how bad it was. There were three blocked arteries, two at 90% and Dad would have to go into emergency surgery early tomorrow for bypass. I think one of my sisters was sobbing. I could barely hear the doctor, but he said something like my dad should have followed his primary doctor’s orders and taken his medications. I thought this was odd that he was blaming my parents because knowing my very traditional Asian parents, they would do pretty much what their doctors said. It was just as likely that the primary doctor had misdiagnosed my dad’s level of risk. Being distraught and distracted, I put my frustrating thoughts aside. We had to go visit my dad before his surgery and I had to be brave.

He looked so much more frail than I had ever seen him as he laid between the railings of the hospital bed with his gown. He had needles and wires around him. I think some of us sobbed. I tried to keep it together for him. The doctor started to explain more about the surgery and what would happen with the bypass. There was an interpreter there in the corner and the doctor looked towards her and then she’d talk to us. As the doctor continued to talk, I noticed that he never really talked to us, only the interpreter as if she was a member of our family. Actually, I felt as if we were secondary, an after thought to the doctor. Again, I was so out of it that I all I can do was hear what the doctor was saying let alone advocate for my family and myself. I felt like saying to the doctor, “Excuse me, but we’re over here. Actually, if you tried to find anything about us, you’d find that this man on the hospital bed has three college educated daughters who can understand everything that you are saying. We can even translate for our mom as we have done all our lives, too.” But I was exhausted and the discussion was over very fast.

After my dad recovered, I wanted to write to the hospital and doctors to tell them thank you for everything they did for him, but I also wanted to tell them how much more painful it was for me to go through it when the ignored or failed to understand me or my family.