Two prominent Democratic presidential candidates have promised to rescind many of the rules and regulations of the incumbent Trump administration that has hit hard the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community and vowed to carry the much needed immigration reform, including family reunification.
Reflecting their recognition of the importance of 21 million AAPI community in electoral politics, Democratic presidential candidates - Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Amy Klobuchar - appeared for an interaction on Tuesday and an hour-long question and answer session organised by the AAPI Victory Fund.
The first Super PAC of its kind, AAPI Victory Fund is focused on mobilising eligible voters from the community and moving them to the ballot box.
"If elected, our administration will be most diverse in the history of this country. It will look like this country," Sanders said in response to a question at the panel discussion moderated by Congresswomen Judy Chu and Grace Meng as he discussed how his platform will support the diverse and specific needs of the broader AAPI community
Sanders recognises the importance of the AAAPI community in electoral politics and is prioritising a robust outreach programme to engage a community that is traditionally left out of the political process, his campaign said.
Promising to expand Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action of Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA), Sanders assured that his administration will preserve and expand traditional family-based visas to address the lengthy family visa backlog.
"I believe in family reunification, not family separation," he said, adding that his administration will provide funding to address the family visa backlog that has only worsened under the Trump administration.
Creating new pathways to citizenship will not come at the expense of traditional family visas, broadening immigration pathways for the diverse needs of the AAPI community, he noted.
During her appearance, Senator Klobuchar vowed to get the immigration reform done in the first year of her administration.
"I promise you, I can get (immigration reform) done in my first year of the presidency, she said in response to a question.
Describing AAPI as the fastest growing group of new citizens in the US, Klobuchar said that the role of the Asian American community has been overlooked so far.
"When I talk about immigration reform, for me, it is purely a moral decision, the right decision, but also the economic decision. I always make the case that 70 of our fortune 500 companies are headed up by people from other countries, many from Asian countries, that 25 per cent of our US Nobel Laureate were born in other countries; that immigrants don't diminish America, they are America," she said.
Shekar Narasimhan, chair and founder of the AAPI Victory Fund said that the Super PAC is trying to get all the leading candidates to pay attention to AAPI communities.
"This means they have to hire people who look like us. They have to talk about issues that matter to us and in the way that we care. We're not talking only about high-skill immigration. We're talking about family reunification," he said.
"Now is the time for us to get some commitments. How will they pay attention to us if they are the president of the US? Because if you can ask now and get that answer, you've got a good chance, you can remind them in July and say, you know what you said and make sure that it is actually executed," Narasimhan said.
Vincent A. Eng said that AAPI Victory Fund is trying to get the candidates to engage it very early in the process.
"The bottom line is we need to have the biggest turnout of Asian American electorate in history because this is, we already know it's going to be a high turnout election, but we can't take any chances," he said.
Trump made cracking down on immigration a key part of his 2016 presidential campaign platform.
He has pushed wide-ranging immigration law reforms, while tasking authorities with carrying out mass deportations of people in the US illegally.
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