FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19, 2018
Contact:
Isabela Alesna
Asian American Organizing Project
(224) 436-5163
isabela@aaopmn.org
Family, Not Chains: AAOP Holds Press Call on Family Based Immigration
Minneapolis, MN – In response to the administration’s disparagement of family reunification as
“chain migration”, the Asian American Organizing Project launched a public education week last
week that reached over 120 young asian people in the Twin Cities. Nearly all community
members spoken to were supportive of family based immigration and were ready to hold their
lawmakers accountable. AAOP hosted a press call on Friday, March 16th, to conclude the
education week and to discuss the merits of the family immigration system.
The press call included speakers Representative Fue Lee of North Minneapolis, Julia Decker
from the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, and Linda Her, the executive director of AAOP.
Isabela Alesna, an organizing fellow with AAOP, began the conference by saying, “Labels such
as ‘chain migration’ dismiss the ‘family’ altogether, and comes out of the administration that
seeks to vilify immigrants. Rather than instead of dismantling the family immigration system, the
federal government must update it.”
Rep. Lee cited the high number of immigrant-owned businesses and the positive impact of
immigrants in community growth, adding: “When we look at immigration we should look at their
[positive] economic impact on Minnesota and on the United States as a whole, not on how they
are taking away resources.”
“My partner and her three siblings with immigrant family background fought to protect the liberty,
freedom, and democracy that makes the US an ideal place to live, work, and thrive with family,”
said Linda Her. “The threat of our current Administration to end family based immigration paints
a shattered future for our family and the possibility of us reuniting with her younger sister and
brother who have been waiting in the Philippines for over a decade.”
AAOP is counting on Senators Klobuchar and Smith to stand up for Minnesota’s immigrant
families, and urges them to remember that aunts, uncles, siblings, parents, and children are not
chains – they are family.
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Asian American Organizing Project (AAOP) is a civic engagement nonprofit founded in 2013
with a mission to advance Asian American & Pacific Islander participation in democracy for an
equitable and just society. More information can be found at www.aaopmn.org.