FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2025
Media contact: press@nakasec.org
Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, January 7, the 119th House of Representatives passed H.R. 29, also known as the Laken Riley Act. The Senate is set to take up the bill for a vote at the end of this week.
The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) is a network of five affiliates in six states with the mission to empower Korean and Asian Americans to achieve social, racial and economic justice.
“NAKASEC emphatically condemns the Laken Riley bill as deeply harmful and destabilizing to Black, Brown, Asian, and immigrant communities – and broader American society,” responded NAKASEC Legal Coordinator, Daniel Yoon. “The bill falsely conflates immigration and criminality, and is particularly extreme because it applies mandatory immigration detention to people who have not been convicted or even charged with a crime. Accusations, not convictions, are not sufficient to detain a person. The truth is, there is no correlation between citizenship or immigration status and crime; and we denounce the continued attempts to create one. This is another way anti-immigrant officials are attempting to legitimize and facilitate mass deportations. For Black and Brown communities who are disproportionately targeted by police through racial profiling, this bill adds a new unprecedented danger: an encounter with police can land them in immigration detention with no bond and no due process, even if innocent.”
“Since the previous Trump administration, Asian Americans across the country have felt the harmful impact of anti-China and anti-Asian rhetoric,” said NAKASEC co-director Becky Belcore. “While Sinophobia is not new to the United States, the significant increase in hateful and blameful rhetoric has increased danger for Asian Americans and immigrants. This bill would likely increase attacks on Asian Americans and immigrants, who, under white body supremacy, are seen as perpetually foreign, regardless of their citizenship or generational status. The use of resources to detain and incarcerate people could and should be better used toward helping American communities thrive – like investing in a pathway to citizenship, housing, healthcare, climate change, and education. NAKASEC demands the Senate vote NO on the Laken Riley bill. We implore everyone in America to act in solidarity with immigrants, migrants, refugees, and citizens alike, and to prioritize the well-being and rights of every person.”
Founded in 1994, the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC)’s mission is to organize Korean and Asian Americans to achieve social, economic, and racial justice. The NAKASEC Network is HANA Center (Illinois), Hamkae Center (Virginia), Woori Center (Pennsylvania), MinKwon Center for Community Action (New York & New Jersey), and Woori Juntos (Texas).
Hamkae Center is a community-based organization with a mission to organize Asian Americans in Virginia to achieve social, economic, and racial justice. Alongside its community members, Hamkae Center works to build a future in which low- and middle-income, immigrant, people of color, and all marginalized communities can fully participate in U.S. society and work together as makers of lasting change.
