FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 5, 2025
Media contact: Sookyung Oh, Executive Director (703-405-4480, soh@hamkaecenter.org)
Fairfax, VA – It comes with no surprise that Governor Youngkin is once again falling in line with President Trump—this time by enabling the Virginia National Guard to further the cruel and dehumanizing practice of targeting immigrants and separating families. This is the same Governor who championed Trump’s dangerous budget bill – a bill that will risk thousands of Virginians to lose access to their health care, food, and housing to fund a tax scheme that primarily benefits the ultra-wealthy and private prison executives.
Instead of protecting Virginians, Governor Youngkin is putting more Virginians directly in harm’s way.
At Hamkae Center, we work closely with Asian American communities across Virginia and have heard firsthand about the damage to their livelihoods because of widespread detention and deportation. Families and individuals are terrified to send their kids to school or go to work. Small businesses are suffering from worker shortages and the weight of ever-growing tariffs. More and more Virginians are coming to us for help after losing their jobs related to massive government cuts or out of fear that more are on the horizon. And all the while, Governor Youngkin is partnering with the Trump regime to put more masked ICE officers on the street to terrorize Virginia communities.
Virginians deserve real solutions for real problems, not political theater or power-hungry officials. Hamkae Center remains committed to fighting for immigrants and the dignity, safety and well-being of all Virginians. We demand that Governor Youngkin reverse course, and instead direct resources toward efforts that actually improve the lives of Virginians.
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.
