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NCAPA Statement of Principles on Immigration

As a coalition of thirty national Asian Pacific American organizations, immigration reform is acrucial issue for the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA). Asian American,

Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities are impacted by every facet of our nations

current immigration laws and its enforcement practices. As the fastest growing minority group in

the country, it is projected that the Asian American population will grow to approximately 40million people and the Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander population to 2.6 million by 2050.

Nearly two-thirds of Asian Americans are foreign born, and of the estimated 11.2 million

undocumented people in the country, approximately 1 million are of Asian origin. While manyAsian Americans and Pacific Islanders are immigrants, Native Hawaiians are a Pacific Island

peoples, whose homelands are located in the Hawaiian Islands, and the 50th state of United

States. We believe that reforms to immigration law and policy must promote a vision of full

integration and equal rights for immigrants that include access to the economic supports,education and the health care programs their tax dollars already support.

Yet, due to outdated immigration policies, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities,alongside all other immigrant populations, live at risk and in fear of deportation, suffer long

separations from their loved ones, and are vulnerable to abuse because of their immigration

status. Despite our deep economic and cultural contributions, our community has been unable to

fully participate in a nation we call home.

NCAPA calls on the Obama Administration to champion and Congress to enact humane and just

comprehensive immigration reform that:

Creates a broad and simple process that provides a path to citizenship for undocumentedimmigrants, including young people and their families;

Reunites and keeps families together, including same-sex households; Improves and strengthens avenues and protections for immigrant workers and their

families to live and work in the country;

Ensures the due process rights of all people in the United States and prioritizes humanrights standards through reforms in the detention and deportation systems; and

Supports the full integration of immigrants, refugees and Compact of Free AssociationMigrants, including access to affordable preventive, primary, behavioral, mental andreproductive health care and other poverty reduction programs at the same level as U.S.

citizens.

Additionally, NCAPA calls on the administration and Congress to:

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Reject enforcement-only approaches to immigration including programs that involvestate and local law enforcement of federal immigration laws and state and local anti-

immigrant proposals and initiatives that target immigrants based on race, religion, or

national origin, separate families, increase the vulnerability of survivors of domesticviolence, sexual assault, and other crimes and harm the overall publics safety.

We commit to supporting full inclusion of these principles in any proposal as we work with ourpartners, the administration and Congress to build an immigration system that reflects the

American values of fairness and equality for all.

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The National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA), founded in 1996, is a coalition ofthirty national Asian Pacific American organizations. Based in Washington D.C, NCAPA serves

to represent the interests of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA &

NHPI) community and to provide a national voice on policy issues and priorities.