Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)

June 26, 2007

Dear Senator,

We, the undersigned organizations that serve the South Asian community in the San Francisco Bay Area, are writing to express our concerns about the direction that the Senate is taking in immigration reform through Senate Bill 1639. The Senate bill does not balance the civil rights of immigrants and will inevitably lead to separated families, isolation and fear, and distrust of law enforcement and government officials.

We at ASATA oppose the continuing domestic “war on terrorism” and “war on immigrants”: movements that we understand as intricately linked.

For us, opposition to and mobilization around the various versions of HR4437 means showing our solidarity with other immigrant communities, particularly our Latino brothers and sisters, as they fight what is also our fight.

Immigration to this country does not denote positions of privilege, but of plight. The majority of us did not make a decision to migrate from our homes, families, and communities: we were forced here by the violent effects of global economic inequity. The U.S. government is using a double-edged sword as it coerces countries in the Majority World into Free Trade Agreements and then simultaneously criminalizes the people displaced by them.

South Asian Advocates Strongly Urge Congress To Pass Immigration Reform That Respects Civil Rights Of Immigrants

As representatives of organizations that serve South Asians across the United States — from empowering women, workers and youth to protecting the civil rights and liberties of ethnic and religious minorities — we see firsthand the impact of the immigration system on our community. As Congress prepares to pass the broadest immigration reform law in decades, we urge lawmakers to adopt sensible and humane solutions to fix the broken immigration system in the United States.

Published as an op-ed in India-West

In the summer of 1920, Indian troops were used by the British to suppress a nationalist uprising in what we now call Iraq. In 2003 and 2004, the U.S. is using economic and other means of coercion to create its own international fighting force in Iraq to use as cannon fodder, just like it uses its recruits from poor communities of color domestically.

ASATA was a convening member of the Concerned Desis Against 54 coalition, brought together quickly before the October 2003 California state election. Although overshadowed by the gubernatorial race involving Arnold Schwarzenegger, communities of color were able to successfully mobilize to help in Proposition 54's defeat.

We are concerned desis who stand opposed to Proposition 54, the Information Ban. This initiative would make it illegal for state and local agencies, including public schools, hospitals, and law enforcement to collect data on race or ethnicity or even to examine data from other sources, i.e. the federal census. If passed, this initiative would have devastating impacts on the South Asian community, particularly in the areas of health and civil rights.

ASATA recognizes that there is conflicting evidence about the events on the train carnage in Godhra on Feb. 27, 2002. ASATA condemns the perpetrators of the recent violence in India that targeted 600-2000 Muslim civilians in their homes. We place special emphasis on violence that we know had the explicit or implicit consent of the machinery of the state and law enforcement.

Targeted organized violence, not riot

We mourn for those who lost their lives last week in the devastating attacks in N.Y. and D.C. We also remember and grieve those who lose their lives everyday due to institutional and interpersonal violence.

As South Asians, we stand in solidarity with communities of color, including Middle Eastern/West Asian communities (Afghanis, Arabs, Arab-Americans, Iraqi, and Iranians), rather than trying to distance ourselves from them in order to secure safety. We also recognize that many South Asians are Muslim, and deserve to be free from prejudice and discrimination as Muslims. We also stand in solidarity with people of color here and abroad, including the people of Palestine and Afghanistan.