In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association (APABA), Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance (APAWLA), Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic and a number of APA bar associations are planning to hold an in-person panel and reception to discuss the future of DACA and its impact on APA communities. The event will be held on the evening of May 17th at Loyola Law School, with a reception to follow. So far, our proposed speakers for the event are Yurie Blons (Loyola 3L and DACA Recipient), Ju Hong (Director of the Dream Resource Center at UCLA), and Ahilan Arulanantham (Co-Director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law). The program will be moderated by Loyola Law School Professor Kathleen Kim.
The Fifth Circuit last October ruled the DACA program to be unlawful. The panel would bring attention to members of the AAPI legal community about the state of DACA following the Fifth Circuit’s opinion and current organizing efforts at UC campuses, particularly the Opportunity for All campaign to push California universities to hire undocumented students. Leaders of this campaign include AAPIs, including Ju Hong, director of the Dream Resource Center at the UCLA Labor Center and host of the podcast ImmigrAsians. Another purpose of the panel is to highlight the experiences of AAPI DACA recipients and, more generally, undocumented folks within our communities. In addition to education, we hope to provide ways that attorneys can assist in the Opportunity for All campaign and in other ways.
