Asian Law Caucus

From prepping ingredients, to stocking shelves, to caregiving, working people are making it possible for countless others to go about their days and sustain close-knit communities. Yet across California, millions of working families are fighting to survive rising costs and unacceptable inequality. While cities like San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles have taken important steps to enact a higher minimum wage and paid sick leave, there’s still much more to do to create a state where working people can thrive. Many of our clients are family members and neighbors at the forefront of local and state campaigns for their community’s economic well-being, which includes a fair return on their labor. Whether they work at a restaurant, nail salon, or in home healthcare, workers’ paychecks should reflect the full amount they are owed - without exception. Read the stories of Sabir and Veronica, who are learning their rights and mobilizing with their coworkers to get paid their full paychecks, uphold labor rights, and inspire more dignity on the job. Trabajadores Unidos Workers United (TUWU) https://lnkd.in/g_3myzG2 #WorkersRights #WorkerJustice #LaborRights #AAPI #SanFrancisco

As we try to build a world of belonging and community safety, certain politicians are seeking to divide us based on who we are so that they can make decisions without our voices. But, we’re charting a different path for our futures. We’ve done this before - as neighbors fighting for tenants’ rights, as immigrants fighting to reunite with our loved ones, and as Californians who want justice and equity. The fight for a multiracial democracy is no different. We all can do something to make the promise of democracy more real. In March, more than 200 people came together to form California’s largest nonpartisan poll monitor program. They made sure voters could get help in different languages, cast their ballots without harassment, and access polling sites regardless of any disabilities. We’re working to beat that record in November. If you're ready to get involved, sign up to be a CA poll monitor by October 6 and protect our hard-won rights to vote. https://lnkd.in/gVrXaXNb

Whether we speak English, Spanish, Chinese, or Arabic, we need our elected representatives to fight with us for affordable housing, good jobs, safer neighborhoods, and a better life for the next generation. It’s why we’ve been holding workshops in Siskiyou County, Fresno, and other cities and counties to help people register to vote and learn their rights to language assistance. Know Your Voting Rights resources: https://lnkd.in/gYXgJ-xH We also run California’s largest nonpartisan election protection program. In March 2024, more than 200 people came together to form California’s largest nonpartisan poll observer program. They made sure voters could get help in different languages, cast their ballots without harassment, and access polling sites regardless of any disabilities. 📢 We’re ready to beat that record in November. Will you join us? Sign up to be a poll monitor by 10/6: https://lnkd.in/gVrXaXNb READ: California Poll Monitors Are Making the Promise of Democracy Real: https://lnkd.in/g6vZzawt

NEW: With 80 immigrant rights orgs and legal service providers, we sent a letter to DHS and ICE calling the agencies to immediately release people who have won their immigration cases for fear-based protection. Our staff told NPR: "While that happens, community members can’t restart their life, missing birthdays, holidays, and all the days in between with their children and loved ones." https://lnkd.in/gjTx8qHF California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ) Amica Center for Immigrant Rights Center for Constitutional Rights #ImmigrantJustice #ImmigrantRights #StopICEtransfers #ImmigrationPolicy

For two years, we have been relentlessly pursuing justice for Siskiyou County community members who have faced a systematic campaign of harassment, profiling, and denial of their human right to water. https://lnkd.in/gJFTi-fx As we litigate the class action lawsuit, county officials have tried to dismiss our case. Recently, a judge denied that motion, which means the lawsuit, Chang v. Siskiyou County, moves full steam ahead! Alongside our partners at the ACLU of Northern California, we also recently filed for a preliminary injunction against the county’s latest tactic, manipulating the local zoning ordinance, to deny Asian American communities water. No matter what the county throws at our clients, we’re committed to working with them to create a place where all residents can thrive. ALC litigation attorney Megan Vees said after the ruling: “For years, Siskiyou County officials and the Sheriff’s Department have threatened, targeted, and intimidated Hmong Americans and Asian Americans in a blatant effort to isolate and expel them… It is difficult to find other elected representatives in California who so blatantly and callously talk about their constituents who are simply trying to raise families and live and travel safely.” 

As we expand the Asian Law Caucus’ work in California and nationally, we are looking for senior social justice movement lawyers who are passionate about serving low-income immigrant communities. Like many in our networks, we’re undergoing scenario planning for 2025 and beyond and want to apply the lessons from the past several years, including the need for a larger leadership team. We’re seeking lawyers who want to leverage the law to build communities’ power and reimagine our systems, from workplaces and apartment buildings to the inner workings of ICE and federal agencies. We are hiring for a number of key roles including: Legal Director: https://lnkd.in/gzvHgaFu Program Director, Immigrant Rights: https://lnkd.in/gejENC8S Managing Attorney, Community Safety: https://lnkd.in/gbm-EH5e Check out our open positions and help us spread the word! https://lnkd.in/g6hiPhyM asianlawcaucus.org/careers

We're fiercely proud of our clients and honored to work with them for justice and a thriving community.

NEW: Amid growing outrage at medical neglect, unsafe conditions, and $1-a-day pay at Golden State Annex ICE facility, immigrant community members and Asian Law Caucus filed a federal civil rights complaint against GEO Group staff’s sexual abuse and harassment, and discrimination based on people’s gender and sexual orientation. GEO Group is one of the world’s largest private prison corporations and has $1.5 billion contracts to Golden State Annex and ICE’s nearby Mesa Verde detention center. We call on DHS to investigate every reported incident of abuse and recommend that ICE end its contract with GEO Group at GSA. READ: bit.ly/alc-crcl827 📢 Take action to support the immigrants detained at Golden State Annex and Mesa Verde ICE facilities, where people have relaunched labor and hunger strikes: bit.ly/MV-GSA-Resist #ImmigrantJustice #CommunitySafety #FreeThemAll #ProtectImmigrants #StopICEtransfers #CivilRights

"The first step in our community healing was to publicly share our stories, even knowing that some would resist hearing the ugly truth." ALC's Carl Takei shares his experience from a pilgrimage to Tule Lake in a recent column for Nichi Bei Foundation. In it, he reflects on our communities' crucially needed involvement with the movement for Reparations: "California’s Reparations Task Force released a first-in-the-nation report, drawing a throughline from the harm of 246 years of slavery, 90 years of Jim Crow and racial terror, and decades more of continuing discrimination to the present reality in my home state. The report includes over 100 policy recommendations to repair the damage." Read the report and it's recommendations: https://lnkd.in/dyrRXSNc Read Carl's column: https://lnkd.in/g3Q3xDs2

In the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 3 million people speak a language other than English primarily at home. In all the places that make up our lives, our families, neighbors, coworkers and friends experience how being able to use one’s language is inextricably tied to being seen, understood, and living life fully as yourself and with those you love. In an English dominant society, immigrant communities in CA and beyond have for generations fought for language rights at the ballot box, at work, at the doctor’s office, in accessing life affirming resources, and much more. There is still a long way to go. Our new project with photographer Joyce Xi aims to uplift Bay Area immigrant community members’ experiences through their firsthand stories, challenges, hopes, and aspirations. We hope viewers can reflect on the importance of language in all aspects of life, and how our society can better act upon this understanding through its policies, practices, and day to day interactions. Come check our our exhibit, created in partnership with the Chinese Progressive Association - San Francisco, Trabajadores Unidos Workers United (TUWU), and PODER. It is a preview of a larger project exhibit planned for early 2025. To stay informed, follow @asianlawcaucus and @joycexiphotography on Instagram. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts' "Art, Action, Change" Exhibition from August 16-September 15: https://lnkd.in/gFQutKEy