May Day 2013 Rally Speech

On Wednesday, May 1, 2013, Theresa Tran, President of APIAVote-MI gave a speech at a May Day Rally in Detroit, asking workers to remember the needs of Asian Americans in the discussion around Comprehensive Immigration Reform.  Below is the transcript of the full prepared speech.


My name is Theresa Tran and I’m standing here today on behalf of Asian & Pacific Islander American Vote- Michigan in solidarity with our workers to support humane and swift comprehensive immigration reform.

Today is also the first day of Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month, and I want to mark this day by sharing a piece of my heritage with you.  I am the daughter of immigrants.  

My father had the good fortune of being sponsored by his sister just before the fall of Saigon almost 40 years ago.  Because of this sponsorship, he was on the second-to-last flight out of Vietnam before it was captured by the communist regime and all travel in and out of the country was shut down.  If it wasn't for his sister’s sponsorship my dad and I would not be here today.  

My mother came to the United States as a refugee from Vietnam.  She along with her younger brother endured months of dangerous travel by boat, boat raids by pirates, and a stay in an Indonesian refugee camp before her sister in the U.S. was able to find her and sponsor her to come to here.  It was because of sibling sponsorship that my mom and I are here today.  My aunt was also responsible for sponsoring my grandparents and remaining aunts and uncles in Vietnam over the years.  After waiting over a decade, my mom was finally reunified with her family.

Family is central to the Asian as well as the American identity.  Senate bill 744 needs to prioritize the family-based system, and we need to work together to ask Senators to preserve and improve family reunification in the proposed bill’s provisions.  We’re calling on our community and allies to urge our senators to include siblings and married adult children over 31, and LGBTQ bi-national couples into family reunification visa categories to be inclusive of all of our families. The bill should also be amended to put back the diversity lottery, and Bangladesh back into the country category.  

Today on International Workers’ Day, we are gravely concerned about a federally mandated E-Verify. This will push our most vulnerable workers into the underground economy, falling prey to more unscrupulous employers, labor abuses and wage theft issues.  The U.S. Congressional Budget Office has estimated a loss of more than $17.3 billion in federal tax revenue alone over ten years.

We also want a bill that supports our working communities.  Millions of legal employees could be considered ineligible to work if E-Verify was mandated nationally; this is according to our government’s own audit.  Upwards of 770,000 workers are projected to be fired after faulty “final non-confirmations (FNCs)” are given.  The system has high error rates that kick out citizens and legal residents, with an error rate 20 times higher for foreign-born than U.S.-born workers. As ⅔ of APIAs are foreign-born, the highest of any demographic, with a sizeable portion Limited English Proficient,   this will likely disproportionately affect APIAs.  Other concerns on this issue include the potential of E-Verify becoming a de facto National ID card and used to check statuses in the street, at the airport, or getting housing. Privacy and identity theft risks, unfair and costly burdens on small businesses, and forcing employers to act as immigration agents are additional concerns.

Mandatory national E-Verify could cost small businesses $2.7 billion in the first year, and more than $6.1 billion for all businesses.  Businesses could potentially shift these costs onto workers by paying them less.  That’s why we’re calling for reform that treats all workers with the dignity and humanity we deserve.  

Finally, we want to urge Governor Snyder and our State Representatives to support the New American Opportunity & Fairness Act, a state immigration reform package introduced last week by Reps. Tlaib, Singh, Irwin, Zemke, and Dillon, that allows MI DREAMers to get ID cards, driver’s licenses, and in-state tuition. This act will help implement the Governor’s current Welcoming Michigan initiative, and show that our state is serious about welcoming immigrants here.

We’re calling on you as allies to the Asian & Pacific Islander American community and supporters of our shared American family values to call, email, and meet with your State Representatives and Senators to demand humane and swift comprehensive immigration reform that reunites all families, includes the Diversity Lottery adding Bangladesh back into the country category, and eliminates federally mandated use of E-verify.  

As my parents have always told me, “Nothing is more important than family.”  We cannot wait a decade more for our families to be reunited.  Preserve our families!

---