This is the first post in a series to promote a National AAPI Week of Action for comprehensive immigration reform.

For far too long, there has been a stalemate in Washington, D.C. on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform. Despite a promise from President Obama to make immigration reform a top priority and to pass legislation by fall of 2009, here we are in the new year with no legislation signed into law.

Rather, immigrant communities, particularly Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, have had to wait and are waiting in the sidelines while healthcare reform has been debated. Now, we are being asked to wait again with an impending stimulus bill, climate change legislation, and an escalating war in Afghanistan.

Yet the political climate couldn’t be any better when it comes to achieving comprehensive and meaningful reform. We have a Democratic president in office who supports immigration reform, and a Democratic House and Senate that could help to push through a pro-immigrant agenda.

Leaders within the Obama Administration have expressed a need for reform. Secretary Gary Locke of the Commerce Department and Secretary Hilda Solis of the Labor Department recently came out in support of the issue, citing that while it may seem counterintuitive to pass immigration legislation while the nation is experiencing a historic economic recession, comprehensive reform with a path to legalization would result in economic growth and boost the wages of all workers. A recent UCLA study shows that reform will in fact generate $1.5 trillion for the economy over the next 10 years.

Most importantly, the American people support reform. A December 2009 poll by America’s Voice shows that 65% of voters want Congress to take up immigration reform in 2010 rather than wait until later. This support was consistent across party lines, supported by 69% of Democrats, 67% of independents and 62% of Republicans.

The need for comprehensive reform for our AAPI immigrant communities couldn’t be any greater. For nearly a decade, reforming our broken immigration system has been a central concern of our community. Nearly 60% of the AAPI community are immigrants, where about 1.2 million AAPIs, or 10%, is undocumented. Among Korean Americans, roughly one in five is undocumented.

Even more AAPIs are waiting to get a visa in the family immigration backlogs, where nearly half of the backlog is composed of AAPI applicants. U.S. citizens and green card holders are currently waiting 5, 10 or even 20 years to be reunited with their loved ones. Facing the longest backlogs, Chinese and Indian siblings must wait 10 years for a visa, while Filipino sibling applicants may wait up to 23 years. 

Community members are being devastated by ongoing detention and deportation; this is especially true for the Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander communities, where many young Cambodian Americans, Tongans and Fijians are being repatriated often to lands which many of them never knew. In the wake of 9/11, targeted enforcement of the AAPI community, in particular South Asians and Muslims, continues to compromise immigrants’ due process rights and civil liberties. And with the downturn in the economy, immigrant scapegoating has begun to mirror the sentiments of times gone by, such as the Chinese exclusion and Japanese internment.

The AAPI community has suffered too long from the broken immigration system and waited too long for reform. Hence we must show that we are serious about immigration reform and flex our growing economic and political power. In 2009 alone, 1.1 million AAPI firms provided jobs to 2.2 million employees and had receipts of $326.4 billion. And between the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections, the number of AAPI voters increased 23%. We elected our representatives to solve tough problems with practical solutions, and we expect our leaders to lead.

Today marks the start of the National Asian American and Pacific Islander Week of Action (Jan. 12-20). A collaborative effort among national, state and local AAPI organizations and allies, actions throughout this week aim to show the collective power and voice of AAPIs in the comprehensive immigration reform debate and engage with the broader Reform Immigration FOR America campaign. The Reform Immigration FOR America is mobilizing in all 50 states to show Congress that Americans want action NOW.  You can join the week of action by sharing your immigration story, participating in a national text-in by texting “AAPI” to 69866, or calling your member of Congress. Or join us at a Reform Immigration FOR America kick-off event in your area: http://reformimmigrationforamerica.org/blog/blog/making-2010-our-year/. 

Connie Choi is a Policy Advocate for the Immigrant Rights Project at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. The Asian Pacific American Legal Center works closely with three affiliates – the Asian American Institute in Chicago, the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco, and the Asian American Justice Center in Washington, D.C