FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Grace Pai (Executive Director)
gpai@advancingjustice-chicago.org (224) 289-5291

Asian American voters see improved language access at the polls on Election Day

CHICAGO, IL — April 4, 2023. Every vote matters. This is especially true during competitive elections like the April 4th run-off in Chicago. Leading up to Election Day, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago and our partner organizations have been hard at work to ensure that this and future elections are accessible to all.

On Election Day, Advancing Justice | Chicago dispatched a team of staff and volunteer poll watchers to 107 precincts and eight vote centers in Chicago. Due to the higher concentration of Asian and limited English proficient (LEP) voters in these precincts, their respective polling places and vote centers are designated as locations with “Limited English Proficient Assistance” for the following languages or language groups: Chinese, South Asian (Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati), Korean, and Tagalog. This designation means that the polling place has translated signs and ballots as well as bilingual poll workers to assist LEP voters.

Poll watchers play a vital role in ensuring fair elections. Advancing Justice | Chicago’s poll watching program aims to ensure that all eligible voters can cast their ballots without interference, with a particular focus on historically-disenfranchised communities like Asian Americans. Our poll watchers are trained to monitor for compliance with language access laws and best practices. For example, they check to see whether polling places have in-language election materials as required by Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act. Where translated materials appear missing, our poll watchers work collaboratively with election judges to locate the missing materials or otherwise request delivery of the materials through proper channels.

Overall, Advancing Justice | Chicago observed improvements in bilingual election judge staffing and the availability of translated election materials, as compared to our observations from the November 8, 2022 midterm election. These improvements can be traced to ongoing collaboration between the Chicago Board of Elections (CBOE) and community organizations, which have been meeting nearly every other week for the past three months.

In addition, CBOE worked with Advancing Justice and other community organizations to expand polling places with LEP assistance. After a change in state law required CBOE to reduce voting precincts, there were fewer precincts with LEP assistance during the November 8, 2022 midterm election. Since then, CBOE has worked with community organizations to identify precincts with significant LEP voters. As a result, CBOE increased the number of Chinese precincts by 4, South Asian precincts by 5, Korean precincts by 2, and Tagalog precincts by 10.

Advancing Justice | Chicago noted many positive interactions between poll workers and LEP voters on Election Day. In the 11th ward, for example, our poll watchers observed Chinese-speaking voters getting assistance from bilingual election judges. “It felt really good to see voters engaged and getting the in-language assistance they need and deserve,” said volunteer poll watcher Valerie Chu. The 2023 municipal election marks the first aldermanic election since the 11th ward became the first Asian American majority ward in the city.

Beyond having language assistance at the polls, there is a need, especially among LEP voters and naturalized voters, for outreach and education. “Oftentimes voters who experience language barriers are not aware that they can get assistance at the polls,” said Kimberly Leung, Voting Rights Legal Fellow at Advancing Justice | Chicago. “That is why outreach and education is so important.” The Chicago Board of Elections has full-time bilingual staff who conduct language-specific outreach and community education in the lead up to each election. This in-house capacity is critical to effectively implementing Section 203.

Advancing Justice | Chicago would like to thank HANA Center, South Asian American Policy and Research Institute, Indo-American Center, Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment, Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, and the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights for their assistance in ensuring voter accessibility for all. We look forward to continued collaboration with CBOE.

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Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago builds power through collective advocacy and organizing to achieve racial equity. Learn more at advancingjustice-chicago.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Grace Pai (Executive Director)
gpai@advancingjustice-chicago.org (224) 289-5291

Over 300 Asian American community members gather to hear mayoral candidates discuss community issues

Photos here (credit: Ray Rivera)

February 6, 2023, CHICAGO – Hundreds of Asian American community members gathered at tonight’s Mayoral Candidate Forum hosted by the Pan Asian Voter Empowerment (PAVE) Coalition and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago. Leading up to the first mayoral election since the Atlanta spa shootings and huge spike in anti-Asian violence throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, seven out of nine candidates for mayor attended: State Representative Kam Buckner, Congressman Jesús ‘Chuy’ García, Ja’Mal Green, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, Alderman Roderick Sawyer, Paul Vallas, and Willie Wilson. Alderwoman Sophia King had confirmed but was unable to join due to illness and Mayor Lori Lightfoot was invited but was not able to attend.

Grace Pai, Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago and one of the moderators of the forum, said, “Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial and ethnic group in Chicago and the entire country, and we make up 7% of Chicago’s population. Tonight’s forum was about elevating Asian American voices and the issues that are important to our communities.”

Community members and leaders from the PAVE Coalition shared personal testimonies and asked candidates to answer questions about six policy priorities: public safety, language access, senior services, affordable housing, immigrant rights, and education equity.

Lilly Le, a community organizer with the Vietnamese Association of Illinois, shared a testimony about housing at the forum before asking the candidates their position on rent control and how they would increase affordable housing. She said, “Safe and affordable housing is a human right. Many elderly immigrant seniors live on a fixed income and feel isolated due to language barriers and lack of family in Chicago. Their isolation worsens when they struggle to apply for and find affordable housing. Many seniors and unhoused folks have told me that they have been on the Chicago Housing Authority waitlist for over a year.”

“My school is one of the most diverse high schools in Chicago,” shared Waniya Zahid, a youth leader with the Indo-American Center. “78% of Mather High School is low income, 22% is Asian, and 28% are English language learners. Despite our diverse needs, we don’t have enough resources. For example, last week my teacher was yelled at for using more paper than their 500 sheet limit, when they are teaching multiple classes of 20 to 30 students per day and we go to school for 176 days.” Waniya asked the candidates how they would address Chicago Public Schools’ anticipated deficit and about their long-term vision for school funding.

Tonight’s event was the fourth Mayoral Forum organized by the PAVE Coalition and Advancing Justice | Chicago in an ongoing effort to increase civic engagement among, and improve the lives of, diverse Asian American communities across Chicagoland. The program was simultaneously interpreted into six different languages: Cantonese, Hindi/Urdu (which are spoken similarly, but written differently), Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. All candidates recognized the importance of issues facing Asian Americans in Chicago and committed to meet with the PAVE Coalition if elected.

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Founded in 2011, the Pan Asian Voter Empowerment (PAVE) Coalition consists of 16 Asian American direct service and advocacy organizations in the Chicagoland area. The PAVE Coalition is committed to creating a space for meaningful collaboration across the diverse Asian American community, improving the lives of Asian Americans through advocacy, power-building, and policy change, increasing voter turnout and civic participation among Asian Americans in Illinois, and serving as a progressive voice for Asian American communities including in rapid response and crisis moments.

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PAVE Coalition Members:

Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment, Apna Ghar, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago, Cambodian Association of Illinois, Chinese American Service League, Chinese Mutual Aid Association, Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, Hamdard Health Center, HANA Center, Indo-American Center, Japanese American Citizens League – Chicago, Japanese American Service Committee, Lao American Organization of Elgin, Muslim Civic Coalition, South Asian American Policy and Research Institute, Vietnamese Association of Illinois

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Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago builds power through collective advocacy and organizing to achieve racial equity. Learn more at advancingjustice-chicago.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

December 22, 2022  

Contact: 

Michelle Boykins, Advancing Justice – AAJC, Mboykins@advancingjustice-aajc.org
Niketa Kumar, Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, media@advancingjustice-alc.org 
Liza Ameen, AJSOCAL, lameen@ajsocal.org
James Woo, Advancing Justice – Atlanta, jwoo@advancingjustice-atlanta.org
Grace Pai, Advancing Justice | Chicago, gpai@advancingjustice-chicago.org

Asian Americans Advancing Justice Denounces Congress’ Failure to Reach a DACA Deal  

Immigrant Youth Urgently Need Pathways to Citizenship  

CHICAGO, IL — As the end of the year approaches, Congress has failed to come to a deal on citizenship for immigrant youth, Temporary Protected Status recipients, and other immigrants. While DACA hangs on by a thread, this failure further threatens the future of undocumented youth and their families in the country they call home. 

Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an affiliation of five independent civil rights organizations, responds with the following statement:  

 “There is no excuse for lawmakers that oppose a pathway to citizenship. Most Americans believe that our nation needs to provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Time and time again, federal lawmakers have talked about finding a permanent solution, but our communities continue to be left with growing uncertainties about their futures and the futures of their families. As a result of anti-immigrant lawmakers’ refusal to protect immigrant young people from detention and deportation, millions of undocumented youth in our communities, including over 600,000 active DACA recipients, remain without a solution as DACA slowly dies in the courts.  

“Undocumented youth are valued members of our community. They are our family, our neighbors, our teachers, our caretakers, and more. We utterly reject the false narratives that anti-immigrant lawmakers have pushed to justify their inaction during this Congress, and we call on elected officials to create an immigration system that works for all of us – from immigrant youth and undocumented neighbors and families to people fleeing unimaginable violence. These communities are in need of Congress’ protections and a place to call home. They should not be used as political pawns.  

“Alongside our undocumented families and friends, we refuse to end the fight here. We will demand relief for undocumented communities until we win. Congress must act swiftly next year to pass a pathway to citizenship before hundreds of thousands of immigrants lose protection from deportation and the ability to work.” 

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Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five leading organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities to promote a fair and equitable society for all. The affiliation’s members are: Advancing Justice | AAJC (Washington, DC), Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco), Advancing Justice – Southern California (AJSOCAL), Advancing Justice – Atlanta, and Advancing Justice – Chicago. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 20, 2022

Contact:

Michelle Boykins, Advancing Justice – AAJC, Mboykins@advancingjustice-aajc.org
Niketa Kumar, Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, media@advancingjustice-alc.org
Liza Ameen, AJSOCAL, lameen@ajsocal.org
James Woo, Advancing Justice – Atlanta, jwoo@advancingjustice-atlanta.org

Asian Americans Advancing Justice Condemn the Removal of Family-Sponsored Immigration Reform in Budget Deal

Anti-Immigrant Lawmakers Once Again Block Crucial, Common-Sense Reforms and Legislation

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, a budget deal was published that failed to include crucial, immigration-related provisions. Despite the inclusion of straightforward reforms to the family-based immigration system in both the House FY2023 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Bill and the Chairman’s Mark of the Senate FY2023 DHS Appropriations Bill, appropriators stripped out these provisions and denied the inclusion of other important proposals such as the Adoptee Citizenship Act, Afghan Adjustment Act, the farmworkers bill, and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented youth.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an affiliation of five independent civil rights organizations, releases the following statement: 

“Family unity is not a partisan issue. Families are the fundamental building block of this country, and the refusal to help reunite families stuck in the immigration backlog is a rejection of our best values of inclusion and community care. The objections of Republican lawmakers once again leave millions of immigrants separated from their families for another holiday season.

“The provisions included in both the House and Senate FY2023 DHS Appropriations bill would have recaptured hundreds of thousands of unused visas, prevented visas from being wasted in the future, and provided green cards to people who were awarded diversity visas but who could not receive them due to the Trump administration’s immigration bans. Yet, instead of allowing these common-sense policy proposals to help the children, spouses, and siblings of Asian Americans and other families, Senate Republicans decided to demand that these provisions—and other provisions that would have helped immigrant families and communities—be stripped from the final budget deal.

“Four million people are waiting to be reunited with their families here in the U.S. Some of those individuals will wait for over 20 years before a green card becomes available. We demand that Congress take urgent action to reform our family-based immigration system and reunite families.”

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Asian Americans Advancing Justice is a national affiliation of five leading organizations advocating for the civil and human rights of Asian Americans and other underserved communities to promote a fair and equitable society for all. The affiliation’s members are: Advancing Justice | AAJC (Washington, DC), Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus (San Francisco), Advancing Justice – Southern California (AJSOCAL), Advancing Justice – Atlanta, and Advancing Justice – Chicago. 

For Immediate Release 

Contacts: 

Kevin Hsia, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago 

224-289-5486, khsia@advancingjustice-chicago.org 

Kimberly Leung, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago 

415-234-0748, KLeung@advancingjustice-chicago.org 

For Immediate Release  

CHICAGO, IL — November 8, 2022 – Illinois voters went to the polls today to elect their governor, junior U.S. senator, and 17 of Illinois’ representatives in the U.S. Congress, and other key races and issues.  

Advancing Justice | Chicago dispatched a team of staff and volunteer poll watchers to 96 precincts and three vote centers in Chicago, and 103 precincts in Suburban Cook County. Our poll watching program focuses on monitoring precincts where there are high number of Asian voters with limited English proficiency (LEP). “Most of the precincts that we monitor are designated as protected precincts under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act,” said Kimberly Leung, Voting Rights Legal Fellow at Advancing Justice | Chicago. Because of the recent precinct consolidation in Chicago, we decided to expand the scope of our poll watching program to cover additional locations not covered under Section 203, out of concern that LEP voters at certain polling places may not be getting the in-language assistance they need.  

In addition to poll watching, we sent interpreters to certain precincts to help voters who want assistance. Bharat Sharma, ISP community organizer at Advancing Justice | Chicago, who speaks Hindi, Gujarati, and Urdu, spent his afternoon greeting and helping voters at Warren Park in West Ridge. “I was surprised and inspired to see so many first time, immigrant voters,” Sharma said, “It was my privilege to be part of their voting experience.”  

A likely consequence of the recent precinct consolidation, Advancing Justice | Chicago poll watchers also observed voters at the wrong polling place across Chicago. Anticipating this situation, our poll watchers were trained and equipped to direct voters to their correct polling place or vote center.  

In suburban Cook County, Advancing Justice poll watchers not only monitored for compliance with Section 203 but also for the Vote Opportunity and Translation Equity (VOTE) Ordinance, which was unanimously passed in October 2019. The Ordinance expands the number of languages that suburban Cook County ballots and voting material must be translated into. “Though the passage of the VOTE Ordinance was a significant step, our poll watchers observed that compliance remains spotty,” said Leung. Many of our poll watchers in suburban Cook County observed missing translated signages. Additionally, many of the precincts that were supposed to have bilingual poll workers did not. The issues observed in suburban Cook County underscore the importance of community engagement, and continued investment in language access.  

Thanks to Advancing Justice | Chicago staff and volunteer poll watchers, we were able to monitor over 95 percent of the designated Asian language precincts in Chicago and Cook County. In December, Advancing Justice will share a summary of our Election Day findings with the Cook County Clerk’s Office and the Chicago Board of Election with the goal of strengthening meaningful access for future elections. 

Poll watchers play a vital role in ensuring fair elections. Thank you to our staff and volunteer poll watchers, and our partners and sponsors, including Arab American Family Services, Enlivant, Asian American Bar Association, Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community (CBCAC), Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE), and South Asian American Policy & Research Institute (SAAPRI). 

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Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago builds power through collective advocacy and organizing to achieve racial equity. Learn more at advancingjustice-chicago.org.