On Nov. 2, 2015, AALDEF filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin II, in support of UT’s race-conscious admissions program. Our co-amici included two Asian American groups at UT-Austin: the Asian Desi Pacific Islander Collective and the Asian/Asian Am
It’s Election Day today, and AALDEF is monitoring the 2015 elections in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana:
Houston, TX – AALDEF is working with OCA-Greater Houston and local volunteers to ensure that poll sites in Harris County provide language assistance to limited English proficient Asian Americ
The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice (Advancing Justice), and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), have filed three separate amicus briefs urging the nation’s highest court to uphold University of Texas at Austin’s (
On Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015 at 3:30 pm, members and supporters of the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side will march against racism and displacement from 227 Cherry Street in Lower Manhattan to City Hall. It follows a successful rally and march on Sept. 25 that drew over 1,000 par
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, together with the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) and five other civil rights groups, filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court in Evenwel v. Abbott, a challenge to the “one person, one vote” principle that legislative di
Journalist Emil Guillermo, who has written for the AALDEF blog since October 2010, received the prestigious 2015 Dr. Suzanne Ahn Award for Civil Rights and Social Justice from the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) at its annual convention in San Francisco on Aug. 15, 2015. The award, nam
The Coalition to Protect Chinatown and Lower East Side will march to City Hall in New York City on Friday, September 25, 2015 at 4 pm, in response to the NYC Department of City Planning’s (DCP) refusal to take action on the Chinatown Working Group rezoning plan. In an August 5 meeting with Coaliti
A citywide coalition of non-profit community-based, advocacy, and social service organizations announced a non-partisan candidate debate for the Special Election in New York’s 23rd City Council District. The event is scheduled for Thursday, August 27th at 6:30 PM at the Hillside Banquet Hall (206-10
AALDEF has filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for review by the U.S. Supreme Court of a case involving Miranda warnings and the knowing and intelligent waiver of the right to remain silent by a young immigrant, Naif Al-Yousif.
In 2001, the Denver police arrested Naif Al-Yousif, a Saudi
August 15 is the third anniversary of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA continues to transform the lives of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and qualify for protecti
Today, on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) sued the State of Texas, the Williamson County Elections Department, and the city of Round Rock for denying Asian American voters with limited English proficiency the
Today, the date that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was scheduled to begin accepting applications under the new deferred action initiative for parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (known as DAPA), pro-immigrant activists are holding actions around the country in
Founded in 2012, Revolutionizing Asian American Immigrant Stories on the East Coast (RAISE) is a pan-Asian undocumented youth-led group dedicated to creating safe spaces for undocumented immigrants and communities to fight for social justice through activism and organizing. RAISE is looking to hire
A significant number of Asian immigrants are among an estimated 300,000 additional undocumented individuals who may benefit from an expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Although applications were to be accepted beginning on February 18, 2015, a Texas federal court
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed today in the federal appeals court in New Orleans, AALDEF joined more than 150 civil rights, labor, and immigration advocacy groups contending that President Obama’s executive immigration actions would allow millions of immigrants to apply for relief from deporta
A Manhattan federal court has awarded $2,672,657 in damages to nine Korean and two Latino workers against Kum Gang San, a Korean restaurant with branches in Manhattan and Flushing, and its owner, Ji Sung Yoo. The defendants failed to pay minimum wages and overtime pay and stole tips from the workers
On February 27, 2015, Ivy O. Suriyopas, director of AALDEF’s Anti-Trafficking Initiative testified at a New York City Council oversight hearing on labor trafficking of domestic workers and resources available for victims in New York City. Her testimony appears below and can also be downloaded here.
New Orleans — A federal jury today awarded $14 million in compensatory and punitive damages to five Indian guest workers who were defrauded and exploited in a labor trafficking scheme engineered by a Gulf Coast marine services company, an immigration lawyer and an Indian labor recruiter who lured hu
AALDEF seeks pro bono attorneys to represent eligible people who qualify under the expanded DACA and the new DAPA programs. Attorneys must attend an AALDEF training in order to take a case.
The first training will be held on February 26, 2015 at 6:30 pm, at the office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriv
Applications for the expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, scheduled to begin on Feb. 18, 2015, was delayed, due to a Feb. 17 ruling by a Texas federal judge temporarily enjoining the President’s exeutive immigration actions, including the expanded DACA and new DAPA program
