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The Conference of Asian Pacific American Law Faculty issued the following statement on February 1, 2017
We, members of the Conference of Asian Pacific American Law Faculty, condemn President Trump’s executive order, issued on January 27, 2017, which suspends U.S. refugee admission for “nationals of countries of particular concern,” and applies to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, including persons already legally authorized to enter the United States and, at least initially, lawful permanent residents.
The United States has made the grave mistake of discriminatory exclusion before. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first federal law to enact a wholesale ban on immigration on the basis of race, ethnicity, or nationality. It remained in effect until 1943, and was not fully dismantled until 1965. Congress banned other immigration from Asia from 1917 to 1952.
Asian American history teaches us that wholesale exclusions and bans of an entire people on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin are not only morally and constitutionally problematic, but also counterproductive to actual national security objectives. During World War II, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Empire, perceived threats to national security led President Franklin Roosevelt to sign an executive order that authorized the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans, nearly two-thirds of whom were U.S.-born citizens. A Congressional commission later called the incarceration a “grave injustice,” motivated by “racial prejudice, war hysteria, and the failure of political leadership.”
Our country should not repeat such extreme actions. Congress apologized for Chinese Exclusion in 2011 and 2012. In 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, issuing a formal apology and monetary reparations to surviving Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. Today, President Trump’s executive order is not only discriminatory. It also harms our national interests by creating the impression that the U.S. is at war with the Muslim world, a false notion that terrorist groups like ISIS would like to foster.
We urge the President to rescind this Executive Order immediately. Should the Order stand, we urge Congress to use its authority over immigration law to repeal the ban and the courts to protect the rights of individuals singled out unjustly and unproductively for their religion or national origin.
Signatories:
Conference of Asian Pacific American Law Faculty
Individual Signatories:
Afra Afsharipour
Muneer Ahmad
Aziza Ahmed
Sameer Ashar
Lorraine Bannai
Anupam Chander
Bob Chang
Stewart Chang
Williamson Chang
Stuart Chinn
Margaret Chon
Kim D. Chanbonpin
Ming Chen
Pat Chew
Colleen Chien
Andrew Chin
Gabriel J. Chin
Sumi Cho
Rose Cuison-Villazor
Meera Deo
Veena Dubal
Rashmi Dyal-Chand
Seth Katsuya Endo
Anthony Farley
Hemanth Gundavarum
Shubha Ghosh
Rashmi Goel
Miye Goishi
Neil Gotanda
Leah Chan Grinvald
Aya Gruber
Pratheepan Gulasekaram
Danielle Kie Hart
Margaret Hahn-Dupont
Yoshinori H.T. Himel
Cynthia Ho
Emily M.S. Houh
Margaret Hu
Cathy Hwang
Carol Izumi
Anil Kalhan
Helen Kang
Jerry Kang
Catherine Yonsoo Kim
Janine Kim
Rosa Kim
Suzanne Kim
Susan Kuo
Lisa Ikemoto
Thomas Joo
Holning Lau
David Law
Brant T. Lee
Cynthia Lee
Eumi Lee
Rebecca Lee
Andrew Leong
Nancy Leong
Christine Lin
Joseph C. Liu
Maya Manian
Mari Matsuda
Kaiponanea Matsumura
Setsuo Miyazawa
Saira Mohamed
Seema Mohapatra
Hiroshi Motomura
Eric L. Muller
Sharmila L. Murthy
Jyoti Nanda
Phil Tajitsu Nash
Karl Okamoto
Nancy Ota
Huyen Pham
Tanya J. Pierce
Jaya Ramji-Nogales
Jayesh Rathod
Song Richardson
Victor Romero
Natsu Saito
Evangeline Sarda
Susan Serrano
Theodore P. Seto
Patrick Shin
Wadhia Shoba
Shirin Sinnar
Mai Linh Spencer
Madhavi Sunder
Mary Szto
Steph Tai
Daniel P. Tokaji
Alex L. Wang
William K. Wang
Carwina Weng
Kaimipono Wenger
Margaret Y.K. Woo
Eric Yamamoto
Tseming Yang
Alfred P. Yen
Peter K. Yu