A large number of Asian immigrant communities in Los Angeles County are giving representations about the matters and heartache caused by rumors.
In religious centers and workplaces, community leaders hold “Know Your Rights” training sessions in Bangladesh, China, Hindi, Punjabi and other languages to educate immigrants about their constitutional rights if federal agents are in Face them at home or in the workplace.
“The vast majority of it is what we hear,” said Shakeel Syed, executive director of South Asia Network. Even Asians who are born in the United States or gain legal status through other routes are worried about the future. “People who look like brown are considered permanent foreigners,” Said said. “So they may also be attacked for packages, just because they don’t look ‘American’.”
Although an estimated 79% of undocumented residents in Los Angeles County are natives in Mexico and Central America, Asian immigrants form the second largest group, accounting for 16% of the county without legal authorization, According to the Institute of Immigration Policy. In the United States, Indians constitute the third largest undocumented resident after Mexicans and El Salvadors.
Asian organizers say the Trump administration’s policy believes anyone in the country without authorization will be quickly deported criminals in Los Angeles County. According to the Pew Research Center, the Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to the largest Cambodians, Koreans, Indonesians, Filipinos, Thais, Thais and Vietnamese in the United States.
Shortly after taking office, President Trump signed a series of executive orders aimed at significantly reshaping American immigration. To sum up, these orders have dramatically limited legal access to the United States, strengthened law enforcement efforts to seal the U.S.-Mexico border and promote aggressive scanning to round up and expel people living in the United States. He authorized immigrants and customs law enforcement officers to deport more than one million immigrants, who were granted legal entry during the Biden administration’s anticipation hearing on his asylum lawsuit.
Recently, about 100 Indian immigrants were brought back to India to take American military planes. News reported this week that 119 immigrants, including some from Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, were transported to Panama by planes and they will wait for deportation. Media reports show that the Indian government has agreed to repatriate 18,000 Indians living in the United States
Traditionally, many Asian immigrants living in Los Angeles came to the United States legally using temporary work or tourist visas, and later obtained legal status or simply overdue visas. Said said that motivation may vary, but similar to Latino immigrants, many Asian immigrants want to live in the United States because it provides jobs and education opportunities in their lack of hometowns. Some people flee from oppressive government regimes, suppressing cultural or religious persecution.
Manjusha Kulkarni is the executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, a coalition of over 40 community organizations. Kulkani said Asian immigrants who lack legal status tend to work in low-paying services, often in the Asian-American community, and generations have built strong businesses in the industry. For example, many undocumented Vietnamese works in nail salons; many Cambodians at donut shops; and many Indians in the hotel and motel industry. In Monterey Park, a common landing site for Chinese immigrants, employment agencies often link workers to work in warehouses, restaurants and cannabis farms without a work permit.
In recent years, with the increasing difficulty of obtaining work and tourist visas, more and more Asian immigrants have joined Central Americans in Central America, trekking through the hard jungle, demanding asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to federal data, the number of Chinese national authorities encountered on the southern and northern U.S. borders was 78,701, up from 27,756 in 2022. The number of Indian nationals encountered on the southern and northern U.S. borders was 90,415 in 2024, up from 63,927 in 2022.
Connie Chung Joe, executive director of Asian Americans, said the Southern California judge said she was told Asian immigrants cancelled their medical appointments because they were afraid of being seen as a public charge. Now, the events that usually attract hundreds of immigrants’ food distribution and co-vaccination now attract 50.
“There is a lot of general anxiety and fears or what happens if they go out,” she said.
A Los Angeles County resident who doesn’t want to be confirmed because of her lack of legal status, said she and her family became more cautious when leaving the home. She said Trump’s election “does make us feel we have no power.”
She said she and her family arrived from Pakistan when they were 8 years old and had a final visa. She later became a DACA recipient, a status that allowed her to live and work in the United States, but her parents still had no documents. Rumors of the looming raid kept her family from driving. This means fewer outings, and when they drive, take extra care not to do anything that might attract attention.
Amir Mertaban, executive director of the Orange County Islamic Society, is preparing to welcome thousands of people in the mosque to prepare for Ramadan, which begins at the end of this month. He said the organization is already holding training courses, including guidance on how students who have asked him to have visas, temporary status or undocumented in the United States should conduct public protests.
Even mosques have become the source of tension as Trump has made the ice attacks hit places of worship, Mertaban said.
“A part of the community is scary because they expect an ice raid at any time,” he said. “People come to a safe space where they can put their vigilance down and connect with higher power. The last thing I need The thing is the community worrying whether they will be deported or whether law enforcement will raid the mosque.”
