Trump administration not only cancelling student visas but also valid statuses: Top immigrant rights advocate

Aarti Kohli, an counsellor for immigrant rights and executive theatre director director of asiatic jurisprudence Caucus (ALC), the US's first legal aid and civil rights organization serving low-income Asian Pacific American communities is an experienced leader with rich and varied experience working at the intersections of immigration, civic engagement, criminal justice, economic equity, and national security.

The ALC’s mission includes advocating for immigration reforms, housing, labour and civil rights, focusing on supporting marginalised immigrant communities. Under Kohli’s leadership, the ALC has fought to uphold immigrants' rights in the United States.

Below is an interview with her on the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants, the impact on students, and the role of immigrant communities, among other topics:

Due process has always been challenged for immigrants, but within this administration, we've seen a violation of rights that we've never seen before. The fact that immigrants are summarily disappearing to other countries, where their own families have no clue where they are. We have been working with green card holders from a Bhutanese minority community who had asylum in the US. They are being picked up and often their families don't know where they are for days, and they're presumably being deported to Bhutan, but Bhutan refuses to take them. Many of them are ending up in prison camps in Nepal being flown through Delhi.

On the student side, the administration is not only cancelling visas, but also the valid student statuses in SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System). A lot of the lawyers are challenging this right now. We know that many South Asian students have been impacted. The vast majority of people are terrified to go public and speak out. There is very valid fear of retaliation and reprisal by this government. And even those in a permanent status feel vulnerable.

It basically says that you are a student in good standing- you're going to class, following the course, and not failing—all of those things. There are a limited number of reasons that can cancel your status in SEVIS. The university faculty, where I am speaking, is organising a rally today at 12 noon at UC Berkeley to support international students.

I am speaking about the history of Asian Americans and what's happening now, connected to the history of Asian Americans. I'm an immigrant and have lots of relatives in Delhi. I was born in Chandigarh. My great grandfather immigrated to the US around 1915 and he lived here most of his life. He came at a time when there was the Asian Exclusion Act. Up until the mid 1950s, he wasn't allowed to become a US citizen because he was Asian. There was this racial exclusion. He wasn't allowed to bring people because of a ban, just like the Muslim ban. We've seen many times exclusions of communities in the US, whether it's in the early 1900s when Chinese Americans and other Asians were banned. We've seen Japanese American internment. And then post 9/11, we saw the surveillance and the attacks on Muslims and anybody perceived to be Muslim. So this is yet another era in the United States of racial exclusion and targeting.

The last time this act was used was to incarcerate Japanese Americans during World War 2. The Asian Law Caucus was founded by the children of those who were incarcerated. And then in the 1980s we did the Korematsu case. The government admitted that it lied to the Supreme Court. It had evidence that the Japanese Americans were not a national security threat and it didn't share that evidence. And so the government apologized. The court apologized to Japanese Americans. It also led to President Ronald Reagan issuing a public apology, and a few years later, Congress giving Japanese Americans a small amount of reparations money, because their land and their livelihoods were taken. They were basically in prison for years and their names were tainted. It's very hard to prove a negative. It's very hard to say I'm not a national security threat. The use of that law is very, very dangerous because it does not require processing any probable cause or evidence-the basic tenets of the law. Many immigrants come to the US because they appreciate the rule of law. They come from countries that are corrupt where you have to pay a bribe to get what you need done and now we are seeing that same level of intimidation. It's really bribery, what you're seeing at the federal level in the US, and it feels really dangerous.

I would say 11. This is unprecedented, and they (Trump Administration) are doing what they said they would do. They said they would overwhelm us and flood the zone. Our job is to stay very clear on our objectives and not to get distracted. Our job as lawyers is to protect the rule of law, to protect vulnerable communities, to protect immigrants. We are not changing our mission, even in the face of extreme threats. We are anticipating attacks on non-profits, and particularly nonprofits that serve immigrants.

We've already been told in various other executive orders that if you are working with immigrants, you are supporting domestic terrorism and that you are potentially breaking laws because you are harboring immigrants or you're trafficking immigrants, this is the messages coming from the administration, which is a complete violation of common sense. We as lawyers have a First Amendment right to represent who we want and to work on the issues that we need to work on and unlike the big law firms, we will not be cowed.

We're relatively small, especially compared to the size of the government. This is always a David versus Goliath story. We have to work together, even in our birthright citizenship litigation, we have many partners, including the American Civil Liberties Union, and much of our work is done in partnership with other nonprofits and even state and local governments. In California, even before the election, we have been working with the Attorney General to ensure that they give guidance on California sanctuary law. There are some times where it makes more sense for state and local governments to take on certain fights. For example, the funding fights and the tariff fights. That's impacting their coffers, For example, the city of San Francisco has sued the federal government to protect sanctuary status. We will be filing an amicus brief in this case.

We don't support any political party, or any political candidate, but we do support actions to protest policies of the current administration. I do see the momentum of people standing up for their rights. The hands-off movement is starting to gain more followers and participants. Social Science Research says that you need at least 3.5% of the population to stand up to an authoritarian regime, for the regime to back down. There's a lot of fear. I understand why people are afraid to stand up, and that's why it's really important for US citizens, especially those born here, to stand up for their neighbors, friends, colleagues and students.

We have to continue to fight them in court. They're doing everything in their power to cut off civil rights advocates at the knees. But this is our job, and we'll persevere on that. If there is public outcry, the administration will back down, like what has happened with the tariffs. The US Congress has a role here. The Congress has played no role up till now. They've been silent. They also have the power to make the administration back down, and their constituents have to speak up for Congress to do anything. More accountability lies with the Congress, and if more constituents would reach out to their congressmen or to their elected officials, it might have some effect.

No one can sit back at this moment. If you care about saving this democracy, everyone has a role. I am seeing more people get engaged. In the beginning, people were quite shocked and paralysed. And now people are starting to say, what can I do? And it's a matter of finding a place to put your energy. But everybody has some power. Organise in local communities. The people with more privilege who have more resources and have a stable immigration status or are US citizens, can act.

One of the unanticipated things for many South Asians is the attacks on green card holders. People knew that the administration would go after people who are undocumented. There was this perception that if you have a valid immigration visa, you're fine. And there was a little bit of it's not about us, it's about them. And now people realise it's never like this. They're not just going to stop going after one group. It's all of us. We all have to stand together.

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