June 13, 2025
The following statement can be attributed to Stop AAPI Hate.
NATIONWIDE — What’s happening in Los Angeles right now is a five-alarm warning for the entire nation. Trump is unleashing military force against civilians — cruelly using our immigrant neighbors as pawns to expand his power.
With the help of the military, ICE agents have been conducting mass raids in LA and other communities, using tactics suited more to a battlefield than American neighborhoods. Masked and armed with assault rifles, they’re tearing parents from school pickups, arresting workers on the job, and even injuring and arresting a labor leader who has spent his career fighting for working people.
These federal agents aren’t protecting us — they’re invading our communities and tearing our families apart. And as friends, neighbors, and leaders in LA peacefully protest these aggressive and indiscriminate raids, Trump and his allies have responded by deploying the National Guard and Marines against them.
To make matters worse, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla was violently thrown to the ground and handcuffed at a DHS press conference for simply asking a question — for calling out the government’s violent escalation in our communities. That should send a chill down the spine of every American. This is authoritarianism in action. This is how democracy dies: not all at once, but through repeated attacks on those who dare to speak out.
This is a political strategy Trump has used before: provoking unrest, stoking xenophobia, and manufacturing fear to justify force, silence dissent, and ultimately grow his power. We must recognize this as a serious threat to our democracy — to the rights and freedoms of everyone in America.
Like Haitian, Venezuelan, and other immigrants who have been unjustly villainized, AAPIs are not exempt from Trump’s extreme overreach. His xenophobic agenda has long targeted our communities.
First, we endured Trump’s racist rhetoric during the COVID-19 pandemic that fueled a surge in anti-Asian hate, profiling, and violence. Now, we face a travel ban targeting several Asian countries, illegal visa revocations affecting Indian, Chinese, South Korean, Nepali and Bangladeshi students, and attacks on our constitutional right to birthright citizenship. These actions aren’t about public safety; they’re about creating spectacle and fear — scapegoating immigrants of color to justify repression.
Many AAPIs know what happens when authoritarian governments use force and fear to maintain control. We’ve lived it. And we see the warning signs again.
During WWII, Japanese people, including American citizens, were mass incarcerated — not because they were threats, but because the government wanted to consolidate power by stoking public fear, racism and xenophobia. In the Philippines under Marcos, thousands were arrested and tortured for speaking out against corruption and repression. In South Korea’s 1980 Gwangju Uprising, protesters were massacred by the military. And today, Pacific Islanders continue to face U.S. military colonialism in Guam, where land is seized and demands for self-determination are ignored.
That’s why we’re raising the alarm — not just for immigrants, but for every person in this country. Trump’s power grab threatens all Americans.
Let’s be clear: Trump’s agents did not bring order — they brought chaos. They did not protect — they provoked. They are not upholding justice — they are dismantling it.
We call on AAPIs — regardless of race, status, or background — to join us in rejecting this dangerous overreach. We must demand the Trump regime stop the militarized immigration raids and respect our rights to free speech, due process, and protest.
Real safety doesn’t come from militarized force and storming neighborhoods. It comes from strong families and communities free of fear. This is what we fight for. And we will not be silent.
