| For Immediate Release: September 15, 2026 | Contact [email protected] |
WASHINGTON – The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) condemns the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s use of certain irresponsible and potentially dangerous promotions for a new tipline for reporting suspected commercial driver’s license fraud. The federal government has chosen to advance this initiative by, among other things, calling on the public to “report illegal aliens on American roads” and using racist imagery that targets the Sikh community and those of Asian descent. These actions invite turning a government tipline into a vehicle for racial profiling.
NAPABA has long and unequivocally opposed racial profiling and actions that cast suspicion on entire communities because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. The federal government should be working to prevent such discrimination, not creating conditions that invite it. The South Asian and broader Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities should not have to fear being reported to federal authorities, investigated, or harassed simply because of who they are, how they look, or where someone assumes they are from. The government ought to immediately cease this stigmatizing campaign and ensure that its actions do not amount to impermissible racial and national origin profiling.