Aiza Mian, Author at WE Blog @ AABANY

November 24, 2021November 24, 2021

AABANY Members: Donate Spanish Books to RAICES

Tina Song, member of PBCS and Immigration Committees at AABANY, writes the following urging AABANY members to donate books to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES):

Raising Awareness, Raising Hope

“So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.” –Roald Dahl, Matilda

At the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), I represent young children who crossed the United States borders illegally and currently residing in shelters at Corpus Christi, Texas. The population that RAICES serve are children ranging from ages two to seventeen years old. Many of these children have fled their countries to the United States to escape poverty and violence. Violence and abject poverty are oftentimes the moving force that drives these children coming to the United States in search of a chance for a better future.

At my job, I met a young African girl who was raised under an abusive household where her father forced his daughters to follow the customs of a secret society in which the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is sacred and the norm. FGM is often motivated by beliefs about what is considered acceptable sexual behavior and is often considered a necessary part of raising a girl and preparing her for adulthood and marriage. FGM is mostly carried out on young girls between infancy and age 15.

As a result from this torturous practice, both of her two sisters died from FGM. To escape his guilt and crimes, the father sent her to the United States illegally. During her treacherous travels to United States, her chaperone was murdered and she was raped.

After spending time with my client, I found that her simple wish is to have more English or Spanish books at the shelter so that she can learn English and Spanish to communicate with her friends there.

I implore you, my friends and colleagues at AABANY to consider making a donation to RAICES so that we can provide books for these young minds. You can mail any used books in Spanish that are in great conditions. Please send me an email at [email protected] and I will provide you the address to mail the books to. If you do not have time to purchase books, you can also send me your abandoned gift cards from Barnes & Nobles, gift cards from bookstores redeemed from your credit card points, or any gift certificates from small independent bookstores or Amazon, and I will help make the purchases.

Your used Spanish books or Spanish books donated/purchased will be dropped off by my staff at RAICES or myself to the shelters. I will send you follow-up emails of your donation and purchases.

If you don’t feel comfortable supporting my cause, then please consider donating books to:

One Book One World: https://onebookoneworld.org/2021-aapi-book-drive. One Book One World is co-founded by Zhixian Jessie Liu, one of the co-chairs at the Immigration Committee. Her organization helps raise awareness of ethnical Asian novels and authors by sending such books to New York City’s day cares, schools, and learning centers. One Book One World will has been providing their book lists to us for our cause.

Even if you can’t contribute, feel free to send us book lists and we will use the funds to make the purchases. Please do not send any monetary donations. At this time, we are only looking for books or giftcards to support bookstores, retail or independent, not money. Unfortunately, your kind act will not result in taxable deduction.

But if you are buying books or giftcards from Amazon, please choose the Asian American Law Fund of New York, Inc. as your Amazon smile!!! This way, you can help fund the pro bono clinics run by the Pro Bono & Community Service Committee at the same time. The PBCS’s monthly pro bono clinics, which I have volunteered both in-person and remote, promote legal access to the Asian Pacific Islander community. For more information, visit https://probono.aabany.org/donate.

Your generous donation will bring lots of smiles from these young children and support to the PBCS’s pro bono clinics.

Have a wonderful upcoming Thanksgiving holiday and thank you in advance for your generous support!

Tina Song, Staff Immigration Attorney at RAICES, Member of PBCS and Immigration Committee at AABANY, Volunteer and Immigration Consultant in PBCS’s pro bono clinics.

November 24, 2021November 24, 2021

AABANY Member Tsui Yee Launches YouTube Channel to Share Immigration Law Tips

AABANY member Tsui Yee, former co-founder and Co-Chair of AABANY’s Immigration Law Committee, has launched a YouTube Channel all about immigration law. Tsui is an immigration lawyer who represents clients in family and employment-based petitions and applications, removal (deportation) defense, asylum, and other immigration matters.

In the first video, Tsui mentions three important things to keep in mind for green card applicants. As Tsui states in the video:

Here are the basic questions to ask yourself to ensure your application does not end up in the “USCIS limbo”

Do I qualify for a green card? Try to seek legal advice on whether you qualify and then find someone who you know will correctly file your application.

Have you filled out your forms correctly? You can still get denied even if you qualify for a green card but incorrectly fill out the forms.

Does your sponsor have the means of supporting your green card application? Whether the sponsor is family-based or employer-based, your sponsor needs to meet the financial standards to support the application.

To subscribe to Tsui Yee’s channel, click here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgZMGHXWZH5Pj4MdwXbFCbg

Please join AABANY in congratulating Tsui on this new endeavor!

November 16, 2021November 16, 2021

From Asian American Studies at Hunter College: “Why BTS & K-Pop Should Matter to Asian Americans” on November 17

BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan or 방탄소년단) is the most prominent K-Pop group and one of the world’s most popular musical groups today. How does their worldwide visibility – and public stands on BLM, racial solidarity, and gender identity – affect images of Koreans and Asians, and the identities of Asian Americans? Sociologist Grace Kao will introduce us to K-Pop, and share some video clips and reflections of BTS’s impact on arts and activism. She will also present ongoing research on the influence of K-Pop and BTS in transforming “live” musical performances during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grace Kao is IBM Professor of Sociology and Professor of Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale University.

November 3, 2021July 29, 2022

AABANY IP Committee Hosts Dinner at Mama Fina’s

On October 27, the IP Committee held a group dinner at the Filipino restaurant Mama Fina’s in the East Village. For a number of attendees, it was their first in-person group activity since the beginning of the pandemic. Many delicious Filipino dishes, like Kare-Kare, Crispy Pata, Squid Sisig, were enjoyed while attendees connected with old and new IP Committee members. Attendees included students, law firm practitioners, and in-house counsel. Thanks to everyone who attended. Look out for more group dinners and other events from the IP Committee throughout the year. New members always welcome.

To learn more about the IP Committee and to get involved, please go to https://www.aabany.org/page/145

October 22, 2021October 22, 2021

In the News: AABANY Member Lina Lee Comments on Hurricane Ida Basement-Flooding Deaths

In early September, Hurricane Ida made landfall in New York City and left countless individuals to suffer the aftermath of flooded basements. A closer look into the eleven basement-flooding deaths reveals that a majority of them were Asian residents. A number of factors played into this tragedy including a lack of affordable housing, climate change, and pandemic change. These issues are prominent among low-income Asian immigrants who resort to illegal basement apartments that are deemed to have unsafe living conditions.

“Realistically, a lot of these tenants would have family members, many who are clustered into very, very small rooms,” said Lina Lee, executive director of housing justice nonprofit organization Communities Resist. “When you have these natural disasters, there’s obviously going to be really a life-and-death situation, and when you have very limited or no access to leave your living space, these families really had no way out.”

Lee continues, “They cluster in small communities where they are able to access people who speak the same language, who are from the same culture and are living in the same conditions that they have to live in. For them, they have nowhere else to live with, except those small pockets in Queens.”

Punishing tenants is not an ideal solution. Lee said reporting landlords for housing violations enforces building codes which could prompt agencies to issue a vacate order and inadvertently force a tenant to move out.The Mayor proposes an emergency warning system for basement-dwellers but the victims’ families are not convinced.

To read the full NBC News article, click here.

Lina Lee will also be the moderator for a program titled “Fighting for Housing And Community Justice: The Role of Lawyers In The Movement” at AABANY’s Fall Conference on Saturday, October 23. Click here for more information.

October 22, 2021October 22, 2021

Don Liu Featured on Ascend Leadership’s #TheOtherSide

Ascend Leadership, one of the largest professional membership organizations that represent the interests of Asian American/Pacific Islander professionals within North America, has featured Don Liu in its #TheOtherSide campaign.

Don Liu currently serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Risk Officer at Target Corporation. Despite his notable successes, Mr. Liu’s career path demonstrates the prevalence of discrimination in Asian American professional life.

Don, a graduate of Columbia Law School, was one of many Asian American business and professional leaders invited to discuss their perspectives on Asian Americans and the workplace as part of Ascend Leadership’s #TheOtherSide campaign. Mr. Liu reflected on his encounters with racial stereotyping during his extensive and distinguished legal career.

In his first year of practice, Mr. Liu was exposed to others’ characterization of him as the “stereotyped Asian American worker bee.” He was assigned to work on a large case simply because of the false impression that he “would never miss a typo.”

“I guess I should be thankful, but on the other hand, that’s so unlike me,” Mr. Liu notes. “I’m a big thinker, strategic thinker. I think that’s my strength. I was not going to wind up being that stereotyped Asian American worker bee.”

To watch Don Liu’s interview for the #TheOtherSide campaign, click here.

To learn more about the #TheOtherSide campaign, click here.

To help ensure that future leaders in the legal profession do not succumb to the same stereotyping that Don faced, two Past Presidents of AABANY, Jean Lee and Mike Huang, founded the Don H. Liu Scholars Program in 2014. The Program seeks to identify, cultivate and inspire future Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders within the legal profession to address the single most important reality facing AAPI professionals today: the barrier to advancement.

To support emerging AAPI leaders, the Program continues to award each of three Scholars a financial scholarship of $15,000. The Scholars also receive mentorship and assistance with their career development from leading AAPI lawyers from across AABANY’s network.
The deadline for consideration for the 2021 Don H. Liu Scholarship is November 15, 2021. For more information as well as application information, click here.

October 6, 2021October 6, 2021

NAPABA Applauds the Historic Judicial Nominations of John H. Chun, Dale E. Ho, Jinsook Ohta, and Loren L. AliKhan

WASHINGTON – On September 30, 2021, the White House announced its eighth slate of judicial nominees to serve on the Federal and Washington, D.C. benches, with four Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) candidates including several with strong ties to the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). President Biden has nominated: Judge John H. Chun to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington; Dale E. Ho to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Judge Jinsook Ohta to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California; and Loren L. AliKhan to serve on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

“NAPABA offers its congratulations to Judge Chun, Dale Ho, Judge Ohta, and Loren AliKhan on their nominations,” said A.B. Cruz III, president of NAPABA. “We applaud President Biden for putting forth a strong and historic slate of highly qualified AAPI candidates and for continuing to broaden the diversity of backgrounds and professional experiences to the bench. We urge the Senate to swiftly confirm them.”

Judge John H. Chun
Judge John H. Chun currently sits as a Judge on the Washington State Court of Appeals in Seattle, Washington, after previously serving as a judge on the King County Superior Court from 2014-2018. If confirmed, Judge Chun would be the first AAPI man to preside in the Western District of Washington. He has been recognized as a top Washington “Super Lawyer.” Judge Chun previously served as the President of the Korean American Bar Association of Washington and is also a member of the Asian Bar Association of Washington and NAPABA. He previously clerked for the Hon. Eugene A. Wright on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Chun is a graduate of Columbia University and Cornell Law School.

Dale E. Ho
Dale E. Ho currently serves as director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Voting Rights Project and supervises the ACLU’s voting rights litigation across the country. Notably, Ho has argued two crucial cases before the Supreme Court challenging the inclusion of a citizenship question on the 2020 Census and the exclusion of undocumented immigrants from the population count to determine apportionment for the House of Representatives. If confirmed, Ho would be the only active AAPI judge in the district. In 2019, Ho was the recipient of the NAPABA President’s Award and in 2017, was named one of the best Asian American Lawyers Under 40 by NAPABA. He is endorsed by the Asian American Bar Association of New York. Ho previously clerked for the Hon. Barbara Jones on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and Judge Robert S. Smith of the New York Court of Appeals. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School.

Judge Jinsook Ohta
Judge Jinsook Ohta currently sits as a judge on the California Superior Court in San Diego. Previously Judge Ohta served as a Supervising Deputy Attorney General with the California Attorney General’s Office. If confirmed, she would be the first AAPI female judge to preside in the Southern District of California. Judge Ohta is a member of NAPABA and the Korean American Bar Association of San Diego. Judge Ohta previously clerked for the Hon. Barry Ted Moskowitz on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. She is a graduate of Yale University and the New York University School of Law.

Loren L. AliKhan
Loren L. AliKhan currently serves as the Solicitor General of the District of Columbia where she directs the District’s appellate litigation and has overseen more than 1,800 appeals before the D.C. Court of Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. If confirmed, AliKhan would be the first AAPI judge to sit on the D.C. Court of Appeals. She is endorsed by the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington DC Region. Alikhan has been recognized with the Public Sector Trailblazer Award by the South Asian Bar Association of Washington D.C., and previously clerked for the Hon. Thomas L. Ambro on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Hon. Louis Pollack on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. AliKhan is a graduate of Bard College at Simon’s Rock and the Georgetown University Law Center.

NAPABA thanks Senators Schumer and Gillibrand of New York, Senators Feinstein and Padilla of California, Senators Murray and Cantwell of Washington, and Delegate Norton of Washington D.C. for their support of these nominees.

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The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA), represents the interests of over 60,000 Asian Pacific American (APA) legal professionals and nearly 90 national, state, and local APA bar associations. NAPABA is a leader in addressing civil rights issues confronting APA communities. Through its national network, NAPABA provides a strong voice for increased diversity of the federal and state judiciaries, advocates for equal opportunity in the workplace, works to eliminate hate crimes and anti-immigrant sentiment, and promotes the professional development of people of all backgrounds in the legal profession.

October 5, 2021October 5, 2021

AABANY Members: Apply for The New York County Lawyers Association and Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission’s Special Masters Program

On September 22nd, 2021, The New York County Lawyers Association (NYCLA) published a press release announcing its relaunching of the Special Masters Program. A team effort among NYCLA, the Franklin H. Williams Judicial Commission, and the Unified Court System, the relaunched Special Masters Program aims at “offering a pipeline for attorneys of color, as well as underrepresented communities to volunteer in the courts and to inspire them to become part of the court system.” The hope of this program is to “increase the representation of attorneys of color in the New York State Court System.” Vincent T. Chang, former President of AABANY (2007) and now the current NYCLA President, expressed his support and praise for this new program, and stated that he is “confident that the relaunched Special Masters Program will improve opportunities for underrepresented communities to play a greater role in the courts” and that the program will “highlight the skills of attorneys who have been historically less represented in our community.” Through this unique program, Special Masters will have the opportunity to train through NYCLA’s CLE Institute, work closely with Justices within the Supreme Court, Civil Term in New York County, as well as assist judges, conduct legal research, and draft memorandums of law advising the Court on legal issues.

To learn more about the Special Master’s Program, requirements and frequently asked questions, please click here to visit NYCLA’S website.

Application Instructions: To apply to the program, please submit your resume and a one-page letter indicating why you are interested in serving as a Special Master and how you are qualified for the role. Please email the documents to the attention of L. Austin D’Souza, the Special Masters Coordinator at [email protected] by Wednesday, November 10, 2021 at 5pm.

October 4, 2021October 4, 2021

Announcing NAPABA’s 2021-22 Board of Governors

NAPABA is proud to announce the 2021-22 Board of Governors—comprised of officers, directors, regional governors, and at-large board members—who will be sworn in virtually this November. NAPABA is committed to cultivating a Board as diverse as the members we serve—leveraging their skills, expertise, and community connections in advancement of NAPABA’s vision to achieve optimal representation and influence of Asian American and Pacific Islander attorneys in every facet and level of the legal profession and beyond. Congratulations to our newly elected and appointed Board members!

Executive Committee

President

Sidney Kanazawa | California

President-Elect
Sandra Leung | New York

Treasurer
Hogene Choi | California

Secretary

Judy M. Lam | California

Immediate Past President
A.B. Cruz III | Texas

Directors
Marty Lorenzo | California
Kristin Haugen | Minnesota

Regional Governors
Central Regional Governor
Johnny Wang | Missouri

Central California Regional Governor
Jen Won | California

Eastern California /Nevada Regional Governor
Albert Montefalcon | California

Northeast Regional Governor
Anna Mercado Clark | New York

Northeast Regional Governor
James Y. Lee | New York Regional Governors

Northern California Regional Governor
Mark Punzalan | California

Northwest Regional Governor
Elaine Pascua | Washington

Southeast Regional Governor
Zarra Elias | Florida

Southern California Regional Governor
Denise Crawford | California

Southwest Regional Governor
Stacey Cho Hernandez | Texas

September 22, 2021September 22, 2021

AABANY Joins NAPAWF and AAJC’s Supreme Court Amicus Brief in Support of Roe v. Wade

AABANY has joined as a co-signatory to the amicus brief in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization filed by the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC).

In a press release, AAJC stated:

The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC (Advancing Justice – AAJC), with Duane Morris LLP, filed an amicus brief urging the nation’s highest court to reject a call by the state of Mississippi to overturn Roe v. Wade and allow individual states to ban or end the legal right to abortion.

The amicus, or the “friend of the court” brief, represents 29 community and civil rights organizations, as well as bar associations, representing the interests of Asian American and Pacific Islander women in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The Dobbs case is a challenge, brought by the independent and sole abortion care in Mississippi, represented by the Center for Reproductive Rights, to the state’s 2018 ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

To read the full press release and the amicus brief, click here.