As the major­i­ty of the over 4.3 mil­lion South Asians in the Unit­ed States are for­eign-born, the rights and wel­fare of immi­grants in this coun­try are under­stand­ably a top pri­or­i­ty for our com­mu­ni­ty.

Like most immi­grants, South Asians pos­sess a range of immi­gra­tion sta­tus­es. The South Asian com­mu­ni­ty includes undoc­u­ment­ed immi­grants, depen­dents, and tem­po­rary work­ers on var­i­ous visas, refugees and asy­lum-seek­ers, law­ful per­ma­nent res­i­dents, and Unit­ed States cit­i­zens. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, the immi­gra­tion sys­tem and immi­gra­tion poli­cies have neg­a­tive­ly affect­ed many South Asians, regard­less of sta­tus. For exam­ple, numer­ous mem­bers of the South Asian com­mu­ni­ty have faced obsta­cles in attain­ing per­ma­nent legal sta­tus and cit­i­zen­ship and suf­fered the impact of var­i­ous harsh enforce­ment ini­tia­tives, such as the Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Entry-Exit Reg­is­tra­tion Sys­tem (NSEERS). Addi­tion­al­ly, South Asians have been sub­ject­ed to dis­crim­i­na­to­ry pro­fil­ing through immi­gra­tion poli­cies that some­times result in their depor­ta­tion for low-lev­el offens­es. Of course, these prac­tices also make it increas­ing­ly dif­fi­cult for South Asians to access the rights to which they are enti­tled.

SAALT sup­ports a just and humane approach to immi­gra­tion reform that includes a path to cit­i­zen­ship for undoc­u­ment­ed immi­grants; elim­i­na­tion of the visa back­log; robust work­er pro­tec­tions; and enforce­ment pro­vi­sions that respect civ­il rights and due process. Guid­ed by input from South Asian com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tions, SAALT advo­cates for broad immi­gra­tion reform that address­es the needs of all South Asians. SAALT also devel­ops com­mu­ni­ty edu­ca­tion mate­ri­als ana­lyz­ing pro­posed legislation’s unique impact on South Asians.

View Deepa Iyer’s Tes­ti­mo­ny before House Sub­com­mit­tee on Immi­gra­tion, Refugees, and Cit­i­zen­ship (April 2006).

SAALT Resources on Immigration

SAALT’s Testimony and Statements Regarding Immigration

• Cur­rent Sta­tus of Immi­gra­tion Pol­i­cy (August 2016)
• Com­ments on Deferred Action for Child­hood Arrivals (Feb­ru­ary 2014)
• Immi­gra­tion Pri­or­i­ties for South Asian Amer­i­cans (Octo­ber 2013)
• Let­ter from South Asian Orga­ni­za­tions Express­ing Con­cern over Ray Kel­ly Appoint­ment (July 2013)
• State­ment from South Asian Orga­ni­za­tions on Pas­sage of Sen­ate Immi­gra­tion Bill (June 2013)
• SAALT State­ment of the Record for House Judi­cia­ry Com­mit­tee on “the Strength­en and For­ti­fy Enforce­ment (SAFE) Act” (June 2013)
• SAALT State­ment of the Record for House Judi­cia­ry Com­mit­tee on “the Sep­a­ra­tion of Nuclear Fam­i­lies under U.S. Immi­gra­tion Law” (March 2013)
• SAALT sub­mits a State­ment of the Record for the House Judi­cia­ry Com­mit­tee on “Enhanc­ing Amer­i­can Com­pet­i­tive­ness through Skilled Immi­gra­tion” Hear­ing (March 2013)
• SAALT sub­mits a State­ment of the Record for the House Judi­cia­ry Committee’s Immi­gra­tion Hear­ing (Feb­ru­ary 2013)
• South Asian Orga­ni­za­tions Call for Just & Humane Immi­gra­tion Reform
  (Feb­ru­ary 2013)
• SAALT One Step For­ward: The Fam­i­ly Uni­ty Rule, SAALT Blog (Jan­u­ary 2013)
• Com­ment by SAALT and oth­er orga­ni­za­tions on Eli­gi­bil­i­ty or Employ­ment Autho­riza­tion for Bat­tered Spous­es of Cer­tain Non­im­mi­grants (Jan­u­ary 2013)
• Joint AAPI Let­ter Regard­ing VAWA 2012 (H.R. 4970) (May 2012)
• SAALT State­ment Regard­ing Fam­i­ly Uni­ty Waiv­er (Jan­u­ary 2012)
• SAALT State­ment in Sup­port of Reunit­ing Fam­i­lies Act (May 2011)
• SAALT State­ment in Sup­port of the Unit­ing Amer­i­can Fam­i­lies Act (July 2010)
• SAALT Par­tic­i­pates in White House Meet­ing on Immi­gra­tion Reform (August 2009)
• Immi­gra­tion Pri­or­i­ties for the South Asian Com­mu­ni­ty (Decem­ber 2008)
• SAALT’s Tes­ti­mo­ny before House Sub­com­mit­tee on Immi­gra­tion, Refugees, and Cit­i­zen­ship (May 2007)
• SAALT Let­ter to the Depart­ment of Jus­tice Regard­ing Immi­gra­tion Courts and Reform (March 2006)
• Pub­lic State­ment from South Asian Orga­ni­za­tions Regard­ing Immi­gra­tion Reform (April 2006) — State­ment sup­port­ed by over 20 South Asian orga­ni­za­tions around the coun­try in sup­port of just and humane immi­gra­tion reform

Community Education Resources

• South Asian and Undoc­u­ment­ed? DACA Guide for South Asian Undoc­u­ment­ed Youth (2013) (Eng­lish, Ben­gali, Hin­di, Urdu)
• What You Need to Know to Become a U.S. Cit­i­zen: A Guide for South Asians (April 2008) (Eng­lish; Hin­di; Bangla; Gujarati)
• Immi­gra­tion Reform and the South Asian Com­mu­ni­ty: Myths and Real­i­ties (Sep­tem­ber 2007): SAALT has pro­duced this com­mu­ni­ty edu­ca­tion doc­u­ment to dis­pel com­mon myths about the impact of the immi­gra­tion sys­tem on South Asians. This doc­u­ment also pro­vides sto­ries col­lect­ed from press arti­cles and through SAALT’s Doc­u­men­ta­tion Project that illus­trate the chal­lenges and obsta­cles faced by South Asian work­ers, women, youth, and fam­i­lies.
• Tell Us Your Immi­gra­tion Sto­ry
• “Is Amer­i­ca’s Immi­grant Prob­lem Real­ly With Immi­grants?” (Sep­tem­ber 2005) Op-ed in India Abroad by SAALT’s Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Deepa Iyer
• Factcheet, Tem­po­rary Pro­tect­ed Sta­tus (Octo­ber 2005)

Ally Organizations

• Asian Amer­i­can Jus­tice Cen­ter (AAJC)
• Deten­tion Watch Net­work (DWN)
• Nation­al Net­work on Immi­grant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR)
• Nation­al Immi­gra­tion Forum
• Nation­al Immi­gra­tion Law Cen­ter (NILC)
• Rights Work­ing Group