Undocumented Asian-Americans

The Collegeboard Conference was really great today. It was really cool to see so many educators wanting to hear our voice to see how they can meet our needs.

One thing I noticed was that the three of us speakers were all Asian and women, and that was really cool. It is pretty uncommon to see three Asian undocumented students in a panel. Often times, when I am in a room with undocumented students, there are usually only a few of us Asians.

There should be more Asians than that, though, because about 40% of AB 540 students in the UC system are Asian.

I know that being Asian and undocumented is really hard. Dealing with family is just so much more harder, because we are taught to keep something like this issue to ourselves. What needs to be changed is that immigration for Asians is seen as something unacceptable and embarrassing.

It must be known that it is not our own fault that we are undocumented; it is the system. Being undocumented does not change the type of person you are; you are still human.

It is important for Asians to stand up too so that our voice and needs as a society are heard too. We need to voice the Asian struggle. We need to show America that immigration is not just a Latino problem.

Also, not coming out is much harder than coming out. Life was so hard and depressing when I was not ready to come out yet. There is something very relieving in coming out. The support from people is just tremendous and I appreciate it. I do not want any undocumented Asians to face this struggle alone, because we should not, and cannot. Emotionally, that is just hard. It was a hard life not being able to share your deepest concerns with the people you hang out. There is a sense of lightness gained when one comes out, because it strengthens friendships, creates a deeper trust, and you know that you will have people with you to guide you. We all need to band together, so that our voice is stronger; only then will we be heard.