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With the 2020 election results now pointing to a new president, immigrants across the country can finally breathe a sigh of relief. As CNN reported, for nearly four years, immigration to the U.S. was “gradually, and swiftly, choked off.”  Policies implemented by the administration made it exceedingly difficult for people to come to the U.S. whether it be to study, work, or seek refuge.

Since taking office, Donald Trump and his administration have not only directed harmful immigration policies at the southern border but also tightened even the lawful ways that immigrants have been using to move to the U.S. What’s more, the administration has bypassed Congress’s lawmaking authority and used its executive powers to rewrite immigration policy — with little or no pushback from Congress itself, according to the American Friends Service Committee. The combination of these policies points to clear support for a white nationalist agenda. The result of these sweeping changes is a dramatic reduction in immigration to the U.S., particularly by people of color.

Several changes were made to various immigration policies during the Trump reign including banning people from majority Muslim countries, reducing refugee admission, undermining asylum, attaching the Diversity visa program, slowing applications for green card and citizenship, changes to the student (F-1) visa rules, changes to the work (H1-B) visa program, in addition to pushing more people into deportation proceedings.

[Read Related: Yes, It’s a ‘Muslim Ban’: South Asian Americans React to SCOTUS Ruling]

Stories of the brutalities immigrants faced at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Trump’s consistent attempts, since taking office, to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) continued to put immigration at the forefront of the election. While the Supreme Court blocked Trump from ending DACA this year, his administration pledged to end it, should he be re-elected in 2020. Additionally, the Trump administration threatened to end humanitarian protections for people who were unable to return to their home country to due conflict or natural disasters. Such policies not only directly targeted people of color but spread more fear within immigrant communities already disproportionately affected by a global pandemic.

But on Saturday, Nov. 7, after unrelenting attacks, thousands, if not millions, of immigrants breathed a sigh of relief after Joe Biden was projected by CNN and other media organizations to win the 2020 election.

“Today, when I saw, the news, when I read the news, and my friends were texting me that Joe Biden had won, I had just a huge sense of relief. That impending doom and dread that I had been feeling for the past four days now has been lifted off my shoulders,” Moises Serrano, a DACA recipient told CNN. Serrano added that this week was the most difficult time in his life as he awaited the election results.

“I feel like I can breathe. I don’t have to worry about my family and my status every single hour of every single day,” Serrano said.

Now with Biden’s victory, there is light at the end of the tunnel and immigrants seeking to come or remain in the country can be hopeful.

“It feels cathartic. It feels like we’re waking up from a nightmare. We’re so excited,” Bruna Bouhid, DACA recipient and communications director for United We Dream told CNN. “There’s so much energy on what we can do in a Biden-Harris administration.”

A Venezuelan asylum-seeker told me people at the immigrant camp along the border in Matamoros Mexico were very excited about Biden's win. I could hear cheering in the background.

"This is not only a Biden victory, we migrants also won and we are very happy," Mervin said.

— Adolfo Flores (@aflores) November 7, 2020

Democratic candidate Biden was announced as the 2020 President-elect on Nov.7. At the time of writing, the Associated Press called Biden to win at least 279 electoral votes including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to CNBC. The race, decided by narrow margins in a range of swing states, drove record turnout that saw both Biden and Trump garner more than 70 million votes.

“I am honored and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect Harris,” Biden said in a statement Saturday after his projected victory, CNBC reported. “In the face of unprecedented obstacles, a record number of Americans voted. Proving once again, that democracy beats deep in the heart of America.”

[Read Related: Breaking Down Biden’s Stance on Immigration and Racial Equity]

This is a historic election in multiple ways. According to The Washington Post, with Biden’s win, his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris has made history — becoming the first woman, the first Black American and the first Asian-American to be elected vice president. Further, despite a global pandemic, voter turnout was projected to be the highest in more than a century; Biden has amassed more than 74 million votes, the most votes cast for any presidential candidate in history.

Among the millions of  Americans who voted are many first-time voters — individuals who have waited years to have the opportunity to vote, pending their immigration status. According to the Pew Research Center, the number of naturalized citizens in the U.S. has nearly doubled in the past 20 years.  Amid an economic recession, coronavirus pandemic, nationwide movements for racial equality and immigration reform a lot was at stake to drive people to the polls.

By Zaid Aleem

Zaid Aleem is a working professional in the Healthcare space. He was born and raised in India for 22 years … Read more ›

The following open letter is written by Hindus for Human Rights, an organization advocating for pluralism, civil and human rights in South Asia and North America, rooted in the values of Hindu faith: shanti (peace), nyaya (justice) and satya (truth). They provide a Hindu voice of resistance to caste, Hindutva (Hindu nationalism), racism, and all forms of bigotry and oppression.

Dear President Biden,

As Indian-Americans, human rights organizations, and concerned allies, we are writing to urge you to engage publicly and meaningfully to push back against the Indian government’s escalating attacks on human rights and democracy, especially ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the United States.

Despite objective evidence that India’s democracy is under critical attack, you have not spoken out about this crisis. In early 2023, Indian authorities conducted retaliatory raids on the BBC’s Delhi and Mumbai offices for releasing a documentary about Prime Minister Modi. The week before the Summit for Democracy, the Indian government made three successive attacks on Indian democracy. First, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party expelled Rahul Gandhi from Parliament. Second, the Indian government shut the internet down in Punjab, severely impacting the rights for Sikhs to peacefully organize and protest. And third, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that Indians can be found guilty by association for terrorism. And yet, not one representative from the Biden Administration said anything about even one of these developments. Instead, while Islamophobic violence gripped India in late March, you invited Prime Minister Modi to speak at the Summit for Democracy. Mr. Modi visits DC at a time when the state of Manipur has experienced heavy communal and anti-Christian violence after Modi’s ruling party pushed an initiative to undermine Indigenous rights in the state.

“As privileged members of the diaspora, it’s our duty to challenge the repressive practices of the current regime in India. We stand in solidarity with those … opposed to the government’s attempt to reshape the country into a Hindu nationalist state. https://t.co/RxU9wUy2Zy

— Hindus for Human Rights (@Hindus4HR) June 19, 2023

Even when confronted with questions by Indian reporters about human rights in India, your administration has only had private two-way conversations about how both of our governments can always improve. Quite frankly, we find it unacceptable to see such equivocation on Indian democracy from an administration that has been strident in its defense of American democracy and the rule of law. 

India is one of the fastest autocratizing nations in the world, mostly thanks to the current government. Freedom House has rated India as a “partly-free” country for the past three years, and has blamed Prime Minister Modi’s government for a rise in discriminatory policies, including persecution against Muslims and caste-based violence against Dalit and Adivasi communities; harassment of civil society, protestors, academia and the media, and the targeting of political opponents. It has also rated Indian-administered Kashmir as “not free,” citing violations of human, civil, and political rights after the Modi government revoked the territory’s autonomous status. In Reporters Without Borders‘ press freedom ranking, India has dropped to 161 out of 180 countries in 2023. India has appeared in the Committee to Protect Journalists’ Impunity Index — which examines accountability for unsolved journalists’ murders — every year for the past 15 years and currently ranks in 11th place worldwide. According to PEN America’s Freedom to Write Index, in 2022, India was one of the top 10 countries that jailed writers globally. The Varieties of Democracy Institute characterizes India as an “electoral autocracy” and blames India’s descent into autocracy on Prime Minister Modi. And the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has said India has been one of the top 15 countries at risk for a mass atrocity event every year since 2017, which reflects the toxicity of Indian politics under Modi. 

“If the President meets with PM Modi, then the protection of the Muslim minority in a majority Hindu India is something worth mentioning…if you do not protect the rights of ethnic minorities, there’s a strong possibility India starts pulling apart.” Thank you @BarackObama! https://t.co/RhcMNfiqaR

— Hindus for Human Rights (@Hindus4HR) June 22, 2023

Given the magnitude of this crisis, we ask you to engage directly with Indian-American and human rights civil society leaders to explore solutions to address India’s human rights crisis. We also ask you to employ the tools at your disposal to ensure that the Indian government cannot attack Indians’ human rights with impunity. As the 2022 Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor report details, several government individuals have committed human rights violations that, under U.S. law, would qualify them to be sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act. Indian security forces that have engaged in human rights violations should have security assistance rescinded, under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. 

Finally, we urge you to publicly call on the Indian government to honor its commitments to human rights, including calling on Prime Minister Modi and his cabinet to halt the use of anti-terror laws to arbitrarily detain political critics. You can publicly denounce the rising numbers of political prisoners and the weaponization of the rule of law in India to shut down criticism. Even if you are not willing to personally criticize the Prime Minister, you have ample opportunity to criticize the Indian government’s misuse of public trust and public institutions to consolidate power and undermine the will of the Indian people.

This morning in DC, on the lawn of The White House at the welcome reception for Modi.

Wherever Modi goes, he will be challenged ?? pic.twitter.com/t1wBnI8pGx

— Arjun Sethi (@arjunsethi81) June 22, 2023

As President of the United States of America, you hold a unique position to lead the fight against authoritarianism. Prime Minister Modi will listen to you when you speak. But he and his allies will only change if you take a stand publicly. We urge you to listen to those of us who care about India and ensure that one man cannot steal the futures and the rights of our loved ones in India.

— Signed by countless organizations and individuals leading the charge (linked here).

By BrownGirlMag

Every year on August 5th, the Sikh American community remembers one of our community’s most devastating tragedies in recent memory — the Oak Creek massacre. On this day in 2012, a white supremacist gunman entered the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin, a gurdwara (Sikh house of worship) in Oak Creek, Wisconsin where he shot and killed six worshippers and severely injured others. This violent attack was the deadliest mass shooting targeting Sikh Americans in U.S. history, and at the time, was one of the worst attacks on a U.S. house of worship in decades. Six worshippers — Paramjit Kaur Saini, Sita Singh, Ranjit Singh, Prakash Singh, Suveg Singh Khattra, and Satwant Singh Kaleka — were killed on that horrific day. An additional community member, Baba Punjab Singh, was severely paralyzed and ultimately passed away from complications related to his injuries in 2020. Others, including Bhai Santokh Singh and responding police officer and hero, Lt. Brian Murphy, were seriously wounded during the shooting. 

[Read Related: Oak Creek Gurdwara Massacre’s 4th Anniversary: Young Sikhs Express Optimism for the Continued Struggle Against Hate and Ignorance]

In 2022, the community came together to demonstrate that we are undaunted. My organization, the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) joined in supporting the anniversary observance at Oak Creek: a remembrance event centered around the theme of “Heal, Unite, Act.” The Oak Creek Sikh community hosted a series of in-person events, including the 10th Annual Oak Creek Sikh Memorial Anniversary Candlelight Remembrance Vigil on Friday, August 5, 2022. The program included a representative from the White House, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz, and representatives of the families who lost loved ones. Being there in Oak Creek 10 years after the tragedy was deeply meaningful — both to see the inspiring resilience of this community and to remember how much remains to be done.

In D.C., SALDEF continues to fight for policies that improve the lives of Sikh Americans. I had the honor of chairing the most recent iteration of the Faith-Based Security Advisory Council at the Department of Homeland Security, providing recommendations at the request of Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. Consequently, the three subcommittees published a report that emphasized the importance of greater accessibility, greater equity, and greater transparency in counterterrorism efforts that for too long revolved around surveilling populations like the one that was senselessly attacked at the Oak Creek gurdwara in 2012. Leading the FBSAC as a Sikh woman, and representing a community that was highly targeted alongside Muslims by both white supremacists and in post-9/11 counterterrorism profiling, was an opportunity to push the Council to advocate more fiercely for further information-sharing between communities and law enforcement, extending grant opportunities for security for Gurdwaras and other houses of worship, and building trust between the government and Sikh communities. In addition, I advocated for accountability for the damage needlessly caused to Muslim, Arab, South Asian, and Hindu (MASSAH) communities by federal agencies historically pursuing “counterterrorism” objectives which has resulted in eroded trust rather than the development of strong partnerships. 

Although we have made great strides in this country, there is still more to do. Through our work we have partnered with many across the nation to come together and find solutions through tenets central to Sikhism and America — unity, love, and equality. SALDEF continues to strongly endorse the policy framework articulated across the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (H.R. 350 / S. 963); Justice for Victims of Hate Crimes Act; and the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) Improvement Act (H.R. 6825). We believe strongly in mandating federal agencies to create dedicated offices to investigate domestic terrorism; allowing prosecutors to feasibly indict perpetrators of hate crimes; and allowing religious nonprofits to access federal funding to enhance their own security.

[Read Related: Anti-Sikh Hate is on the Rise: Here’s What we can Do]

While 11 years have passed, the effects of the Oak Creek shooting are never far from the minds of Sikh American advocates and the community we serve. SALDEF will not stop taking a stand against senseless violence and hate crimes. We continue to work in unity with our community and movement partners, and fight for better policies that will actively keep all of our communities safe. Through tragedy, we find hope. We know there can be a world where people from all backgrounds and cultures can practice their faith freely and, even though it has eluded the Sikh American community in the past, we still believe this world is possible.

Photo Courtesy of Amrita Kular

The opinions expressed by the writer of this piece, and those providing comments thereon (collectively, the “Writers”), are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Brown Girl Magazine, Inc., or any of its employees, directors, officers, affiliates, or assigns (collectively, “BGM”). BGM is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information supplied by the Writers. It is not the intention of Brown Girl Magazine to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. If you have a complaint about this content, please email us at Staff@browngirlmagazine.com. This post is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. If you’d like to submit a guest post, please follow the guidelines we’ve set forth here.

By Kiran Kaur Gill

Kiran Kaur Gill is an accomplished professional with exemplary executive experience. In her role as Executive Director, she is responsible … Read more ›