In the aftermath of war and genocide in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, many SEAAs were separated in their escape to safety. Our immigration system must ensure the timely and humane reunification of families.
Key resource:
How family-based immigration benefits Southeast Asian Americans: Standing up for our families and our rights — A memo that discusses the current backlog for immigration visas and the ramifications of ending family-based sponsorship.
Featured story
Keep Our Families Whole – SEARAC Applauds Reintroduction of the Reuniting Families Act
The RFA would streamline the United States’ family immigration system – which has not been updated in over 20 years – to ensure the timely and humane reunification of immigrant and refugee families. The bill would eliminate bureaucratic red tape: clearing visa backlogs in the family and employment immigration systems, as well as providing an opportunity for relief for immigrants in deportation proceedings to remain with their families.
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“She’s all I think about. I just want my companion to be with me here, not just to help as a caregiver to my elderly father, but so we can also finally save some money and start a family, which is all I ever wanted. The emotional stress, the financial hardship, the physical toll it’s taken on both of us — it’s all really hard to manage.”
Solar installer, Minnesota
“The Reuniting Families Act would make our family reunification system more humane by ensuring that our families do not have to wait decades to be together and by providing greater opportunities for relief for those currently in deportation proceedings.”
Executive Director, SEARAC
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SEARAC wishes you and your loved ones abundance this Lunar New Year. In the Year of the Horse, we honor the courage of Southeast Asian communities across the country. Even as our communities face intensified immigration enforcement and ongoing harm, we continue to center joy and collective care.
This Lunar New Year, SEARAC is celebrating joy by launching new items featuring our 50th anniversary Our Roots, Our Power commemorative logo. Every purchase directly supports SEARAC’s work to build power with our communities.
Your support sustains our movement, today and for the next 50 years. Happy Lunar New Year and may all your wishes come true.
Shop at www.searac.org/shop-searac-merch/
Feb 17
Join @SEARAC and @seafnofficial for a virtual event celebrating the reintroduction of the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act #SEADRA. SEADRA is crucial to restoring humanity and compassion to our immigration system for impacted community members and would end Southeast Asian deportation as we know it. Join us Feb. 19 at 1pm ET/10am PT on Zoom or Facebook. Register at bit.ly/SEADRA2026event.
Feb 13
Thank you to our partners at @seafnofficial for their in-langue Know Your Rights videos, especially as Southeast Asian refugee and immigrant communities are being targeted by ICE. The videos are available in Hmong, Lao, Khmer, and Vietnamese and you can access them on SEAFN’s YouTube (@seafnofficial).
Feb 10
Believe in community leadership and collective power? Support SEARAC’s Leadership and Advocacy Training (LAT) by becoming a sponsor.
Sponsoring LAT means investing in people, movements, and long-term change. Join us in building the next generation of Southeast Asian American leaders. Learn more at bit.ly/2026LATsponsor
Feb 9
Over the past two years, Thuy Do, SEARAC Senior California Program Manager, has partnered with the @ocdehistory and community organizations to bring Southeast Asian American ethnic studies across California.
Thuy writes, “My experiences in these gatherings were emotional and healing, because I got to see, learn and connect with others to advance ethnic studies education through community voices.”
Read more about how community voices continue to shape the future of ethnic studies education in California at the link in our bio!
Feb 7
