Over one in three Asian Americans in San Gabriel Valley are immigrants according to a new report.
SCRP reports that two thirds of San Gabriel Valley’s Asian American population comprises of immigrants. The San Gabriel Valley is home to almost 525,000 Asian Americans – 67% of whom are foreign born, according to a report by Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
The number of Asian Americans living in the area outnumber those living in 42 states but 58,000 of these immigrants could be living there illegally.
However, the region’s largest ethnic group are is the Latino population; only one third of whom are foreign born.
“Asian Americans are the most immigrant of any major racial group, be it in the San Gabriel Valley, be it in the state of California, be it nationally,” said Dan Ichinose, who directs demographic research for AAAJ. “These data consistently show that immigration policy isn’t just something that affects Latinos. It is something that affects Asian-American communities in a really significant way.”
Tighter immigration rules have resulted in arrests and audits, which have affected the Asian immigrant community.
“It makes workers more afraid to come forward, it makes them more vulnerable to abuse,” said California Labor Commissioner Julie Su. “It really creates a situation where workers are forced to choose between speaking up about labor abuse and risking exposing themselves to ICE, and staying quiet and enduring wage theft.”
The Asian American population grew 22% between 2000 and 2010, making the ethnic group the region’s fastest growing.
Chinese are the largest group among Asian Americans in the area, followed by Filipinos and Vietnamese.
Data also showed that Asian Americans own almost 82,000 businesses in the valley, which is much more than any other group including whites.
Nonetheless, the report states, “Asian Americans and NHPI (Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander) remain minorities in most legislative districts in the San Gabriel Valley and benefit from coalition building around immigrant rights issues.”
Only 172,000 Asian Americans are registered to vote, making up 20% of the region’s voter registration.
