LOS ANGELES: The debate surrounding US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has focused almost entirely on the Latino community, leaving other groups affected — notably Asians — largely out of the discourse, experts say.
Of the estimated 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States, some 80 percent are from Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America. But the second largest group — 1.5 million — are from Asia, according to government figures and researchers.
The majority hail from China, India, the Philippines and South Korea, representing the fastest-growing segments of unauthorized immigrants in the United States since 2000, according to the Pew Research Center and the Migration Policy Institute.
The number of unauthorized immigrants from India, for example, grew by about 130,000 from 2009 to 2014, to an estimated half a million, according to Pew.
And yet Asians have often been overlooked in the current debate over illegal immigration, which has mainly been cast by the Trump administration as a Mexican issue that can be tackled by building a wall along the US-Mexico border.
“Asians in the United States have not received the same sort of focus as people from Mexico and Latin America,” said Stephen Yale-Loehr, an immigration lawyer and professor at Cornell Law School.
“It may be more sociological than anything else but they are certainly concerned, as everyone else, about the new enforcement policies.”
Joon Bang, executive director of the Korean American Coalition in Los Angeles, said that since Trump’s election in November he has witnessed mounting fear within the Korean community over the president’s immigration policies.
“To give you an idea... we normally get about 60 calls a month regarding immigration issues and since Trump was elected we’ve had an average of about 150 calls per month,” Bang said.
“It’s all fear-related, from people with or without status, to those with a visa or in the process of applying for citizenship.”
He said the anxiety is such that in one instance a Korean woman in Los Angeles who was domestically abused refused to go to the police for fear she and her family would be deported.
While most of the Latino undocumented immigrants cross into the United States by slipping through the US-Mexico border, those from Asian countries typically arrive on tourist or student visas and then overstay their allotted time.
And unlike immigrants from Mexico or Central America, they usually don’t come from a poor background and have immigration petitions in the pipeline.
Bang said that many undocumented Asians, especially Koreans, have taken advantage of Obama-era executive policies on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).
These defer deportation for unauthorized immigrants who grew up in the United States and for parents of American citizens or legal residents.
“There is a demographic among the Asian community that wants to take advantage of this, so that they can be seen... and come out of the shadow,” Bang said.
The concern now, however, is that these programs face an uncertain future under the Trump administration.
Yale-Loehr said he has counseled in recent months a number of undocumented students at Cornell who fear for their future and are unsure where to turn.
“Some of them have come in for a formal immigration consultation to determine whether they have other avenues to become legal, such as political asylum or marrying a US citizen for love,” he said.
“Sometimes they just want to vent, talk about how hard it is, and worry whether they will be able to continue their studies at Cornell.”
He said given the current uncertainty on immigration, his advice is often to just lay low and wait it out.
“Many times they have no immigration options and it’s very frustrating because we don’t have a solution for them,” Yale-Loehr said. “But there is nothing we can do right now.”
Asian community rattled by Trump immigration policies
Asian community rattled by Trump immigration policies
Families mourn those killed in a Congo mine landslide as some survivors prepare to return
GOMA, Congo: After a landslide last week killed at least 200 people in eastern Congo at a rebel-controlled coltan mine, families of the deceased and survivors are mourning their lost loved ones, and some survivors prepared to head back to the reopened mines.
On Wednesday, following heavy rains in eastern Congo, a network of hand-dug tunnels at the Rubaya mining complex collapsed, killing at least 200 artisanal miners and trapping an unknown number who remain missing. The mine, located around 25 miles (40 kilometers) to the west of the regional capital of Goma, has been under the control of Rwandan-backed M23 rebels since early 2024 and employs thousands of miners who work largely by hand.
Family members grieve
In the Mugunga neighborhood in Goma, the family of Bosco Nguvumali Kalabosh, 39, mourned his death Monday.
Since last Thursday, relatives, neighbors and loved ones have been gathering at the family home, sitting around a photograph of him placed up against a wall.
“He was supposed to return to Goma on Thursday,” said his older brother, Thimothée Kalabosh Nzanga.
Kalabosh had been a miner for more than 10 years. He owned his own mines on the site and came from a family where artisanal mining — mining for minerals using basic hand tools — had been passed down from generation to generation. He leaves behind a widow and four children, the eldest of whom is 5 years old.
Survivors head back to Rubaya
For survivors trickling back into town, the pressure to return to the mines is clear — despite the constant danger.
Tumaini Munguiko, a survivor of the collapse, came to offer his condolences to Kalabosh’s family. “Seeing our peers die is very painful. But despite the pain, we are forced to return to the mines to survive,” he said.
Munguiko calmly explained that he had already experienced several similar disasters. “It has almost become normal. We accept it because it is our means of survival. I was saved this time, but I lost five friends and my older brother.”
According to him, landslides are common in Rubaya, especially during the rainy season. “When it rains, the clay soils become unstable. Some take shelter, others perish, others survive, and others watch from afar,” he said.
Miners dig long tunnels, often parallel to one another, with limited support and no safe evacuation route in case of a collapse.
A former miner at the site told The Associated Press that there have been repeated landslides because the tunnels are dug by hand, poorly constructed and not maintained.
“People dig everywhere, without control or safety measures. In a single pit, there can be as many as 500 miners, and because the tunnels run parallel, one collapse can affect many pits at once,” former miner Clovis Mafare said.
“The diggers don’t have insurance,” said Mafare. Of potential compensation for families, he said: “It’s a whole legal process, and it’s very long. They might receive some money for the funerals, but that small amount isn’t compensation.”
Kalabosh’s family has not received compensation for their loss.
However, both Munguiko and Nzanga say they will return to the mines soon despite the risks.
“I have no choice. Our whole life is there,” said Munguiko.
Rare earth minerals
The Rubaya mines have been at the center of the recent fighting in eastern Congo, changing hands between the Congolese government and rebel groups. For over a year now, the site has been controlled by the M23 rebels.
The mines produce coltan — short for columbite-tantalite — an ore from which the metals tantalum and niobium are extracted. Both are considered critical raw materials by the United States, the European Union, China and Japan. Tantalum is used in mobile phones, computers and automotive electronics, as well as in aircraft engines, missile components and GPS systems. Niobium is used in pipelines, rockets and jet engines.
The mines at Rubaya are massive and attract people from across the region. Artisanal miners and workers have been flocking there for years, drawn to the site to earn a steady income in a region plagued by poverty and chronic insecurity. A disaster like this affects people across eastern Congo and the grief has spread to regional hubs like Goma.
For the last two weeks, Rubaya has been virtually cut off from the world. The mining town has no mobile network or Internet connection. Poor infrastructure, coupled with persistent conflict, means cellular service and electricity are unreliable. To communicate with the outside world, residents must pay around 5,000 Congolese francs — just over $2 — for 30 minutes of connection via a private Starlink system.
Congo’s government, in a statement on X, expressed solidarity with the victims’ families and accused the rebels of illegally and unsafely exploiting the region’s natural resources while blaming Rwanda. An M23 spokesperson accused the government of politicizing the tragedy and listed other collapses at government-controlled mines.
