Immigration An “Asian Issue” Too, 28% Of All Immigrants From Asia

The WNYC posted a great piece yesterday by Erwin de León called “Asian Immigration and the Myth of the ‘Model Minority.’” The basic premise is that immigration is not a patently “Latino” issue since about 28% of all immigrants in the U.S. are fromAsia. The piece also addressed the “model minority” myth. Here’s a piece:

“Countless Asian or Pacific Island immigrants are part of the 99 percent that are exploited in low-wage jobs and subsidize the comfortable lifestyle of the 1 percent that are privileged,” DeLa Cruz added. “These include Vietnamese nail salon workers, Thai massage workers, Filipino home health care workers, Chinese restaurant workers, etc. Their stories need to be told and be made more visible to the larger public.”

Indeed, not all Asian immigrants are highly educated, affluent or in the country lawfully.

MPI estimates that Asian immigrants accounted for 11 percent of all unauthorized immigrants in 2010. The Department of Homeland Security counts among the undocumented 280,000 Filipinos, 200,000 Indians, 170,000 Koreans and 130,000 Chinese.