Asian American Alliance Newsletter
12/4/2025

1. New Immigration Policies
2. Mamdani's Transition Team
3. Chinese Dancer, Choreographer, and Film-Maker
4. New Bill on Immigration Judges

Immigration Policies Following the National Guard Shooting

On Nov. 26, two National Guard soldiers were shot, resulting in the death of Sarah Beckstrom and the injury of Andrew Wolfe. The suspect has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan man who immigrated to the U.S. in 2021 through Operation Allies Welcome, a resettlement program that brought Afghans into the U.S. for two years, after which they could apply for asylum.

Following this attack, the Trump Administration has suspended all immigration and visa cases of Afghans, along with pausing all asylum decisions for any migrants currently in the US and reassessing all approvals made during the Biden Administration, including those through Operation Allies Welcome. These are some of the most significant measures the Administration has taken with immigration, with the potential to upend 1.5 million migrants with currently pending asylum cases, and 50,000 more people who have already gained asylum. Trump has also raised denaturalization as a topic of discussion.

These policy changes and growing anti-Afghan sentiment threaten many families. Resettlement is already a long and difficult process with extensive security checks, medical screenings, and immigration paperwork, along with spending weeks in military bases for many. This leaves out the challenges of finding stability once in America. With Trump calling into question the residency of Afghans in America due to the actions of one individual, many no longer feel safe living in or immigrating to America.

Read more, here.

Zohran Mamdani and Asian American Public Leaders

Mamdani, NYC’s first Asian American and Muslim mayor-elect, has announced his transition team, which consists of the Pakistani-American legal scholar Lina Khan and Filipino-American civil servant Maria Torres-Springer, along with Elana Leopold, Grace Bonilla, and Melanie Hartzog.

Lina Khan was born in London to Pakistani immigrant parents, before moving to the U.S. at age 11. She is well known for her aggressive anti-trust work under Biden during 2021–25, when she served as the third Asian American to be appointed as the chair of the Federal Trade Commission. Now co-chair on Mamdani’s transition team, her role signals a more bolder stance against private equity firms in New York City.

Likewise, Torres-Springer was born to Filipino immigrant parents, and lived in the Philippines for a time before returning to the U.S. for her bachelor’s. In 2024, she became the first Filipina to serve as the First Deputy Mayor of New York City. Her own background lies in housing and economic development—a core part of Mamdani’s policies.

Read more about the transition team, here.

Dancer, Choreographer, and Film-Maker, Wen Hui

Wen Hui was born in Yunnan, China in 1960, and first found dance through revolutionary operas and loyalty dances that emphasized Mao Zedong Thought. She continued on to study at the Beijing Dance Academy, but found the training there restrictive, and wished to instead celebrate the ordinary, everyday movements of the body. Her career has since focused on these celebrations, and on what she calls body memory—“the way intergenerational trauma and lived experiences remain in our flesh and move through us…like blood or sound.”

Hui moved to New York in 1994, and was inspired by the freedom of performance: you did not need to have a stage or stagelights, a position in a specific company, or a grand narrative to perform. She became an independent dancer, and her first piece aimed to give an outlet for the social and familial burdens Chinese women experience.

Hui now primarily resides in Frankfurt, but still makes art out of Brooklyn. Her latest work is “What Is War,” performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Read more here.

What Should be the Requirements to be an Immigration Judge?

The Trump Administration has fired many immigration judges since January, with a majority of those fired having backgrounds in defending immigrants. Concerns have been raised about the temporary judges that the Administration is putting in their place.

A recent bill introduced by Sen. Adam Schiff and Rep. Juan Vargas from California would require these temporary judges to 1) have served on appellate courts, 2) be administrative judges in other agencies, and 3) have 10 years of immigration law experience. As of now, the Trump Administration plans to authorize 600 military lawyers who do not meet these standards to be immigration lawyers. Schiff argues that the administration plans “to leverage the power of temporary positions to speed up their mass deportation agenda,” especially in their use of inexperienced judges. The bill, if passed, would help secure fairness and due process to immigrant families.

Read more here.