On March 4, 2016, BALIF joined the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) and a coalition of other organizations in an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Texas. The case concerns Texas’s challenge to President Obama’s Executive Actions on immigration, which expanded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and created a new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) program.

NQAPIA’s brief informs the U.S. Supreme Court of the special concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Asian Americans, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and Pacific Islanders (API). An estimated 267,000 undocumented immigrants are LGBT, of which a disproportionate share are API.

According to Glenn D. Magpantay, NQAPIA Executive Director, “The Supreme Court is extremely supportive of LGBT people, and we aim to show how immigration laws and policies have a direct impact on the lives of LGBT people.” He continued, “We also lift up the voices of Asian Pacific Islanders to demonstrate the ethnic diversity of undocumented immigrants.”

Julie Wilensky, chair of BALIF’s Amicus Committee Chair, said, “Immigrants rights are LGBT rights, and BALIF is proud to stand with NQAPIA. The brief vividly illustrates how the expanded immigration programs protect LGBT immigrant families, especially APIs, from harassment, discrimination and hardship.” 

Click here to read the brief.

Amici are represented by McDermott Will & Emery LLP.