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State AAPI director urges Chaska commissioners to deepen community engagement after 'Operation Paris' impacts
Summary
Sia, executive director of the Council on AsianPacific motans, told the Chaska Human Rights Commission that enforcement actions such as 'Operation Paris' have traumatized refugee-experience communities and urged commissioners to attend cultural events and share resources to build trust.
Sia, executive director of the Council on AsianPacific motans, told the Chaska Human Rights Commission on April 23 that the agency remains engaged with communities still reeling from recent enforcement efforts such as "Operation Paris" and "Operation Metro Surge." Sia described how those initiatives involved post-admission reverification and ICE actions that, in her account, picked up legally admitted refugees and reverberated statewide.
The director framed the council's work historically: the agency was created in 1985, is governed by a 15-member board and currently staffs roughly five full-time employees. She said Minnesota is home to about 360,000 Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, present in every county but concentrated in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area.
"Respect is a universal language," Sia said, urging commissioners to engage directly with cultural events and to use small acts of courtesy and visibility to build trust with immigrant and refugee communities. She recommended that commissioners follow the council's Facebook page and the forthcoming community-events calendar the agency plans to publish on its website so elected and volunteer leaders can find and attend local AAPI events.
Sia explained that the council uses the term "refugee-experience" (often written as refugee-experience) to capture communities who arrived decades ago as refugees but whose policy needs still reflect that history. She emphasized the additional trauma when federal agents appear at the doors of families that believed they had been thoroughly vetted and were safe in the United States.
In a question-and-answer period, commissioners asked for practical ways to connect with the community. Sia committed to sharing event invitations and data about cultural celebrations, noting the agency hopes to publish a calendar so community members and officials alike can easily find events such as the Asian fair she referenced.
The commission thanked Sia and agreed to maintain contact with the agency going forward.
