MinKwon’s commitment to Immigrant Rights Advocacy & Organizing work is rooted in the Korean American community’s social and political awakening during the 1990s with the wake of the LA Uprisings in 1992, and the wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that was symbolized within Proposition 187 in California, followed by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996.

Our work is also rooted in the fact that almost 60% of Korean Americans are first-generation immigrants, and approximately 1 in 6 Korean immigrants are undocumented. 

Collectively, MinKwon has been organizing and fighting for the rights of immigrants for close to 30 years. We’ve initiated many campaigns, including the “Justice for Immigrants”, One Dollar - One Person Ad Campaign in 1995 with NAKASEC, our national organization, have participated in numerous mass mobilizations including the historic “A Day Without Immigrants” protest in 2006, and have advocated for many policies advancing and protecting the rights of immigrants in NYS and NYC, including NYS driver’s licenses, the NYS Dream Act, and healthcare access. Most recently, MinKwon is a key organization in advocating for the passage and implementation of Our City, Our Vote which would allow over 800,000 new immigrant voters to participate in municipal elections, and were part of the #Coverage4All campaign, which advocated for the coverage of undocumented New Yorkers under NY’s Essential Plan, and recently resulted in the inclusion of undocumented seniors over 65 years of age in to the plan. This is monumental, as Korean Americans have one of the highest uninsured rates in NYC, a sizeable portion of which comes from the undocumented senior population.

Our nearly 30 years of advocacy and organizing work has gone through many ups and downs, and with few but substantial policy victories (some of which we’ve been advocating for decades at a time). However, in all of our years of advocating and organizing for immigrant rights within the Korean and Asian American immigrant communities, we’ve been steadfast in centering our work in organizing hope and community as a basis for movement-building and social change.

After 10 Years of DACA, we are still organizing hope, confidence, and community in the face of uncertainty for all 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Since 2012, MinKwon has built deeper relationships with young undocumented Korean and Asian Americans, many of whom came out of the shadows for the first time in their lives through our DACA clinics. To date, we’ve helped file over 7% of all Korean American DACA applications in the country, almost all of whom have continued to renew their applications every 2 years with the MinKwon Center. Within our first few years of helping organize DACA clinics, we helped incubate the Asian American Dreamers Collective and established a pipeline for a new generation of AAPI undocumented organizers and activists to join the broader movement for immigrant rights.

We saw firsthand how DACA positively changed the lives of young undocumented Koreans, many of whom were able to land their first jobs in the professions of their choice, and several of whom were able to work with the MinKwon Center as staff. Despite drastic changes in their opportunities, there’s always been uncertainty on whether or not the program will continue, and if there are prospects for passage of broader immigration reform legislation. This is especially true given recent developments of DACA in federal court proceedings and little prospect for immigration reform legislation, which has placed many DACAmented and undocumented Koreans in a place of uncertainty and fear.

The MinKwon Center continues to organize in an environment where most of the Korean undocumented immigrant community is fearful of being public about their lack of immigration status. However, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to get in contact with many undocumented community members through our role of providing direct cash assistance after losing their jobs as mostly essential workers. Throughout the pandemic, we were able to provide over $6.5 million of direct cash assistance to over 2,500 undocumented families.

Through this process, the MinKwon Center found many undocumented community members, particularly seniors, facing social isolation and a lack of support systems during the period of pandemic-induced lockdowns. Because of this need, the Korean Immigrant Network (KIN) was formed. Despite not being as politically active, the KIN proved to be a lifeline and resource for many undocumented first generation immigrant Koreans, and continues to be a hub for information updates, resources, and community.

Through this process, MinKwon was also able to produce an unprecedented report on the status of undocumented Korean immigrants during the COVID-19 period with over 1,500 respondents. Through this process, we've come in to contact of numerous heart-breaking stories of undocumented immigrants facing hardship before and during the pandemic.