Southeast Asian Relief & Responsibility (SEARR) Platform

*You may take ACTIONS (right column) to support the SEARR Platform*

What is the SEARR Platform?

The SEARR Platform is a national policy that demands the United States take responsibility for the violence it inflicted on the Southeast Asian community. This demand is rooted in the US’s military intervention in Southeast Asia and the failures of the refugee resettlement program. SEARR calls for the US to address these harms, including ending detentions and deportations. Through this campaign we aim to win these demands to free and heal our people. The SEARR Platform includes two components: 1) a bill to bring immediate relief for Southeast Asians facing deportation. 2) a long term strategy to demand US responsibility and accountability.

Immediate Relief Strategy: Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act

  • Limit DHS’s authority to deport Southeast Asian refugees: The bill prevents the Department of Homeland Security from detaining and deporting individuals from Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos who arrived in the United States before 2008 and currently have a final order of removal.
  • Permanently authorize employment eligibility: The bill would permanently authorize employment eligibility for Southeast Asians with a final order of removal with a five-year renewal period.
  • End in-person ICE check-ins and establish 5-year gaps between check-ins: This bill would ban in-person check-ins for Southeast Asians on order of supervision (OSUP), with virtual check-ins occurring every five years at most.
  • Provides an opportunity to return home: This new version of the bill for the 118th Congress is strengthened to ensure that Southeast Asian refugees who were previously deported can return home to the U.S. through a streamlined and expanded process to reopen their deportation cases.
  • Allows SEAs to vacate removal orders: Additionally, through this strengthened process to reopen deportation cases, Southeast Asian refugees who are still in the U.S. and face deportation can also fight their underlying deportation orders so they can remain in the country.

Long Term Strategy: Demanding US Responsibility & Accountability
Through our long term strategy, we are partnering with existing national policy campaigns to demand US accountability. Below are our partner campaigns:

1) Victims of Agent Orange Act and the Agent Orange Relief Act – This bill demands US responsibility for the harms caused by Agent Orange by mandating funding for the cleanup of Agent Orange in Vietnam, and funding for medical expenses and housing for those impacted by this chemical agent in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.

2) Legacies of War Recognition and UXO Removal Act – This budgetary bill calls for the US to take responsibility for its mass bombings in Southeast Asia, and to allocate funds to remove unexploded ordnances and provide other assistance in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

3) New Way Forward Act  - The New Way Forward (NWF) bill proposes to disentangle the immigration and criminal legal systems, and to address the harms of the 1996 immigration laws, which facilitated the deportation of Southeast Asians, as well as other low-income immigrant communities. Specifically, NWF would provide a pathway for deported persons to return to the US; remove drug and firearms charges as grounds for inadmissibility; and establish a 5 year statute of limitations on deportations. Add your organizational name below as a supported of the SEARR platform today.

We invite YOU to stay connected and take actions (see actions to the right) with us to end Southeast Asian deportations as we know it!