Members of the Asian and Asian Pacific Islander communities got a chance to communicate their concerns on several matters of federal legislation to Representative Adam Smith of the 9th Congressional District in a meeting at Tukwila City Hall on January, 27, 2012.  Notable attendees included Celso Tolman of the Filipino Community Center, Akemi Matsumoto of the Asian Pacific Islander Americans for Civic Empowerment and Diane Narasaki, the Executive Director of the Asian Counseling and referral service as well as the Executive Director of CAIR-WA, Arsalan Bukhari.

Much of the discussion of the meeting was around two pieces of legislation pending in DC, the DREAM (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) act, which offers permanent residence to children of undocumented immigrants if they enlist in the armed forces or attend college, and the Due Process Guarantee Act.

Diane voiced her concern about the DREAM act saying that it has an explicit preference for people who are capable of going to college and neglects others who may wish to go into trade or technical school. The conversation then turned to the potential effects on families if the act is not passed. One thing that Rep. Smith hoped would stop occurring is families breaking up due to deportations of undocumented immigrant parents and asserted the need to keep families united, whatever happens to the act.

The other piece of legislation, the Due Process Guarantee Act, would prohibit any indefinite detention of American citizens within the US without charge or trial. An issue that many innocent American Muslims have had to face, the Act comes on the back of the controversial National Defense Authorization Act being signed into law last year which allows for the detention of American citizens without due process.

Rep. Smith, puzzlingly had co-sponsored the NDAA, denying previously that it allowed for Americans to be detained without due process and even maintained at the meeting that NDAA wouldn’t render procedures such as habeas corpus ineffective. By co-sponsoring the Due Process Guarantee Act though, Rep. Smith has gone some way towards redeeming himself in the eyes of American Muslims and Arsalan thanked him for this effort, urging him to bring in more lawmakers to co-sponsor the legislation with him.

Ending the meeting, Rep. Smith encouraged attendees and community members to develop closer relationships with him and his staff. American Muslims in Kent will get an opportunity to do so in a community forum in Kent Commons, whose exact date and location will be decided later. Said Smith, “Call me if we haven’t talked in a while. We would be happy to sit down with whomever and whenever.” A bold statement and there is little doubt that the American Muslim community in Washington state will take him up on that offer.