June 18, 2025 Your Source for Brentwood News

Opinion: Will Asians Spur Big New Political Changes?

“Asian immigrants are feeling fearful because of President Trump’s ban on entry to this country by residents of several Muslim-majority countries.” Photo: Facebook.

Elias column header

The same sort of panic that hit California’s Latinos after the 1994 passage of the anti-illegal immigrant Proposition 187 is now hitting many of this state’s almost 6 million ethnic-Asian residents.

Latino fears in the wake of 187, which sought to keep the undocumented out of public schools, hospital emergency rooms and seemingly anyplace its authors could imagine, led to citizenship applications and then voter registration by more than 2.5 million Hispanics over the next three years.

They caused a political revolution in California, which morphed from a swing state equally likely to elect Republicans or Democrats into one of the most staunchly Democratic states in the Union. Only one Republican has been elected to statewide office in the last 20 years, the almost non-partisan former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who won out in the 2003 recall of ex-Gov. Gray Davis.

Now Asian immigrants are feeling fearful because of President Trump’s ban on entry to this country by residents of several Muslim-majority countries and his attempts to restrict the number of political and humanitarian refugees allowed in, plus a drive to deport Vietnamese refugees with any kind of crime on their record, no matter how old or minor.

Asians also remember the Japanese internment during World War II, in which 120,000 Japanese-Americans were held in remote camps for several years.

“You hope things like that can’t happen again, but they really can,” said one green card holder from Thailand. “So I will become a citizen.”

Like her, thousands of Asians in California, from countries as diverse as China, the Philippines and India, see citizenship as the best protection from a potential future expulsion.

If they become citizens in anything like the proportions of Latinos who felt similarly in California after passage of 187, they could spur vast political changes well beyond this state’s borders. In fact, if both they and citizenship-eligible Latino immigrants ever register in large numbers, they could turn several once-solid Republican states into battlegrounds or cause them to lean Democratic.

And Asians here are applying, although there are impediments Latinos did not face in the late 1990s. Example: Of the 220,000 immigrants in Orange County now eligible for naturalization, nearby 30 percent are Asian. Of them, about 4,500 applied for naturalization through the first three quarters of 2017. If that trend continues statewide for the remainder of Trump’s current term, more than 150,000 Asians will be added to California’s voting rolls.

Because they’re registering largely for the same reasons as Latinos once did, they probably won’t change this state’s political composition. But what about other states? Taking Texas as an example, more than 680,000 Asians are now eligible for citizenship but have not applied. That could make for big change in a state that in November almost gave a Democrats their first statewide victory in more than 20 years.

Yes, the $725 naturalization application fee is a roadblock for many. So is the required blizzard of paperwork. But Texas saw more than 20,000 citizenship applications from Asians last year. If Latinos, many even more apprehensive about Trump’s policies than Asians, register in Texas in similar percentages – and they have not yet – they could combine with Asians to turn Texas Democratic. For that state contains more than 3 million Hispanics who have not sought naturalization despite being eligible.

For sure, the numbers indicate fear among both Latinos and Asians has not reached the same levels it did among California Hispanics after 187.

But what happens when and if Trump begins serious work on his long-advertised border wall? And what if he attempts mass deportations of illegal immigrants, as former Attorney General Jeff Sessions advocated during his days in the Senate?

For sure, hate crimes against immigrants of all kinds increased during Trump’s presidential campaign and his first year in office. If that trend accelerates, it may spur the kind of fears that pushed Latinos to get naturalized here.

Isaac Newton’s third law of motion tells us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Just as former President Obama’s policies produced the backlash that elected Trump, so Trump’s policies may already have begun producing an even stronger national backlash against him and his party.

Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, “The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It,” is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net.

Related Posts

Tyler Malek Celebrates New Ice Cream Cookbook With Sweet Pop-Ups in Los Angeles

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

Chef to Appear at Book Soup and Debut Limited-Edition Matcha Sandwich at GGiata Tyler Malek, co-founder and head chef of...

US Marines Temporarily Detain Civilian Near Federal Building in West Los Angeles

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

Military Confirms First Known Detention by Active-Duty Troops Deployed by Trump U.S. Marines temporarily detained a civilian near the Wilshire...

Cedars-Sinai Seeks Public’s Help Identifying Unconscious Man Found in Beverly Grove

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

Man Remains Hospitalized After Being Discovered Near Cedars Sinai Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is asking for the public’s assistance in identifying...

Second Doctor to Plead Guilty in Matthew Perry Ketamine Case, Faces Up to 40 Years

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

Doctor Admits to Illegally Supplying Ketamine to the Actor and His Assistant One of the physicians charged in connection with...

Brentwood Beat: Stopping to Smell the Roses

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

I’m generally not a “stop and smell the roses” type.  I’ve always got something to do, and smelling roses takes...

(Video) Home Front Build Maintains Original Architectural Vision For Modern Homes

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

For More Information, Go to homefrontbuild.com For More Information, Go to https://t.co/7jyMonayj0 pic.twitter.com/9QIwClGyfh — BrentwoodNewsLA (@BrentwoodNewsLA) June 16, 2025

Tribeca Premiere Honors Carl Bean, Musician, Activist, and LGBTQ+ Faith Leader

June 16, 2025

June 16, 2025

New Doc Features Interviews With Lady Gaga, Billy Porter, and Dionne Warwick The life and legacy of Archbishop Carl Bean,...

Americans Split on Immigration and Tariffs’ Impact on Housing Affordability, Survey Shows

June 15, 2025

June 15, 2025

Survey Finds Over Half Believe Less Immigration Could Drive Up Home Prices  A new Redfin-commissioned survey reveals that U.S. homeowners...

Two Suspects Arrested in Fatal Stabbing of Elderly Man in Hancock Park

June 15, 2025

June 15, 2025

LAPD and FBI Apprehend Palmdale Pair Accused of Killing 84-Year-Old LAPD West Bureau Homicide has arrested two suspects in connection...

Brewers Co-Owner Robert Beyer Slashes Price of Brentwood Estate to $54.9 Million

June 15, 2025

June 15, 2025

Nearly 20,000-square-foot Mediterranean-Style Villa Relisted After Multiple Price Cuts Financier and Milwaukee Brewers minority owner Robert Beyer has relisted his...

Senator Alex Padilla Forcibly Removed, Handcuffed at DHS Press Briefing in Los Angeles

June 13, 2025

June 13, 2025

Security or Censorship? Padilla Removed After Questioning Secretary Kristi Noem U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., was forcibly removed Thursday during...

Federal Court Halts Order Requiring Trump to Return Control of California Guard to Governor Newsom

June 13, 2025

June 13, 2025

Court Showdown Looms Over Trump’s Federalization of State Troops Late Thursday, a federal appeals court paused enforcement of a lower...

Harden Your Home, Protect Your Family: Fire Safety Experts Gather in Brentwood

June 13, 2025

June 13, 2025

Local Officials and Fire Experts Will Offer Live Demonstrations, Expert Advice Residents are invited to a comprehensive fire safety event...

‘No Kings: National Day of Defiance’ Protest in LA to Run Counter to Donald Trump’s Birthday Military Parade

June 13, 2025

June 13, 2025

Giant Trump Balloons, Pride Flags, and Community Speakers Will Fill the Streets on Flag Day Thousands of demonstrators are expected...

(Video) Senator Alex Padilla Being Forcibly Removed at Secretary Kristi Noem’s DHS Press Conference for Attempting to Ask Questions

June 12, 2025

June 12, 2025

In a disturbing and unprecedented move, FBI agents grabbed the sitting California Senator, dragged him out of the room, and...