[Click here to download Korean language Arizona travel alert]
For Immediate Release
July 23, 2010
Contact:
Jane Yoo, NAKASEC, 718-710-2277
Dae Joong Yoon, KRC, 323-937-3718
NAKASEC Partners with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Affiliates in California
to Release Korean Language Arizona Travel Alert
Los Angeles, CA – Due to potential civil liberties threats posed by the passage of Arizona’s racial profiling law SB 1070, the ACLU of Southern California, ACLU of Northern California and ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties issued a travel alert informing California residents of their rights when stopped by law enforcement when traveling in Arizona. In collaboration with these affiliates, NAKASEC is releasing a Korean language translation of the alert to inform Korean American residents of California of their rights should they travel to the state of Arizona.
In addition, other informative materials are available in English and Spanish by the ACLU. They include a “Know Your Rights” card outlining instructions, applicable in any state, on coping with vehicle stops and questioning by police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or the FBI, as well as a Frequently Asked Questions document specific to SB 1070.
The need to alert our communities comes at a critical time. While SB 1070 does not go into effect until July 29, ACLU affiliates in California are concerned that some law enforcement officers may already be acting on provisions of the law.
SB 1070 requires law enforcement agents to demand “papers” from people they stop and suspect are not authorized to be in the U.S. If individuals are unable to prove they are permitted to be in the U.S., they may be subject to warrantless arrest without any probable cause that they have committed a crime.
The ACLU and other leading civil rights organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the Arizona law in May, but until the law is struck down, the ACLU warns that individuals traveling in Arizona must be aware of their rights if stopped for questioning. NAKASEC supported an amicus brief for this lawsuit.
On July 29, NAKASEC and KRC will be going to Arizona with other advocates to protest the implementation of the racist SB 1070 law.
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National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) is a national organization founded in 1994 by local Korean American community organizations to project a national progressive voice and promote the full civic participation of Korean Americans as part of a greater goal of building a national movement for social change.
Korean Resource Center (KRC) empowers the Korean American, low-income immigrant and people of color communities through social services, education, culture, advocacy, and grassroots organizing. KRC is a founding affiliate of NAKASEC.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded to defend and secure the rights granted by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and to extend them to people who have been excluded from their protection. Such rights include individual liberty and the right to privacy, to equal protection of the laws and to due process of law.
