Meet Aarti Kohli, Executive Director of the Asian Law Caucus

For more than fifty years, the Asian Law Caucus (ALC) has been a national leader in protecting the civil and legal rights of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. Founded in 1972 by three young activist attorneys confronting racist policing and systemic discrimination in San Francisco, ALC has grown into a powerhouse serving immigrants, refugees, workers, tenants, and families across the country. In this interview, Aarti Kohli, Executive Director of the Asian Law Caucus, reflects on the organization’s roots and its mission to ensure that every person—regardless of language, status, or income—has access to safety, stability, and a sense of belonging in the place they call home.

Today, ALC’s work is unfolding against a backdrop of unprecedented threats: attacks on immigration pathways, rollbacks of language-access protections, efforts to dismantle birthright citizenship, and a surge in profiling and surveillance targeting AAPI communities. Kohli speaks candidly about these challenges and shares how ALC is responding with bold legal strategies, community-driven advocacy, and a steadfast commitment to protecting those most at risk. As the country enters a defining moment for civil rights, this conversation offers a clear, grounded view of what’s at stake and the leadership required to meet it.

Sam: The Asian Law Caucus is the first and oldest legal and civil rights organization serving Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the United States. For those less familiar, can you share the mission of the Caucus today and the communities you primarily serve?

Aarti: The Asian Law Caucus was founded in 1972 by three young activist attorneys who saw firsthand the systemic discrimination and racist policing affecting Asian American communities. Determined to confront these injustices, they created an organization dedicated to challenging discrimination and protecting the rights of those most impacted.

For more than 53 years, ALC has fought on the frontlines to safeguard the civil and legal rights of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, with a strong focus on low-income immigrants and refugees. Through a combination of direct legal services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, and strategic communications, we serve our communities by fighting for the issues that matter most to them: having a good job, a safe home, and a community and country that affirms that they belong here.

Our clients reflect the full diversity of AAPI communities: elderly tenants facing displacement in Chinatown, restaurant workers and caregivers navigating wage theft, H-1B visa holders caught up in national security investigations, Filipino nurses fighting workplace discrimination, and Chinese, South Asian, Arab, and Middle Eastern communities targeted by profiling and surveillance. We represent people who are often invisible in broader conversations about civil rights.

While our roots are in the San Francisco Bay Area and California, our work has grown nationally to support AAPI communities in regions where these populations are rapidly expanding. This thoughtful growth reflects our belief that building power across diverse communities and across state lines strengthens our collective ability to create lasting, nationwide change.

Sam: What do you see as the most urgent civil rights challenges facing AAPI communities today?

Aarti: I won’t mince words: This administration has launched a coordinated assault on immigration itself, implementing policies designed to grind legal immigration to a halt, prevent people from coming to the U.S., block those already here from staying, and deny pathways to citizenship for those who have built their lives in this country. These policies violate the very principles of due process and fairness that drew immigrants to America in the first place.

The impact is being felt across all immigrant communities. The challenges are especially severe for Southeast Asian refugees. Under the Trump Administration, Cambodian, Bhutanese, Vietnamese, Lao, and Hmong community members are being detained or deported at record numbers. These are often people who arrived in the U.S. as children, have lived here legally for most of their lives, and are now being sent to countries they barely know. In many cases, their home countries refuse to accept them, leaving them effectively stateless and forced into third countries where they have no ties and may not speak the language.

Chinese, South Asian, Arab, and Middle Eastern communities are experiencing heightened levels of profiling, surveillance, and baseless accusations related to national security. And across all AAPI communities, as well as many other communities of color, we are seeing the profound impact of Trump’s executive order on language access. With a single action, the Administration declared English the official language of the United States and dismantled a key Civil Rights-era protection that ensured individuals with limited English proficiency could access language assistance for essential public services, including housing and voting.

Sam: The Asian Law Caucus has been actively involved in defending birthright citizenship in the courts. Can you share why this issue is so important and what its implications are for the AAPI community specifically?

Aarti: On the very day Trump was sworn in for his second term, ALC and our partners at the ACLU filed a lawsuit to block his executive order eliminating birthright citizenship, a bedrock principle of our democracy that proclaims anyone born here is a citizen here. This order would make children born in the U.S. to parents on student visas, H-1B visas, and asylum seekers, among other categories, ineligible for citizenship. Asian Americans dominate the first two categories, meaning AAPI families would bear the brunt of this policy. We are talking about children born in American hospitals, raised in American schools, who would suddenly be rendered stateless or forced into a legal limbo, unable to fully participate in the only country they have ever known.

And while some believed that the order would only impact some immigrants but not others, we knew that all communities of color, including AAPI folks, would be targeted. In the months since, it has become painfully clear that this was never about a single community. It has always been about all of us. The broader goal is to reshape the country into a white, Christian nation and to concentrate political power in the hands of a shrinking demographic, marginalizing or removing those who do not fit that vision.

Looking ahead, demographic shifts are already reshaping the United States. In the next 15 to 20 years, the country is projected to become majority minority, with people of color collectively outnumbering white Americans for the first time in our history. Two factors are driving this change: net immigration and birth rates. As more people of color immigrate to the U.S., and as more children of color are born here, the longstanding racial and cultural dominance held by white Americans becomes less assured. These policies and attacks are fundamentally about preserving political and cultural power in the face of that inevitable demographic shift.

Sam: Given the current social and political climate, how do you think the broader narrative around AAPI civil rights is shifting?

Aarti: AAPI communities have long been used as political pawns, leveraged as a wedge to divide communities of color. We saw this clearly during the birthright citizenship fight when many in our own community believed it was an issue that only affected Latino immigrants. That misunderstanding was not an accident; it was the direct result of a strategy designed to pit us against one another.

We often hear about AAPIs falling for the model minority myth, and in some cases, there is truth to that. It can feel like a kind of Stockholm Syndrome, identifying with those in power in the hope that proximity will protect us. There is a comfort in believing that if we align ourselves with the dominant narrative, we will be safe. But history has shown us again and again that this is not how the story ends.

The model minority myth does not just harm us by masking our struggles, it also severs us from our own legacy of resistance. It erases the real history of our ancestors who fought on the front lines for justice and freedom. Our community has always been part of powerful cross-racial movements: civil rights leaders like Yuri Kochiyama and Grace Lee Boggs, labor visionary Larry Itliong who co-founded the United Farm Workers with César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, and trailblazers like Patsy Mink, the first woman of color to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.

We stand on the shoulders of bold, unapologetic freedom fighters who refused to be used as a wedge, who saw through political tactics meant to divide us and understood that liberation has always been, and will always be, a collective act.

Sam: ALC recently filed a case seeking to block the IRS and Social Security Administration from sharing taxpayer information with ICE. Can you tell us about this case and why it matters?

Aarti: We are fighting to stop a policy that would allow the IRS and SSA to hand over sensitive taxpayer information to ICE for immigration enforcement purposes. This is a blatant violation of longstanding federal privacy protections, protections that exist because our tax system only works if people trust that filing their taxes will not be used against them.

The implications are staggering. Immigrant workers who have been paying taxes for years, including many H-1B visa holders, DACA recipients, and others with work authorization, would suddenly face the risk that their tax information could be used to locate and target them for immigration enforcement. It would create an impossible choice: fulfill your legal obligation to pay taxes, or protect yourself and your family from being found and targeted by ICE.

This case exemplifies the administration's strategy of weaponizing every government agency against immigrants, even when it undermines the basic functioning of our systems. And it shows why we fight, because when we challenge these overreach attempts early and aggressively, we can stop them before they devastate our communities.

Sam: You have led ALC through some of the most complex years in recent memory. What principles guide your leadership through periods of rapid change and heightened community need?

Aarti: I stepped into the Executive Director role in 2016 during the first Trump administration, a period defined by constant crisis management and uncertainty. As we prepared for the possibility of a second administration, we anticipated many of the threats ahead, yet new challenges still emerged. In moments like these, any organization can easily get swept up in the chaos. My responsibility is to bring clarity, helping our team focus on what we can control. It is essential that we stay rooted in our values and remain committed to our long-term strategy, even as we respond to urgent and evolving needs.

Equally central to who we are is how we practice law. We do not just take cases, we build power alongside our clients and community partners. That means our legal strategy is shaped by the people most affected by injustice, not decided in isolation. When a mother comes to us because she is being threatened with deportation, we do not just represent her in court, we work with community organizations to challenge the policies targeting her entire community, we push for legislative change, and we tell her story to shift public understanding. We know that lasting change requires more than winning individual cases, it requires shifting the conditions that created the injustice in the first place. As a leader, I strive to model that approach, ensuring that our decisions and priorities reflect the needs and aspirations of the communities we serve.

Sam: ALC works closely with low-income, immigrant, and underserved Asian American communities. What stories or trends have shaped your understanding of what those communities need most right now?

Aarti: One recent story that has stayed with me is Maria’s. She is a DACA recipient in the Central Valley who has been driving a school bus for nearly eight years without so much as a speeding ticket. She has completed every requirement asked of her, including passing two background checks, written and road tests in English, and annual trainings to keep her license.

Despite her experience and an employer who values her work, Maria is now at risk of losing her job simply because she is a DACA recipient. Although she has valid work authorization, a new Interim Final Rule issued by the Department of Transportation has left many non-domiciled drivers unable to renew or update their commercial drivers licenses and permits, causing mass confusion. Maria was one of 17,000 drivers to receive notice that she could lose her license if she did not present updated paperwork.

Maria and many others are now wary of coming forward with updated documents, fearing that doing so could actually jeopardize their licenses and their livelihood. They have not received any assurance that their licenses will be reissued if they comply. In fact, one person was pressured to surrender their license at the DMV counter.

Maria’s situation illustrates a troubling trend we are seeing across many low income and immigrant communities, where people who are following the rules are still being targeted and destabilized because of their immigration status. This administration has stoked fear and uncertainty and is using that fear to impose rules that disproportionately harm immigrant workers who have contributed to this country for decades. Maria had hoped to continue driving for years to come, relying on her ability to renew her license to support her family, until this rule shattered that path forward.

These stories highlight the need for trusted advocates who can help community members navigate these bureaucratic complexities with confidence and dignity. At ALC, our workers rights team is challenging these harmful practices, defending the rights of immigrant drivers, and protecting people like Maria from falling through the administrative cracks.

Sam: What is next for the Asian Law Caucus—either in upcoming initiatives, legal battles, or long-term vision?

Aarti: These are dark times, and we need to be honest about that. What we are witnessing is a fundamental battle over the soul of America, over whether we will be a nation that honors its promise of equality, due process, and belonging for all, or one that retreats into exclusion and fear. The answer to that question will be determined by how we show up for each other in the months and years ahead.

Looking ahead, ALC is preparing to confront the most pressing threats facing our communities. We will fight denaturalization efforts, defend organizers targeted by political prosecutions and government intimidation, challenge workplace raids and mass deportations, strengthen voting rights protections, and collaborate with community partners on strategic, community-led campaigns.

In this next phase of our work, we are committed not only to defending against immediate attacks but also to advancing bold, affirmative legal strategies that set lasting precedent. We will push for policy reforms that expand protections, and we will deepen legal support for the thousands of individuals and families who continue to face systemic barriers to justice.

Sam: How can readers stay engaged, support ALC’s work, or learn more about the issues facing AAPI communities today?

Aarti: In moments like these, staying informed is essential. One easy way to do that is by subscribing to our newsletter, where you will receive timely updates on critical cases, breaking threats, and concrete opportunities to take action alongside us. You can sign up by entering your email in the footer of our website at www.asianlawcaucus.org.

The fights that we have taken on and the fights ahead mean we need more lawyers, more strategists, and more resources to keep up. If you are able, I urge you to consider making a donation. Your support directly fuels our legal fights, protects families at risk, and strengthens our ability to respond rapidly to the next wave of attacks.

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The Asian Tech Collective proudly supports the critical civil rights work of the Asian Law Caucus, an organization that has defended AAPI immigrants, workers, and families for more than fifty years. As attacks on our communities intensify—from challenges to birthright citizenship to expanded surveillance and deportation efforts—ALC is on the frontlines providing legal protection, fighting discriminatory policies, and standing with those most at risk.

If you believe in building a country where all of us belong, we encourage you to join us in supporting their work. Your contribution directly strengthens the legal fights and community-led advocacy our moment demands.

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