Hello, I am a son of immigrant parents, both of whom are Naturalized American Citizens. I am also a husband but most importantly, to me, I am a father of American children. Yes we may be Asian Americans but first and foremost, we are AMERICANS. At home I have elderly parents who are now retired and young children from five years old to fifteen years old. I work on a farm during the growing season in the suburbs of Saint Paul, MN. During the winter season, I worked part time for a local immigrant owned business. My wife works for a local small business as well.

My first priority is to apply for passports and passport cards for the entire family hoping that those documents will be enough to prove our citizenship regardless of how we look. Donations will also go towards catching up on late bills, and for future bills like rent and utility bills for the foreseeable future. Funds will be allocated for groceries and other necessities. I want to schedule rides to and from schools for my children. Also funds will go towards me sending my parent to live with some of my siblings in Oklahoma. Hopefully, my parents will not have to live in fear of being detained by ICE in a red state.

A few weeks ago, ICE came pounding on our door in the early afternoon. I was not home at the time. They demanded that the door be opened. The pounding could be heard throughout the house. Everyone was so scared they ran and huddled in the bathroom on the first floor and stayed there for the remainder of the day. They called me as soon as they felt safe enough. I came home as soon as I could. My children all physically go to school because they feel that being in a classroom benefits them more than sitting in front of a computer all day listening to a lecture and doing school work from home. I am afraid that my immigrant looking children will be targeted while walking to, from, and while waiting for their school buses. I have been dropping them off and picking them up from school everyday since that day. I haven’t gone back to work since due to the fear of what could happen. Unfortunately, this situation has taken a toll on my wife and I both emotionally and financially. She still goes to work when we feel safe enough for her to go. She has used up all of her PTO she had saved up in case of family emergencies. Yesterday, I caved and made copies of all of our birth certificates and Citizenship documents. I printed them, sat down, and looked at them and I began to cry. Questions racked my brain and all I could do was wonder why this was happening and I just cried. My entire life, I have never had to prove any of our citizenships before because of the way we looked. Now here I am, finding myself making copies because I am so afraid that ICE is going to separate us even though we are American Citizens because they don’t care that we are American Citizens. I sat my family down and told them to keep the copies on them at all times regardless of where they are.

I stay awake at night afraid that my children are not going to make it home from school. Now I am afraid that their birth certificates are not going to be good enough to prove our citizenship because they are trying to take away birth right citizenship.

I hope to raise enough funds to help get my family through these dangerous times as safely as possible while the federal government continues its siege on our state and our communities.

I would like to thank you for listening and I want to say… WE ARE MN STRONG! I love our country so much and thank you so much to the people who are so brave for raising your voices and speaking up for those of us who are still so scared to speak. I hope that one day I may be able to return the love you all show to us. You embrace and our differences. You share a kind smile and a much needed warm hug in these difficult times. We thank you so much!