Watch the video here. WASHINGTON, D.C. — In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) and Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) released a video recognizing the long and storied history of allyship between Latino and Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. “Latino and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities have a long and storied history of allyship. In the 1960s, Mexican and Filipino farmworkers, led by legendary civil rights leaders Cesar Chavez, Larry Dulay Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz, and Peter Gines Velasco formed the United Farm Workers, marching shoulder to shoulder in the Delano Grape Strike to secure higher pay and safer working conditions. In the 1970s, Chinese immigrant students fought alongside Hispanic students to demand language access in public schools, resulting in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Lau v. Nichols. These are just a few examples that show how, throughout history, our communities have worked together to effect change – and that spirit of solidarity is just as essential today,” said Rep. Grace Meng, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. “The Trump administration is terrorizing immigrant communities, eliminating birthright citizenship, and destroying vital language access programs. Together, we will fight against these attacks on our communities and protect the promise of America as a home for those seeking a better life.” “As we approach the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, I would like to recognize more than a century of collaboration between the Latino and Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities. Since the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association of the early 1900s, our communities have found common ground, and a common cause, from labor protections to immigrant rights. Let’s celebrate this alliance and history of working together to ensure that all ships rise up together,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat, Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The CAPAC and CHC members featured in the video include CAPAC Chair Grace Meng (NY-06); CHC Chair Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (CA-33), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Reps. Salud Carbajal (CA-24), Judy Chu (CA- 28), Gil Cisneros (CA-31), Lou Correa (CA-46), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Linda Sánchez (CA-38), and Suhas Subramanyam (VA-10). There is a long history of allyship between the Latino and Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities, from labor strikes to the fight for equitable access to education. Some key moments of Latino and AANHPI solidarity throughout U.S. history can be found below: - Early 1900s: Migrant workers in Oxnard, California formed one of America’s first multiracial labor unions, the Japanese-Mexican Labor Association, to mobilize against monopolies which created unfair wages and poor living conditions.
- 1936: Mexican American, Filipino American, and Japanese American farmworkers in California organized the Venice Celery Strike, which helped secure better wages and working conditions.
- 1947: LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens), JACL (Japanese Citizens League), NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and AJC (American Jewish Congress) all filed amicus curiae briefs in support of Gonzalo Méndez, a farmer of Mexican descent whose children were rejected from attending a “whites-only” school in Orange County, California in 1944. The landmark case Méndez, et al v. Westminster School District of Orange County, et al helped end segregation in California schools and provided legal precedent against the exclusion of Mexican Americans from public facilities in other states.
- 1965: The predominantly Mexican National Farmworkers Association (NFWA) joined the predominantly Filipino Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC) to form the United Farm Workers (UFW). The farm workers, led by Latino labor leader Cesar Chavez and Filipino labor leader Larry Itliong, worked together to organize the Delano grape strike in California, which lasted five years and resulted in a contract that respected the value of their hard work.
- 1968: The Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikes at San Francisco State and UC Berkeley were one of the longest student strikes in history and were integral in establishing the Department of Ethnic Studies. This movement was driven by a coalition of Asian, Latino, Black and Native American students who demanded equal educational opportunities and ethnic studies programs.
- 1974: In California, Chinese immigrant students and families fought alongside Hispanic families for language access in public schools, which resulted in a favorable Supreme Court ruling, Lau vs. Nichols, that determined public schools must provide a meaningful education to non-English speakers based on the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
- 1980s: Southeast Asians fled war and genocide in their home countries, settling in largely Mexican, Puerto Rican and Black neighborhoods in Massachusetts, New York, California, Wisconsin, Louisiana and Minnesota and forming shared struggles around equitable access to education, housing, and other basic needs.
- 2010s: In 2012, President Obama established the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provided young undocumented immigrants the ability to attend school, work, and contribute more fully to our nation. Of the 1.2 million immigrants eligible for DACA, around 120,000 were Asian. Leading Latino and AANHPI organizations have stood together against President Trump’s actions to end the program.
- 2025: Latino and AANHPI organizations have rallied against the Trump administration's efforts to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from Venezuela, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Nepal.
- 2025: The landmark United States v. Wong Kim Ark decision in 1898 ruled in favor of Wong Kim Ark, a Chinese immigrant, affirming that anyone born in our country—including those born to immigrant parents—are U.S. citizens. In January of 2025, President Trump issued an unlawful executive order (EO) to revoke birthright citizenship and overturn the century-old precedent. CAPAC, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the Black Caucus issued a joint statement condemning the EO and filed amicus briefs against Trump’s unlawful executive directives.
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