2018.034.007 Oral History Interview with Elizabeth OuYang

Oral History Archive

2018.034.007 Oral History Interview with Elizabeth OuYang

Elizabeth OuYang is a Chinese American attorney who has advocated for immigrant and Asian American civil rights for more than three decades. At the time of the Golden Venture, OuYang was a staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) tasked with advancing voting rights and prosecuting hate crimes, and in this capacity, she assisted with interviewing Golden Venture Chinese who were detained at the Varick Street detention center. In addition to this work, topics of her oral history also include the legal landscape of immigration in the 1990s and post 9/11; her work representing Arab Muslims and South Asians; the impact of the broken immigration system and Trump administration on undocumented immigrants; the rise in hate crimes against Chinese and Asian Americans following the grounding of the Golden Venture; and desired visitor takeaways from MOCA’s FOLD exhibition.

0:00 - Introduction, how she first heard of the Golden Venture, her impression of media coverage, her position at AALDEF, detention of Chinese diverged from usual bond hearing and release policy, her memory of first access to detainees

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5:58 - The One Child Policy’s effect in China, 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA), post-9/11 immigration enforcement and deportation, immigration case of Kin Wu

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10:37 - Targeting of Arab Muslims and South Asians, her work helping Haitian and Central American immigrants, her interviewing of Golden Venture detainees while at AALDEF, her work legally representing Arab Muslims and South Asians, mandatory immigrant registration program

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14:40 - Broken immigration system, anxiety and panic caused to undocumented immigrants under Trump administration, great need for immigrant rights training, need for comprehensive immigration reform

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18:10 - What she hopes visitors will take away from MOCA’s exhibition, family reunification and safe haven as bedrock of US immigration, parallels between current executive orders and the Chinese Exclusion Act, Asian American power to change discourse and policy

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20:50 - Direct corollary between anti-immigrant sentiment and hate crimes, increase in anti-Chinese incidents after the Golden Venture, Ping Pong Exterminators, police raid on false tip about illegal aliens, ramifications of anti-immigrant message, treatment of Asian Americans as second-class citizens

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