Meet John Delloro
John Delloro passed away in the early morning of Saturday, June 5, 2010 from a heart attack. Delloro was a courageous, articulate, and passionate advocate for social justice in Los Angeles, the nation, and beyond. A Bruin through and through, John received his Master of Arts degree in Asian American Studies with an interest in Asian Americans and the US labor movement and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Specialization in Asian American Studies at UCLA. He received his Associate of Arts in Social Science at College of the Canyons. He worked as a lecturer with the UCLA Asian American Studies Department for nearly three years. A Filipino American, his activism within and commitment to Asian, Latino, Black communities was unparalleled, both in the classroom and in the workplace. John Delloro was one of the co-founders of the Pilipino Workers Center of Southern California (PWC), and served as the National President of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, which is the largest and only national organization of Asian Pacific American working families and union members. He was also the Executive Director of the Dolores Huerta Labor Institute, a member of the Board of Taxicab Commissioners for the City of Los Angeles and served as an appointee on the California Assembly Speaker's Commission on Labor Education. [From the UCLA Asian American Studies Center].
Meet Kent Wong
Kent Wong is the Director of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education and Professor at UCLA. He has been a long-time supporter, ally, and advocate of the DREAM Act since its inception. Kent's passion for the DREAM Act youth organizing movement has inspired undocumented students throughout the country to come out of the shadows. During his speech at a DREAM Act rally at the Los Angeles City Hall, Kent claimed that "these [undocumented] students take a great risk by coming out in public because they know the greater risk is to remain silent." Kent previously served as staff attorney for the Service Employees International Union. He was the founding president of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, the founding president of the United Association for Labor Education, and currently is vice president of the California Federation of Teachers.
Meet Lisa Chen
Lisa is a Community Advocate at the Asian Law Caucus focusing on education and advocacy for comprehensive immigration reform in API communities. Lisa graduated from the University of California San Diego in 2009 with a degree in International Studies. She was heavily committed to educational justice for working class students of color by organizing around access and affordability issues with the University of California Student Association. In her capacity as a UCSA Board of Directors member, she organized students across the state on the DREAM Act, an equitable UC wide fee policy, and funding for academic preparation. In 2008, she help start the student worker collective and organized a successful living wage campaign for the service workers on campus. Lastly, she was a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Policy and was a core member of UC San Diego’s Students for Justice in Palestine. She supports the work of ASPIRE San Francisco and has been a key player on the political organizing ASPIRE has started to do around the DREAM Act by committing to the leadership development of ASPIRE members. She also played a major role in the expansion of the group to Southern California.
Meet Sin Yen Ling
Sin Yen Ling is a staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus focusing on immigrants rights.Before joining ALC, she was a staff attorney at the New York-based Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). A native New Yorker, Ms. Ling was born in Manhattan’s Chinatown to immigrant parents who worked in garment factories and restaurants. She is a graduate of New York University and City University of New York School of Law. Ms. In 2002, she was selected as one of the Top 25 Lawyers Under 40 by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. In 2003, she was awarded the New York County Lawyer’s Association’s Public Service Award and the Joseph Minsky Young Lawyers Award by the American Immigration Lawyers Association. In 2005, she received the Alumni award from CUNY Law School’s Public Interest Law Association, Proclamation of Service from New York City’s City Council, and the Community Service Award from the Islamic Circle of North America. Sin Yen played a major role in stopping the deportation of Steve Li and is currently working on other deportation cases of other Asian undocumented youth.
Meet Tam Tran
Tam Tran, a DREAM Act activist, was tragically killed in an car accident on May 15 in Maine. She was 27 yrs old, and a second year Ph.D student in American Civilization at Brown University. Her parents fled their native Vietnam to become refugees in Germany after being picked up at sea by a German navy. Although Tam was born in Germany, she was not a German citizenship because Germany does not grant birthright citizenship. Tam's family moved to the United States when she was six years old. Here, they applied for political asylum based upon their fear of being persecuted for their anti-Communist beliefs in Vietnam. Tam grew up in Garden Grove, California, graduated from Santiago High School, then UCLA with honors, and then went on to doctoral program at Brown University. She was a filmmaker and an activist, testifying on May 18, 2007, before the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law, in support of the DREAM Act.
