On this episode of Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D dives into the impact of mass deportations and ICE raids, especially on Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Hes joined by Aquilina Soriano Versoza of the Filipino Workers Center and Cha Vang of AAPIs for Civic Empowerment. Together, they push back on the harmful narrative that AAPI communities are absent from the immigrant rights struggle.
Soriano Versoza details how Filipino and other AAPI communities are actively organizing, mobilizing, and responding to ICE raids”often as first responders in rapid response networks. She emphasizes that many Filipinos in the U.S. are recent immigrants or undocumented workers, making them highly vulnerable to raids, detentions, and exploitation.
Vang explains that over 3 million AAPI immigrants reside in California, with nearly half a million undocumented. Many are directly targeted by ICE, despite media erasure. She highlights the unique challenges faced by Southeast Asian refugees, including being deported to countries theyve never lived in, and the systemic double punishment of being deported years after serving time for youthful offenses.
The conversation connects deportation policies to U.S. foreign interventions and economic exploitation, revealing how these tactics destabilize immigrant communities and fuel a prison-to-deportation pipeline. Both guests draw parallels between todays ICE quotas and the racialized policing of the 1990s drug war.
They close by urging solidarity across Black, Brown, and AAPI communities in fighting not just unjust immigration policy, but an expanding authoritarian state that threatens civil liberties for all. The episode is a call to action, truth-telling, and cross-community unity.
Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.