1. Recommendations on increasing civic engagement by South Asians and improving access to the polls:

SAALT has produced a backgrounder that interprets the data from the multilingual exit poll and makes recommendations to improve South Asian political participation in the future. The recommendations reflect specific action steps for local boards of elections, community leaders, elected officials, policymakers, political party leaders and candidates. They include:

- Strengthen, expand and support nonpartisan efforts that mobilize South Asian voters through naturalization and citizenship drives, voter registration efforts, voter education campaigns, and Election Day mobilization efforts to include voters in newer South Asian communities.

- Implement policies and programs that will create a larger eligible voter base in immigrant communities, including immigration reform that offers individuals clearer and easier paths to citizenship; the reduction of citizenship backlogs; and less stringent naturalization requirements.

- Hire, recruit and train South Asian poll workers.

- Offer voluntary language assistance for South Asian voters. Specifically, materials in Gujarati, Bengali and Urdu would be helpful to South Asians in parts of New Jersey and New York City.

To download a copy of the backgrounder, please click here.

2. NJ South Asian Working Group meets with NJ Assembly Member Chivukala:

SAALT convened a meeting between members of the NJ South Asian working group and NJ Assembly Member Upendra Chivukala to discuss issues affecting the NJ South Asian community. For more information and to join the NJ South Asian Working Group, contact saalt@saalt.org.

3. Information on the REAL ID Act, legislation that will have consequences for immigrants and citizens

The REAL ID Act: Distinguishing Myth from Reality
FACT: The REAL ID Act is a bill that has been proposed by Representative Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) in the House of Representatives.

MYTH: The bill will protect the US against the entry of terrorists, and the support of terrorist activities. It will also increase the security and integrity of the driver's license and state identification processes.

REALITY: If passed, this is what the legislation will really do:
Increase the legal thresholds for proving the need to obtain asylum in the US, thereby making the process harder.

These burdens could come at a time when the treatment of asylees in the United States needs to be improved, as recommended by a February 2005 report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The bipartisan commission reveals that the Department of Homeland Security has a track record of treating people who are seeking asylum like criminals at detention centers, while their claims are being evaluated by immigration judges. The report notes that asylees are placed in "stark conditions," including no exercise, little privacy, and solitary confinement.

Subject non-citizens to deportation for terrorist affiliations, unless they can prove that they did not knowingly support terrorism through their activities with organizations designated as "terrorist" organizations.

As a recent letter to elected officials from national and local Asian American organizations pointed out, this requirement would have bizarre consequences: even green card holders who donated funding for tsunami disaster relief to aid the Tamil Tiger-controlled parts of Sri Lanka may face deportation, if the organization that receives the donations also had a subgroup that is considered to be a terrorist organization by the US.

Require immigrants to show legal status in the US before receiving driver's licenses or state identification cards.

This provision could force many undocumented immigrants further into the shadows, while requiring state officials to be "immigration experts" and understand how to ascertain legal immigration status.