Near the end of the movie, you will see me crying out of frustration during a meeting with Senator Menendez.  Momentum had turned against us and Menendez had just blamed us for the severely flawed Senate bill.  At the same time other immigrant advocacy groups attacked us for continuing to fight for the legislation.

The tears are pretty uncharacteristic for me.  Raul Yzaguirre, the former head of the National Council of La Raza, introduces me to others as the “Asian Tiger” (having been told by his staff that calling me the Asian Dragon is not politically correct).  I’m told I’m pretty intimidating. One of the business lobbyists commented afterward: “You are usually the one who makes other people cry.”

“The groups,” as we are called in the film, decided I should begin the conversation because my organization, the Asian American Justice Center, is the leading advocate for family immigration and a guardian of due process (or the lack thereof) in enforcement policies. Menendez carried the water for both and those were the two issues that had taken the hardest hits in the Senate bill.  My job was explaining why we still supported moving that legislation.

I’m relieved that I was somehow able to be fairly coherent, although I’m still mortified about the tears.