Organization

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC)


The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) is a national civil rights organization for communities from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, founded in 1979.[1][2] It began as the Indochina Refugee Action Center, formed in response to the genocide in Cambodia and the large number of refugees fleeing Southeast Asia.[3]

History

By 1975, hundreds of thousands of people had been forced from their homes in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.[2] SEARAC was formed in 1979 to meet the urgent needs of those arriving in the United States. It was first called the Indochina Refugee Action Center and then the Indochina Resource Action Center (IRAC), and it later took the name SEARAC to leave behind the colonial connotations of "Indochina."[4]

Rather than build a new structure, SEARAC's founders turned to the dozens of community groups that refugees had already formed. These mutual assistance associations (MAAs), run by and for each community, linked newcomers with government and other services across barriers of language and culture.[4] SEARAC made their support its central work, through grants, training and technical assistance.[4]

SEARAC counts the Refugee Act of 1980 among its early successes, having worked with other organizations and allies in Congress for its passage. The act set up federal services to help refugees become self-sufficient, created the Office of Refugee Resettlement within the Department of Health and Human Services and made "refugee" a regular term in American law and usage.[4][2] SEARAC played a central part in building the system that received refugees from Europe, Africa and the Americas as well as Asia.[4] In 1985 it rallied Southeast Asian communities behind the Refugee Assistance Extension Act, which made "cooperation with refugee mutual assistance associations" a condition for reception and placement grants.[4] From the 1970s to the 1990s, roughly 1.5 million Southeast Asian refugees came to the United States.[4] Through the 1980s SEARAC settled on two roles: a forum where the needs of Southeast Asians in the United States could be voiced, and a resource center for community development and economic advancement.[4]

Under executive director KaYing Yang, from 1997 to 2004, SEARAC began programs built on the strengths of Southeast Asian American communities rather than on the refugee crisis.[4] In 1999 it helped coordinate the screening and placement of nearly 1,000 Kosovar refugees, and its partner organizations pressed for the implementation of the Hmong Naturalization Act of 2000.[4] It helped build national networks for each community: the Cambodian American National Council (CANC), Hmong National Development, Inc. (HND), the Laotian American National Alliance (LANA) and the National Alliance of Vietnamese Service Agencies (NAVASA).[4] It also helped found the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF), which the 2005 account calls the first comprehensive national scholarship organization for Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.[4]

In 2005 SEARAC worked with a network of 182 MAAs and religious organizations, including temples and churches, whose combined annual budgets exceeded $75 million. That year it gave $360,000 in social service and organizational development funds to 18 of them in six states.[4] Its Successful New Americans Project (SNAP) helped local groups strengthen their boards, handle their finances, improve communication and gain wider recognition.[4] SEARAC also organized against deportation policies, an effort the 2005 account credits with raising awareness of immigration law, spreading education on immigrant rights and sparking grassroots organizing in its communities.[4] By then its work had grown to linking local groups with national organizations and policy makers, raising the visibility of Southeast Asian Americans among Asian Pacific Islander and immigrant communities, and serving as a channel for political advocacy.[4]

Advocacy

Deportation remains a central issue. SEARAC has supported the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act, which would limit the number of Southeast Asians subject to deportation, and the New Way Forward Act.[5] In 2024 it was one of more than 190 groups that signed a letter asking President Joe Biden to close immigration detention facilities.[5] As detentions and deportations of Southeast Asian Americans rose in 2025, including removals to third countries, SEARAC opened a virtual resource hub, convened the Southeast Asian Deportation Defense Network to connect families with legal help, and supported pardon and clemency campaigns.[3]

The year 2025 marked fifty years of Southeast Asian refugee resettlement in the United States. SEARAC launched the Our Roots, Our Power campaign, and in May it premiered three episodes of Southeast Asian American Journeys at CAAMfest. The five-part documentary series, produced by filmmaker Quyên Nguyen-Le with SEARAC and the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), follows five local refugee communities.[3] SEARAC supported a bicameral resolution marking the anniversary, introduced by Rep. Derek Tran (CA-45) in the House and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in the Senate, and California's SCR 96, introduced by Sen. Aisha Wahab, which recognized the 1.1 million Southeast Asian Americans living in California.[3]

In education, SEARAC promoted California's new model K-12 ethnic studies curriculum on Cambodian, Hmong and Vietnamese American communities, and it worked on several versions of AB 715 during the 2025 legislative session.[3] It opposed the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education and the defunding of minority-serving institutions, including Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander-serving institutions (AANAPISIs).[3] After H.R. 1, the 2025 budget reconciliation bill, was signed into law despite its campaign, SEARAC held a community webinar in September 2025 and published a two-page fact sheet on its effects on SNAP, Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act.[3]

SEARAC's work from 2022 through 2026 followed a strategic plan shaped by more than 30 partner organizations and community leaders.[3] In 2025 it held 46 congressional briefings, more than 50 meetings with California policymakers and agency staff and 35 meetings with federal policymakers, and Southeast Asian American Journeys screened 35 times in 24 cities.[3] That May, Executive Director Quyên Đinh and Sera Koulabdara, CEO of Legacies of War, wrote the op-ed "During AANHPI Heritage Month, Remember the Refugees America Forgot" for AsAm News.[3] SEARAC's work drew 77 news stories that year, in outlets including The Hill, The Guardian, NBC News and AsAm News.[3]

Each year SEARAC runs a Leadership and Advocacy Training program in Washington, DC; 34 rising leaders trained there in 2025.[3] Its 27th session brought 23 participants from 10 states and DC, including Cambodian, Hmong, Iu Mien, Montagnard, Lao and Vietnamese leaders, and closed with a performance by Mera Dance Troupe, a Cambodian traditional dance group from Long Beach.[6]

Community

SEARAC has partnered with the Southeast Asian American Collaborative, Southeast Asian American Action and Visibility in Education and the Southeast Asian Deportation Defense Network, and with national coalitions including the Detention Watch Network, the Immigrant Justice Network, the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.[5] Its California SEAA Collaborative had 17 member groups in 2025.[3] Its 2025 funders included AARP, The Asian American Foundation, the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies, the California Endowment, the California Wellness Foundation and the Central Valley Community Foundation.[3]

Leadership (2025)

Staff and board listed in the 2025 annual report.[3]

Staff
  • Quyên Đinh, Executive Director
  • Katrina Dizon Mariategue, Chief Operating Officer
  • Kham S. Moua, National Deputy Director
  • Anna Hyunah Byon, Director of National Policy
  • Jenna McDavid, Director of Development
  • Elaine Sanchez Wilson, Senior Director of Communications
  • Mandy Diêc, California Deputy Director
  • Andrew C. Lee, Senior California Policy Manager
  • Thuy Do, Senior California Program Manager
  • Phun H, Communications Manager
  • Phoebe Tran, Operations and Finance Manager
Board
  • Alvina Yeh, Chair
  • Varaxy Yi, Vice Chair
  • Mike Hoa Nguyen, Treasurer
  • Roseryn Bhudsabourg, Secretary
  • Viravyne Chhim
  • Victor Donge
  • Kathy Duong
  • Samantha Hing
  • Lisette Le
  • Nanda Neng
  • Huong Nguyen-Yap
  • Ana Phakhin
  • Hieu Pham
  • Seng So
  • Lue Vang
  • Kaolee Yang

See also

References

  1. ↑ SEARAC, home page
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 SEARAC, Our impact
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 SEARAC, 2025 Annual Report
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 NYU Wagner, SEARAC leadership story (2005)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 InfluenceWatch, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
  6. ↑ SEARAC, Southeast Asian American leaders continue legacy of advocacy on Capitol Hill
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This page was last edited on 26 September 2026, at 20:32.