Why We Launched the AAPIP Twin Cities Rapid Response Fund

Since December 2025, the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area has been the site of the largest deployment of immigration officers in U.S. history. Over 3,000 federal agents have made more than 3,400 arrests across the region.

The Twin Cities is home to approximately 95,000 to 100,000 Hmong residents, the largest urban Hmong population in the United States, and the largest Karen refugee community in the country. We are witnessing an aggressive campaign to detain and deport Southeast Asian immigrant and refugee communities.

Community members are afraid to leave their homes, go to work, get food, or take their children to school.

AANHPI Organizations Are Responding, But They’re Critically Underfunded

AANHPI-serving organizations are providing legal defense, food assistance, know-your-rights education, and emergency wrap-around support. In times of crisis, community members turn to these trusted organizations for information and support.

Here is the funding reality: Only 0.13% of philanthropic dollars in the Twin Cities go to AANHPI causes and organizations. That’s 13 cents out of every $100. Most AANHPI community organizations operate with fewer than five staff and budgets under $500,000.

Community Leaders Asked Us to Create This Fund

This fund exists because Twin Cities community leaders came to us. They watched enforcement actions target their communities with far less visibility than other groups. They asked AAPIP to create infrastructure that could move money quickly to organizations serving families in crisis.

AAPIP has the national reach and administrative capacity to serve as a trusted intermediary in times of crisis. Our Twin Cities Chapter leaders know the organizations on the ground. Together, we built a fund that can distribute grants biweekly, guided by an Advisory Committee of local community leaders.

This Fund Is One Option Among Several

There are many local AANHPI organizations in the Twin Cities that you can give directly to. If you want to support multiracial immigrant rights efforts, other pooled funds exist for that purpose. If you want your gift to reach AANHPI-serving organizations through a trusted intermediary, contribute here.

These are not competing options. Give to one, give to all. Every dollar helps.

What We’re Seeing Now Is Phase 1

Current enforcement is aggressive and traumatizing. Phase 2 is expected to be more targeted and systematic. The infrastructure we build now will help communities respond to what’s coming.

Donate Now

Your gift goes directly to local AANHPI-serving organizations responding to this crisis. Grants are unrestricted and distributed on a rolling basis, so your donation reaches communities quickly.

Donate to the AAPIP Twin Cities Rapid Response Fund

Please share this with your networks, especially people with connections to AANHPI communities who may want to give but don’t know where to start.

We’ll send updates throughout the campaign on grants distributed and organizations supported.