Activists in Los Angeles, meanwhile, are asking whether Rep. Ted Lieu has done enough for constituents detained by ICE, despite being one of the agency’s loudest critics in Congress. We also have a Korean American Purple Heart veteran getting another shot at coming home, a pro-democracy icon facing more prison time and a country that produces barely a fraction of the world’s emissions asking major polluters to help foot the bill after a disaster that killed more than 1,200 people.

Featured

ICE releases cancer patient from detention amid deportation case

Loreto Javar, 76, spent nearly three decades living in the U.S. as a green card holder, renewing his status repeatedly without trouble. Despite now having Stage 4 prostate cancer, he showed up for his naturalization interview hoping to become a U.S. citizen. But neither his age, his condition nor his willingness to go through the legal process stopped ICE from taking him into custody. He was released Sept. 1 after the Philippine Consulate General in Seattle appealed to ICE on humanitarian grounds, but his deportation case remains open.

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What else we’re tracking

Activists are putting Ted Lieu’s anti-ICE record to the test

Rep. Ted Lieu has been one of the more vocal Democratic critics of ICE and the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign. But activists in Los Angeles say those positions don’t mean much if constituents who end up in immigration detention can’t get meaningful help from his office.

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Pardon revives Purple Heart veteran’s hope of returning to the US

Could a governor’s pardon finally bring Sae Joon Park home? The Korean American veteran earned a Purple Heart after being shot in the spine and lower back while fighting for the U.S. in Panama, but two later convictions eventually forced him to self-deport to South Korea last year. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has now pardoned the two convictions that led to his removal order, giving Park his best shot yet at returning to the U.S.

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5,000 US sailors come ashore in Pattaya amid prostitution crackdown

Thai authorities conducted a prostitution crackdown in Pattaya just days before some 5,000 U.S. sailors and Marines arrived in the city for shore leave. The timing certainly raised eyebrows, but officials say the raids had nothing to do with the USS Abraham Lincoln’s visit. Up to 50 people were reportedly detained before the carrier docked Wednesday.

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Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong pleads guilty to conspiracy

Joshua Wong’s international campaign for Hong Kong democracy may now cost him several more years of his freedom. In a Hong Kong court Wednesday, the 29-year-old activist pleaded guilty to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. Among the evidence prosecutors used against him was the very work that made him an international face of Hong Kong’s democracy movement: lobbying governments abroad for support.

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The world can no longer avoid 1.5°C of global heating, UN report finds

Remember the 1.5°C climate target that nations agreed to pursue in 2015? The UN now says the world is going to blow past it. Even under its most optimistic pathway, global heating is expected to reach about 1.8°C above preindustrial levels. Is that the end of the world? No. But some of what we lose on the way there may never come back.

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Nepal says major polluters should pay for its climate losses after deadly floods

Nepal barely registers on the list of countries responsible for global emissions, but it is staring at a rebuilding bill of as much as $5 billion after devastating floods killed more than 1,200 people. The government is now asking the world’s biggest polluters to help foot that bill, singling out China, the U.S. and India as countries with what its foreign minister called a “legal and moral liability” for climate losses suffered elsewhere.

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Why read Issue #254?

The world doesn’t make sense anymore, does it? Then again, when did it ever? We just keep getting reminded that the rules on paper and what actually happens to people can be two very different things. Maybe certainty was always a bit of an illusion. Still, we can’t leave it all to fate.

This issue has a lot of that kind of madness going on, but trust us when we say there is still some good news buried in all this. Not knowing what happens next is exactly why what we do next matters.

Support independent Asian diaspora journalism. Become a paid subscriber to read the full stories and help sustain The Rebel Yellow.

The Rebel Yellow is supported in part by funding from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). Funders do not influence story selection, reporting, or editorial decisions. All editorial content is independently produced by The Rebel Yellow team.

Two U.S. sailors were sent back to the USS Abraham Lincoln without charges after a drunken fight in Pattaya, Thailand, where police also detained dozens in a prostitution crackdown days earlier.

Unruly visitors

A resident called police about a fight involving the two service members early Thursday near Pattaya’s Walking Street n…

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Hong Kong pro-democracy icon Joshua Wong pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces. This marks the second time he has been convicted under Beijing’s national security law, extending a prison stay that has already lasted nearly six years.

State of play

Wong, who made global headlines as a teen activist a…

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After more than two months in custody, a Filipino green card holder with Stage 4 prostate cancer has been released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention in Washington state, though his deportation case remains open.

Terms of release

Loreto Javar, 76, was released from …

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has pardoned Purple Heart veteran Sae Joon Park for the two convictions that forced him out of the U.S. last year, and his lawyers can now challenge the removal order keeping him in South Korea.

State of play

After self-deporting last year, Park, 57, now lives in Busan. On Aug. 28, Hochul granted him and f…

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Even the world’s most optimistic climate pathway is no longer enough to prevent global heating from reaching about 1.8°C above preindustrial levels, according to a new UN Environment Programme (UNEP) global report. Under the landmark Paris Agreement adopted in 2015, countries agreed to pursue efforts to limit global heat…

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Nepal is seeking “climate justice” from major greenhouse gas emitters after catastrophic floods caused by a massive glacial collapse killed more than 1,200 people and left thousands missing.

In a recent television interview, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal singled out China, the U.S. and India as countries …

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Anti-ICE activists are accusing Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) of falling short when his own constituents end up in immigration detention.

Former congressional candidate Marena Lin, who organized a protest outside Lieu’s Los Angeles office on Aug. 28, says people from his district are being held at Adelan…

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There are several other stories we can’t stop thinking about, including an Asian American student who took on the University of Washington without a lawyer and the unlikely discovery of Suni Lee’s stolen statue and a devastating flood in Nepal. Plus, Vietnam is pushing back against China in the Paracels, prenups may be getting less awkward and a Vietnamese horror hit is coming to North American theaters.

Featured

9 in 10 AAPI voters plan to show up for the midterms

According to the 2026 AAPI Voter Survey, Asian American voters are signaling unusually high interest in this year’s midterms, with 90% saying they plan to vote. Seventy-one percent describe themselves as absolutely certain they’ll vote, with another 23% fairly certain. Democrats and Republicans have two months to make their case to an electorate that could matter in several battleground states and House districts.

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What else we’re tracking

Federal judge advances bias suit of Asian American star student rejected by 16 colleges

After dozens of law firms turned Stanley Zhong’s family away, they decided to take on some of the country’s biggest universities themselves. With no lawyers, they used ChatGPT and Gemini to help draft their complaints. Now, a federal judge in Seattle has refused to throw out Zhong’s claim that the University of Washington rejected him because he is Asian American.

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Family, Sikh groups demand justice in fatal shooting of Brooklyn delivery worker

The family of a Sikh delivery worker killed in Brooklyn wants to know why he was shot and why nobody has been arrested. Police say Gurdeep Singh, 27, was killed after an argument with another driver, but investigators have yet to establish what started the confrontation.

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Suni Lee’s stolen statue turns up in Minnesota closet more than a year after it vanished

Suni Lee’s missing $33,000 bronze bust has finally turned up, and police weren’t even looking for it. Officers responding to reports of gunfire in St. Paul found the sculpture inside a bedroom closet, 13 months after it disappeared from the park where it had been installed as a tribute to the Hmong American Olympic champion.

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Nepal digs mass graves as flood toll climbs past 1,000

Nepal has begun burying unidentified flood victims in temporary graves as morgues struggle with the scale of the disaster. About 4,000 people remain missing, including hundreds of foreign travelers and hydropower workers believed to have been underground when the flood struck.

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Vietnam protests China’s new construction in disputed islands

China’s construction of new facilities in the contested Paracel Islands, a South China Sea archipelago also claimed by Vietnam, has drawn a formal protest from Hanoi. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said Vietnam has “full historical evidence and legal grounds to affirm its sovereignty over the archipelago,” and demanded that China halt its activities.

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Are Vietnamese couples warming up to prenups?

Prenuptial agreements, or prenups, have long been an uncomfortable proposition in Vietnam, particularly when planning for divorce can be interpreted as a lack of trust before the wedding. The practice, however, is apparently gaining acceptance as more people look to establish financial boundaries before tying the knot.

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This Vietnamese found-footage horror hit has reached North American theaters

Based on a popular urban legend known as the “Ghost of the Hua Family,” “Lau Chu Hoa: The Deadliest Mansion” revisits a story that has haunted Vietnamese pop culture for decades. After drawing more than 1 million admissions in Vietnam, the horror film is now heading to theaters across the U.S. and Canada.

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Why read Issue #253?

Doing your part can feel a little pointless when you can’t see what everyone else is doing. Maybe nobody else cares. Maybe nothing will come of it. Who knows?

Do it anyway.

Because there will be times when a whole lot of people decide to bother, too. And when that happens, all those little things we thought wouldn’t make much of a difference suddenly can. You’d be surprised how much of history was made that way.

Support independent Asian diaspora journalism. Become a paid subscriber to read the full stories and help sustain The Rebel Yellow.

The Rebel Yellow is supported in part by funding from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). Funders do not influence story selection, reporting, or editorial decisions. All editorial content is independently produced by The Rebel Yellow team.

Vietnam has formally protested new Chinese construction on a Paracel islet, near what analysts believe will be Beijing’s largest military base in the South China Sea.

New structures

The new construction runs in three prongs…

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Nine in 10 Asian American and Pacific Islander registered voters say they intend to cast ballots in November, a higher share than in either of the past two midterm cycles, according to a new survey by APIAVote and AAPI Data.

By the numbers

The 2026 AAPI Voter Survey, which was released on Aug. 26, put the respondents’ voting intent at 90%,…

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The fatal shooting of a Sikh food delivery worker in Brooklyn has loved ones and community members pressing authorities for an arrest nearly two weeks after the incident.

“Why?”

Relatives, religious leaders and community members gathered for a candlelight vigil on Aug. 26 at the East New York intersection where Gurdeep Singh was fatally …

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A federal judge in Seattle has refused to throw out a Palo Alto man’s claim that the University of Washington (UW) rejected him because he is Asian American.

Latest developments

In a 23-page order signed Aug. 7, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart left plaintiff Stanley Zhong a few paths forward. Per his ruling, Zhong can seek damages f…

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Nepal is digging temporary graves for unidentified flood victims as the death toll climbs past 1,000 and about 4,000 people remain missing. The flood was unleashed by a massive ice-and-rock collapse near the Nepal-Tibet border on Aug. 26, with some victims later recovered nearly 200 kilometers downstream.

Still unaccounted for …

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After drawing more than 1 million admissions in Vietnam, “Lau Chu Hoa: The Deadliest Mansion” begins screenings at AMC, Regal and Cinemark theaters across the U.S. and Canada on Sept. 4. The found-footage horror film joins a growing slate of homegrown Vietnamese genre movies finding sizable audiences at home, with…

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Prenuptial agreements, or prenups, have long been an uncomfortable proposition in Vietnam, particularly when planning for divorce can be interpreted as a lack of trust before the wedding. The practice, however, is apparently gaining acceptance as more people look to establish financial boundaries before tying the knot.

Tru…

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Police investigating reports of gunfire at a Minnesota home found the stolen bronze bust of Olympic champion Suni Lee inside a bedroom closet more than a year after it disappeared from Phalen Regional Park in St. Paul. A mother and son who lived at the residence have since been charged with felony receiving stolen property, th…

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A 22-year-old Filipino nurse is among those now in ICE custody, despite having valid work authorization, according to her boyfriend. We’re also covering Chinese American lawmakers’ response to talk of wartime internment, the latest court fight over mail voting and new cancer data showing Native Hawaiian women had the highest breast cancer rate in the country.

Featured

Most people swept up by ICE in July had no criminal record

July was ICE’s busiest month yet under Trump’s second term, with arrests climbing above 49,000. What changed was the makeup of those arrests: civil immigration violators with no criminal record became the majority for the first time.

That pattern has already hit Asian and Pacific Islander communities hard. Nearly 15,000 AAPIs were arrested nationally between January 2025 and March 2026, according to a Stop AAPI Hate analysis, and most had no criminal history. ICE is expected to keep expanding its detention system as more facilities open this fall.

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What else we’re tracking

Filipino nurse detained by ICE despite valid work permit, boyfriend says

Mariae Elysse Nacu, a 22-year-old Filipino registered nurse in Phoenix, is being held in ICE detention despite having valid employment authorization, according to her boyfriend. Nacu has no criminal record and a pending immigration case. A GoFundMe campaign is currently collecting donations for the potential bond and other legal fees.

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Trump admin appeals judge’s block on mail voting limits

President Donald Trump’s attempt to tighten mail-voting rules is back in court. Judge Indira Talwani temporarily blocked several provisions after finding the Postal Service likely exceeded its authority and noting the record still lacked evidence of fraudulent mail voting. The administration appealed Friday, making another Supreme Court fight increasingly likely.

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Right-wing podcast’s calls for Chinese American internment condemned by Asian American lawmakers

Chinese American Reps. Grace Meng, Ted Lieu and Judy Chu are condemning a “Timcast IRL” discussion in which a panelist asked whether the U.S. should “intern all the Chinese Americans we can find” during a hypothetical war with China. The lawmakers said the remarks “invoke centuries-old racist tropes that cast Chinese Americans as perpetual foreigners and question their loyalty to the United States.”

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Native Hawaiian women have highest breast cancer rate in U.S., new report finds

Native Hawaiian women recorded the highest breast cancer incidence from 2018 through 2022, at 177.2 cases per 100,000 women in the U.S., according to a new American Cancer Society report. “Behind aggregated Asian American and NHPI data are populations experiencing some of the highest cancer incidence rates in the country,” lead author Nikita Wagle said.

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Why read Issue #252?

“You have nothing to fear if you follow the law.” We’ve all heard some version of it from people who defend aggressive immigration enforcement, including those whose own communities are vulnerable to its consequences.

While it may be tempting to believe the government will stop where it says it will, that’s a lot of trust to place in whoever gets to decide how far it can go. How many times does that line have to move before we know better?

Support independent Asian diaspora journalism. Become a paid subscriber to read the full stories and help sustain The Rebel Yellow.

The Rebel Yellow is supported in part by funding from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF). Funders do not influence story selection, reporting, or editorial decisions. All editorial content is independently produced by The Rebel Yellow team.

Native Hawaiian women recorded the highest breast cancer incidence from 2018 through 2022, at 177.2 cases per 100,000 women in the U.S., according to a new American Cancer Society report. Their rate was 27% higher than white women (139.5 cases per 100,000) and 57% higher than Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) …

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Three Chinese American members of Congress are pushing back against a “Timcast IRL” panelist’s suggestion that the U.S. should “intern all the Chinese Americans we can find” during a hypothetical war with China, saying it “kind of seems like we should.”

In a statement issued to The Rebel Yellow on Aug. 26.,…

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