AAPI Data report: immigration enforcement reshapes Asian American and NHPI life

A sweeping new portrait of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities finds that intensified immigration enforcement is no longer a distant policy debate — it is reshaping daily routines, family security, and political attitudes across one of the country's fastest-growing populations.

A data drop with midterm timing

AAPI Data and the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans released the 2026 State of AANHPIs report on Oct. 6, the third edition of a series that began in 2014. The document combines public-opinion polling, demographic trends, and policy analysis, and arrives amid fights over Census race questions and federal workforce demographic collection that researchers say threaten the very data the report depends on.

"At its core, AAPI Data is about making data accessible to all," said founder and executive director Karthick Ramakrishnan. "We need to protect data collection to ensure that this crucial data can remain available." NCAPA national director Gregg Orton said the partnership is meant to translate numbers into actionable insights for community organizations that are not a monolith but share aligned priorities.

Enforcement in everyday life

Fifty-one percent of Asian American and Pacific Islander adults say they or someone they know has carried status papers, changed travel or routines, or faced detention or deportation — compared with about a third of all U.S. adults. Forty-one percent specifically report carrying proof of status or citizenship, rising to 53% among South Asians. Support for mass deportations fell from 38% in December 2024 to 29% by early 2026, while 72% say federal immigration-enforcement spending is too high.

Policy-priority surveys referenced in the report show strong AAPI opposition to agents wearing full face coverings without identification, majority opposition to large-scale neighborhood sweeps, and roughly 80% support for body-camera mandates — demands that have also featured in congressional budget fights over Homeland Security funding.

The immigration chapter documents rising arrests, detentions, and deportations, including a sharp increase in Southeast Asian removals since 2023 and elevated targeting at traffic stops. Researchers also link enforcement climates to social withdrawal and mental-health strain, citing Stop AAPI Hate and community clinic observations.

Growth — and the limits of aggregates

The report estimates 26.4 million Asian Americans (about 10% growth since 2020) and 1.7 million Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (about 6% growth). The largest absolute gains include Asian Indian, Chinese, and Filipino populations; the fastest growth rates include Afghan, Kazakh, and Nepalese communities. Disaggregated health and disability data show Filipino Americans with high hypertension and diabetes rates, NHPIs with worse self-reported health, and extreme disability burdens in groups such as Bhutanese Americans — disparities that vanish in "Asian" averages.

The report's authors emphasize that Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander outcomes are often masked when folded into a broad AAPI category — a reminder that federal forms and news coverage alike need disaggregation to avoid erasing NHPI health and disability gaps.

Housing affordability dominates kitchen-table concerns: 64% say housing is the hardest expense to afford, and 93% want federal action on housing costs as a high or moderate priority.

Why it matters for policy

Advocates are using the report to push back against proposals that would thin race data in the 2030 Census and other federal systems. Without granular counts, they argue, Congress and agencies cannot target Medicaid eligibility changes, language access, or anti-deportation legal aid where need is greatest. For voters and local leaders, the takeaway is concrete: AANHPI communities are growing fast, feeling enforcement pressure acutely, and demanding that policymakers stop treating "Asian American" as a single story.

State and city agencies that rely on Census and ACS race breakouts for language access, small-business contracting, and hate-crime prevention say the report doubles as a warning shot: if federal demographic collection shrinks, local equity programs will be flying blind just as AANHPI populations keep growing.