CAATA Condemns Violence, Stands With Immigrant Communities, and Reaffirms Our Commitment to Justice and Collective Care

Dear CAATA Community,

We are in deep sorrow and profound anger over what has occurred in the Twin Cities. The violence carried out has caused irreversible harm to families, community members, and artists, and has inflicted pain throughout our cultural communities across the country. This moment is not abstract. It is personal. It is lived. It is carried in bodies, families, rehearsal rooms, classrooms, and homes.

What is unfolding is a broader pattern of targeted violence against immigrant communities. ICE is not operating in isolation. Its actions reverberate across neighborhoods, institutions, and generations.

CAATA stands firmly with immigrants and refugees. We know that deportation breaks families apart. We know that it destabilizes children, caregivers, and entire support systems. We know that it offers no humane or meaningful pathway forward for people whose lives are irrevocably changed by these actions.

The trauma does not end with a single arrest or a single incident. It accumulates. It reshapes how communities move, gather, create, and trust each other. hese traumas become historical emotional, mental, and physical injuries that burden and take generations to heal.

For artists, this harm is carried into our work, into the stories we tell, and into the spaces we struggle to keep safe. Art does not exist outside of politics when people’s lives are at stake. Cultural institutions have a responsibility not only to reflect the world, but to challenge its injustices.

CAATA is committed to building a cultural theatrical field where safety is not conditional, belonging is not negotiated, and dignity is not deferred.

We will continue to speak.
We will continue to organize.
We will continue to protect our communities.
We will continue to stand together.

We will continue to advocate and create to work for healing justice.

In solidarity and with collective purpose,
The Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists (CAATA)