How can The Dallas Morning News better report on issues facing North Texas’ Asian American community?

About a dozen reporters, editors, photographers and other staff members of The News hosted a listening session Saturday morning at the busy Cali Saigon Mall in Garland. The team met with members of the Asian American community to better understand what they want to see from news coverage, find ways to bridge the gaps and make staff members more accessible.

At a series of tables in the middle of the mall’s food court, roughly 40 people chatted with The News and expressed the gaps they see in news coverage and how the newspaper can work to bridge these gaps.

The Cali Saigon Mall, located at 3212 N Jupiter Road, often hosts local Asian American events, many attendees said.

Jennifer Nguyen, a founder of Garland’s Vietnamese-American Activity Center and whose family owns the mall, said the space hosts a number of Asian restaurants and shops. The mall often serves as a place for the local Asian American community to come together, she said, as it is a place where people can see their heritage reflected in the Dallas area.

When The News reached out to her about having the listening session there, she said she saw a great opportunity to bring the community together and get the ball rolling on bridge-building.

“We will do whatever it takes to bring The Dallas Morning News closer to the Asian American community,” she said.

Nguyen said she wished The News covered more issues facing the Asian American community, such as mental health struggles.

Nguyen said she feels the lack of Asian American representation in The News‘ coverage is an issue both sides can work to address. She said if members of the Asian American community wish to see more coverage, they should reach out to The News or its reporters to request coverage.

Dr. Maria Borrinaga, who came to the event, said it is not always clear who to reach out to for story tips, and sometimes, there isn’t a follow-up when something is submitted. (For reference, anyone with a story idea can reach out directly to a reporter via email, or submit a tip through The News‘ website.)

“We do have a lot of activities, but since we don’t have that platform to advertise it and really reach out to certain communities, that’s where the gap is,” Borrinaga said.

Among issues with The News‘ coverage of the Asian American community is a lack of positive stories about cultural events in the community, said Preeya Kalayaboon. She said she and her husband are directors of the Miss Asia America International Pageant, and while the pageant has been going on for about a decade, it and other cultural events are not always covered in The News.

Journalists said members of the Asian American community expressed during their table talks that they wished for The News to share their voice with the government about issues facing their communities, such as property taxes and more jobs. They also spoke of wishing for news coverage to be proactive instead of reactive, in addition to seeing stories that promote the vibrant cultural identity of the many Asian heritages in North Texas.

Dee Doai, president of the Vietnamese American Community of Greater Dallas, said she felt the event was productive, as it provided a platform for members of the Asian American community and representatives of different organizations to meet one another, as well as The News’ staff.

Doai said the most productive part of the meeting was getting to meet a lot of people face-to-face and having open dialogues, but the loud volume at the Cali Saigon Mall’s food court sometimes made it difficult to hear.

“You have a chance to meet a lot of new faces and reach out to your organizations,” she said.

Plainclothes federal agents took at least three individuals into custody outside a Dallas immigration courtroom Friday.

It’s part of a stepped-up enforcement effort from the Department of Justice to remove undocumented individuals more quickly.

NBC-5 reporters witnessed one individual detained outside a courtroom in the Earle Cabell Federal Building in downtown Dallas, and two others told a Telemundo 39 reporter that their relatives were detained as well.

Another 15 individuals were seen taken into custody over a two-day period last week, according to our content partners at The Dallas Morning News.

Guadalupe Ontiveros says her nephew, Evin Villanueva Herrera, 18, arrived at the federal courthouse Friday for a hearing in his immigration case.

But instead of receiving a next court date, an attorney withthe Department of Homeland Security filed a motion to dismiss.

Ontiveros said she then watched plainclothes agents take her nephew, who arrived in the U.S. from Honduras, into custody moments after leaving the courtroom.

“I convinced him to come (to court) because it was the right thing to do, but the judge granted him an appeal, and as soon as we walked out the court doors, they took him,” Ontiveros said.

It’s a legal process called expedited removal, allowing the federal government to remove undocumented individuals who have arrived in the U.S. in the last two years and don’t have an active asylum claim.

The practice, once confined to a geographic radius near the border, now applies across the U.S., according to Eric Cedillo.

“They (DOJ) have the legal ability to do what they’re doing,” Cedillo said

The Dallas-based immigration attorney who did not have any connection to the cases at the federal building Friday, said while individuals have thirty days to appeal, they must do so in custody and by mail.

He added that the stepped-up enforcement, seen in several cities across the US, has led to growing concern for those who arrived in the U.S. within the last two years, even among individuals who filed legitimate asylum claims within a year of arrival.

“It is having that effect of instilling fear in those individuals who are asking those questions of what can I do to protect myself,” Cedillo said.

A request for comment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not immediately returned Friday.