Ronnette Ramos
Esq
Ronnette Ramos
Ronnette Ramos, is the Vice President of Programs for Asian American Advancing Justice Southern California (AJSOCAL). Ronnette brings nearly three decades of experience in legal services and the public sector to AJSOCAL. She leads the strategic direction and execution of AJSOCAL’s direct services, impact litigation, policy advocacy, community engagement, and demographic research. As a key member of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), she plays a central role in advancing our mission and ensuring our programs are community-centered, responsive, and impactful.
Previously, Ronnette served as Deputy Director at LA County’s Justice, Care, and Opportunities Department, the first of its kind in the nation, where she helped coordinate services for individuals impacted by the justice system. She also held leadership roles at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, managing the county’s first Right to Counsel pilot and overseeing award-winning Medical-Legal Partnerships, including initiatives focused on API communities and Black women’s health. Earlier in her career, she launched LA County’s first AAPI-focused legal self-help center at the Pasadena Courthouse.
Ronnette’s deep commitment to equity, cultural humility, and systems change, make her an invaluable leader in shaping AJSOCAL’s programmatic impact across Southern California.
SESSION OVERVIEW
Invisible No More: Amplifying the AAPI Immigration Story
Southern California has become ground zero for an escalating federal crackdown on immigrants—and our Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities are bearing the impact in devastating, yet often invisible, ways.
At AJSOCAL, we hear the fear in the voices of callers reaching us through our multi- language helplines. We feel the desperation in our legal clinics. And we see a system that is failing families who built their lives here believing that dignity and fairness were American values.
Immigration is an AAPI issue. Nearly 60% of Asian Americans in the U.S. are immigrants. In California, 55% of Asians are foreign-born. 1 in 7 Asian immigrants is undocumented. Yet, our stories are often missing from the national conversation, silenced by cultural values of privacy, or the shame that keep us quiet.
This silence isn’t compliance. It’s survival. And breaking that silence is how we reclaim our voices, our dignity, and our future.