Pauline Lee is the daughter of immigrants who came to the United States as teenagers, with nothing.
"When they came here they were dirt poor," she recalled.
They worked entry-level jobs at first, before they both went on to study and build successful careers in California.
Lee is proud of her family's immigration stories — and the fact that they came to the U.S. legally.
"Illegal immigration is, for me, one of the biggest problems, because you're also giving these illegal immigrants a lot of our resources that should be retained for our own Americans," she said. "That's a real problem."
Lee, a retired attorney, is active in Republican politics in Nevada. About 6 in 10 Asian Americans in the state voted for President Trump over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in November. That's a huge swing from four years earlier, when a little more than 6 in 10 Asian voters backed Joe Biden.
During his first 100 days in office, President Trump has taken steps to crack down on immigration and end diversity programs in higher education and the federal government. Those actions came on the heels of an election in which Trump expanded his support among nonwhite voters, including some groups directly affected by these policies.
Over lunch, Lee says many of her Asian American friends also appreciate Trump's rejection of diversity initiatives, commonly known as DEI.
"I'm going to say right now, I'm resentful as a parent that my kids have to do more than other kids to get into certain colleges," Lee said.
When her now-adult children were applying to college, Lee says counselors steered them away from the Ivy League, warning they'd be up against too many other top-performing Asian students.
Las Vegas City Councilwoman Francis Allen-Palenske has heard similar frustrations.
"I think most Asian people feel as though, when colleges go through this vetting process, that the ethnicity of the students should not be released, so that there is absolute parity in that discussion — true meritocracy, if there is such a thing," she said.
Allen-Palenske, whose mother came to the U.S. from South Korea, previously served as a Republican state lawmaker. She says the shift toward Republicans among Asian Americans in Nevada is also about economic issues.
"Gas prices, inflation, the ability to buy a home, particularly here in Southern Nevada, has changed over the last 15 years," Allen-Palenske explained. "Las Vegas was probably one of the best places in the country to come and purchase a home for $200,000 and home ownership was very attainable 15 years ago. We can't say that right now."
James Zarsadiaz, a historian at the University of San Francisco, has observed economic concerns largely driving the shift.
"There's a strong working class and lower middle class community of Asian Americans in Nevada, many of them working in hospitality, in the gaming industry," he said. "And so I think they're feeling the pinch more right at the grocery store, at the gas pump."
When it comes to Trump's economic policies, Rachel Puaina, a local teacher whose husband and four adult children are union workers, says she sees Trump standing up for the United States.
"Is this what you voted for? Yes, that's what we voted for," she said. "The tariffs. I've been wanting to do that for over 20 years."
She acknowledges that Trump's tariffs have led to volatility in the stock market, but she says Americans should be prepared to "suffer" for a little while and should give Trump's policies a chance to work.
"I looked at the stock market. Yep, it's plummeting," Puaina said. "And I was like, Well, this is what we get for allowing them to do this to us for how many years?"
Puaina, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines, also supports Trump's immigration policies, including his push to rethink birthright citizenship.
"As far as citizenship, I think we have to have more strict restrictions on it," she said.
Schayden Gorai, a field representative in Las Vegas for the conservative group Turning Point Action, identifies as Asian American and says he believes many in the local Asian community agree with Trump.
"A lot of them are immigrants from other countries, and they did it the right way. They went through the process themselves. And I think they just want to be treated fairly," he suggested. "There's a right way and a wrong way to do things. They've done it the right way, and they think that everybody should also do it the right way and be treated equally."
Zarsadiaz says for some Asian Americans with recent ties to immigration, those very experiences have drawn them to Trump's rhetoric.
"They don't see immigration as a racial issue. They see it as a fairness issue or a matter of law and order," he said.
But for some Asian Americans here, uncertainty caused by Trump's deportation policy is sparking fear.
At an Asian cultural festival in Las Vegas recently, a woman named May — a naturalized citizen who was born in the Philippines — says Trump's efforts to do away with birthright citizenship worry her.
"I'm like, will I be next … you know what I mean?" she asked.
May asked that her last name be withheld because she has a family member who's seeking citizenship and she's hesitant to speak publicly.
"I'm just worried … just because he's going through the right channels, he could be deported," May said. "It's just like a little bit of uneasiness."
Nevada represents a more pronounced example of a larger shift. In November, Asian American voters nationwide moved toward Trump by about six points compared to 2020.
That said, it's unclear whether Trump can maintain that support. In a poll released by the Public Religion Research Institute this week, just 4 in 10 Asian Americans said they approved of Trump's job performance so far.
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