#249 4/19 C100 Conference/Miami Rally; FISA Vote; Dr. Underwood; Citizenship Question; +

In This Issue #249

·       Committee of 100 Conference and Miami Rally on April 19, 2024

·       Second Vote on Reauthorization of FISA Coming Up in House?

·       Dr. Robert Underwood on AANHPISI and Bogus Rhetoric of Espionage

·       Opposition to Citizenship Question in Future Census - Founding Fathers were "Illegals"

·       News and Activities for the Communities

Committee of 100 Conference and Miami Rally on April 19, 2024

1.  Committee of 100 Conference in New York City

This session on "The Impact of U.S.-China Tensions on Asian Americans in Government" in the Committee of 100 Conference was inadvertently left out of the previous newsletter.  The conference will be held at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on April 19, 2024. In an environment where U.S.-China geopolitical tensions continue to escalate, Asian Americans serving in the federal government often find themselves unfairly treated when it comes to postings and assignments. The panel will explore the nuanced potential barriers to career advancement that spin from the tensions with China, the complexities of obtaining security clearances and the uncomfortable scrutiny regarding loyalty that Asian Americans endure due to concerns over foreign influence.Speakers:

·       Carol Lam, Former United States Attorney, Southern District of California

·       Chuck Rosenberg, Former United States Attorney, Eastern District of Virginia

·       Andy Kim, Representative, United States Congress 

·       Jiashen You, PhD, Chief Data Officer, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 

Moderator:

·       Paula Madison, Chair & CEO, 88 Madison Media Inc. 

For more information about the C100 conference and registration: https://bit.ly/4d9giAD

2. Community Rally Against Florida's Anti-Chinese Alien Land Law in Miami

On April 19, 2024, a community rally will be held at 99 NE 4th Street, Miami, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will hold a hearing on the Shen vs. Simpson lawsuit.  The rally supports overturning Florida's hateful and discriminatory property law known as SB 264, which unconstitutionally bans many Chinese immigrants from buying homes in Florida.The rally is sponsored by

·       Florida Asian American Justice Alliance (FAAJA)

·       United Chinese Americans (UCA)

·       Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA)

·       League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Florida

·       Stop AAPI Hate

Second Vote on Reauthorization of FISA Coming Up in House?

According to the Washington Post, the House reauthorized a part of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in a bipartisan vote of 273-147 on Friday, April 12, 2024.  The reauthorization window was shortened from five to two years. The post-9/11 provision known as Section 702 of FISA gave U.S. spy agencies the ability to collect without a warrant the communications of noncitizens abroad who are suspected of threatening U.S. national security or whose emails and text messages might provide foreign intelligence. At issue is whether spy agencies can analyze communications by Americans who may have interacted with foreign targets, which privacy advocates on the far right and left say is unconstitutional.An amendment to require a warrant if the FBI wants to analyze Americans’ communications swept up under Section 702 was not adopted because of a tie vote of 212-212.Privacy advocates decried the bill’s passage without a warrant requirement. Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, characterized lawmakers who supported the vote for passage of the bill as “a craven betrayal of the Americans who placed their faith in these members to protect their rights.”Stark opposition from another bipartisan group of lawmakers moved far-right members to compel a motion to reconsider the legislation, forcing the House to vote the following week on defending the measure and stalling its passage to the Senate, which must act before a lapse occurs on April 19, 2024.Read the Washington Post report: https://wapo.st/4aTgp13.

During the APA Justice monthly meeting on April 8, 2024, Joanna YangQing Derman, Director, Anti-Profiling, Civil Rights & National Security Program, Advancing Justice | AAJC, reported on the fast pace movement on the FISA Section 702 reauthorization legislation.  The second vote in the House, as reported by the Washington Post, may be procedural.On April 14, 2024, the Brennan Center published a one-pager detailing how the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA) authorizes the largest expansion of surveillance on domestic soil since the Patriot Act.  According to the one-pager, the administration obtained approval from the FISA Court on April 4 to continue conducting Section 702 surveillance until April of 2025. According to the government itself, that approval will “grandfather” Section 702 surveillance for a year even if Section 702 itself were to lapse. "The Senate must not let a meaningless deadline pressure it into creating a surveillance state," the one-pager said.

Dr. Robert Underwood on AANHPISI and Bogus Rhetoric of Espionage

Dr. Robert Underwood gave remarks on two topics during the APA Justice monthly meeting on April 8, 2024.  He joined the meeting from Guam around 4:00 am Chamorro standard time.  It is the only time zone that is named after a people.  On January 24, 2000, Congress passed the Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands Standard Time Zone Act. The Act established the Chamorro standard time zone for Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The term Chamorro refers to the culture and people of that area. Dr. Underwood is former President of the University of Guam and former Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC).  He is currently a Member of the President's Advisory Commission AA and NHPI, serving on the data disaggregation and higher education subcommittee.  One topic the Commission has been advocating is higher education, particularly the Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander serving institutions (AANHPISI).  There are almost 200 such institutions across the country.  About half of the AANHPI enrollment goes to AANHPISI institutions.  Based on FY 2022 appropriations, AANHPISI institutions would receive approximately $75,000.There is a wide variety of minority serving institution programs in almost every federal agency.  However, when AANHPISI applies, sometimes the agencies are hesitant because they do not really understand this network, which has been around for a couple of decades. There are calls for advocacy and some actions by federal agencies on this basis.

In Guam and the Northern Marianas, one of the issues that has surfaced is the number of undocumented immigrants coming from the Northern Marianas to Guam on boats.The Northern Marianas is also a US territory, but they have a unique agreement where people can come from China without a visa as tourists and stay for 2 weeks.  In the past couple years, about 100 to 200 people have rented a boat or get dropped from boats into Guam.According to the Stars and Stripes, there had been 118 unlawful or attempted unlawful entries by Chinese citizens to Guam since 2022 - 85 in 2022, 27 in 2023, and six were reported for the first two months of 2024.Some think tanks and Congressional members have surfaced the narrative that this stream of potential Chinese migrants is coming in to conduct espionage on military facilities in Guam, despite the fact that immigration authorities in Honolulu which oversee Guam and the Marianas have stated repeatedly there is no reason to believe the espionage allegation, Even though there is no basis for the espionage and no one has been charged, everyone starts looking at each other trying to figure out what is going on and looking at the neighbors wondering why the neighbors are here.  Dr. Underwood reiterated that the hype of espionage is bogus.  There is no truth in it.  They are just economic migrants looking for a job and better opportunities.It is very dispiriting and irresponsible to use a little bit of data to create a false impression.  Dr. Underwood is working with a think tank called the Pacific Center for Island Security to do its best to bring full understanding to that situation.

Dr. Underwood applauds the recent rally and continuing efforts against Florida's state law known as SB 846 that restricts academic exchange and collaborations, including the hiring of graduate students based on their national origin.  Dr. Underwood suggests that this is an opportunity to generate community support and understanding across the country.  Everything is a new opportunity.A summary for the monthly meeting is being prepared at this time.  The virtual monthly meeting is by invitation only. It is closed to the press. If you wish to join, either one time or for future meetings, please contact one of the co-organizers of APA Justice - Steven Pei 白先慎, Vincent Wang 王文奎, and Jeremy Wu 胡善庆 - or send a message to contact@apajustice.org.

Opposition to Citizenship Question in Future Census - Founding Fathers were "Illegals"

According to the Brennan Center for Justice on April 11, 2024, leading civil rights organizations and good government groups are pressing the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to oppose the Equal Representation Act (H.R. 7109), a bill proposing to add a citizenship question to the 2030 Census and to exclude non-citizens from the national head count used to apportion the House. In a letter to Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the 74 signatories – which include the Brennan Center for Justice – detailed the serious constitutional and practical problems with the bill.As the letter explains, the proposal to exclude noncitizens from the apportionment count violates the Fourteenth Amendment, which requires a count of all persons living in the country. As a result, H.R. 7109 effectively proposes to amend the Constitution through legislation, in violation of the amendment process set forth in Article V.The letter goes on to explain that the bill would threaten the success of future censuses by undermining the Census Bureau’s ability to collect accurate population counts, because including a citizenship question on the census would dissuade non-citizens from being counted.Read the Brennan Center statement: https://bit.ly/3VYmmFM 

Founding Fathers Were "Illegals"

According to Yahoo News, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) schooled Rep. Gary Palmer after the Alabama Republican claimed that the Founding Fathers “never anticipated” having a mass number of people “illegally” come to America.The comments were made during a House Oversight Committee markup session where lawmakers addressed the Equal Representation Act, which — if passed — would require a citizenship question on the 2030 U.S. census and every census 10 years after that.“There was no immigration law when the Constitution was adopted at all. In fact, the only illegals in the country, at least according to the native population, were the people writing the Constitution,” said Raskin, a Constitution attorney.48 of the 56 signers of the Constitution were born in America when it was a British colony. Of the remaining 8, Two were born in England; two in Ireland; two in Scotland; one in Northern Ireland; and one in Wales.Read the Yahoo News report: https://yhoo.it/3Q2iQX1 

News and Activities for the Communities

1.  APA Justice Community Calendar

Upcoming Events:2024/04/17 Racially Profiled for Being A Scientist: A Discussion of the US DOJ's China Initiative2024/04/18 Corky Lee's Asian America: Fifty Years of Photographic Justice2024/04/19 Committee of 100 Annual Conference and Gala2024/04/19 Appeals Court Hearing on Florida SB 2642024/04/19 Community Rally Against Florida's Anti-Chinese Alien Land Law2024/04/30 Understanding Implicit Bias and How to Combat It2024/05/02 AAGEN 2024 Executive Leadership Workshop2024/05/04 Corky Lee's Asian America: Fifty Years of Photographic JusticeVisit https://bit.ly/45KGyga for event details.Visit the 2024 Congressional Calendar by Roll Call:  https://bit.ly/4aw4iqU 

2.  Understanding Implicit Bias and How to Combat It

WHAT: Understanding Implicit Bias and How to Combat ItWHEN: April 30, 2024, 3:00 - 4:15 pm ETWHERE: Virtual eventHOST: American Academy of Arts & Sciences  INTRODUCTION: David W. Oxtoby, President, American Academy of Arts & SciencesSPEAKERS: 

·       Frank Dobbin, Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences; Chair of the Sociology Department, Harvard University

·       Jennifer L. Eberhardt, William R. Kimball Professor; Professor of Psychology; Cofounder and Codirector, Stanford SPARQ, Stanford University

·       Camara Phyllis Jones, Leverhulme Visiting Professor in Global Health and Social Medicine, King’s College London

·       Goodwin Liu, Associate Justice, California Supreme Court

DESCRIPTION:  Implicit bias is the residue of stereotyped associations and social patterns that are outside our conscious awareness but reinforce inequality in the world. The implications of implicit bias are present in every field, from law enforcement, to courts, education, medicine, and employment.  Scientific inquiry has advanced our understanding of implicit bias in recent decades. It has also illuminated the limitations of certain cognitive measures and commonplace interventions, including some forms of diversity or implicit bias training used by corporations, universities, and other organizations.  How can we improve our knowledge base on effective strategies to counteract bias and its negative impacts on our nation?  What changes to organizational policies, procedures, and decision-making structures have shown promise?  And how can technologies be leveraged?REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/4aVrrmi