Newsletter - #323 4/7 Meeting; Texas Rallies; US Science; Profiling Scholars/Students; Litigations; More #323 4/7 Meeting; Texas Rallies; US Science; Profiling Scholars/Students; Litigations; More In This Issue #323 · 2025/04/07 APA Justice Monthly Meeting · First Report on Texas Tri-City Rallies Against Alien Land Bills · The Decline of Science in the U.S. under Trump 2.0 · Chinese Scholars/Students Face Heightened Scrutiny and Profiling · Latest on Litigations Against Trump's Executive Actions · News and Activities for the Communities 2025/04/07 APA Justice Monthly Meeting The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, April 7, 2025, starting at 1:55 pm ET.In addition to updates by Judith Teruya , Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), Joanna YangQing Derman , Program Director, Advancing Justice | AAJC, and Gisela Perez Kusakawa , Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), invited and confirmed speakers are: · Mark Takano , First Vice Chair, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC); Member, U.S. House of Representatives · Erwin Chemerinsky , Dean, Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley · Cindy Tsai , Interim President, Committee of 100 · X. Edward Guo 郭向东 , President, Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering (AAASE) 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 . Congressman Mark Takano will make his remarks via recorded video on unprecedented challenges to our communities.In a recent opinion published by the New York Times , Dean Erwin Chemerinsky raised an alarming question: if Trump defies the Courts, then what? He also commented on President Trump's unprecedented demands on Columbia University. He will share his thoughts on these recent developments and more.The Committee of 100 (C100) is a nonprofit leadership organization of prominent Chinese Americans dedicated to advancing U.S.-China relations and promoting the full participation of Chinese Americans in American society. On April 25-26, 2025, it will host its annual conference and gala in Los Angeles to share insights on the state of Chinese Americans and the current and future condition of the U.S.-China relationship. Interim President Cindy Tsai returns to update us on recent developments with C100 and the annual event. Professor X. Edward Guo, Stanley Dicker Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Medical Sciences at Columbia University, is current President of Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering (AAASE). Professor Guo will introduce AAASE and comment on recent developments in higher education and research communities. First Report on Texas Tri-City Rallies Against Alien Land Bills On March 28, 2025, United Chinese Americans (UCA) issued a press release announcing protest rallies to be held in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Texas. Asian Pacific American communities, alongside other ethnic groups, are mobilizing against Texas Senate Bill 17 (SB 17) and House Bill 17 (HB 17)—legislations that seeks to ban or restrict real estate ownership by certain foreign nationals under the guise of national security. A letter co-signed by Texas and national AAPI organizations reminds state legislators that the 59th Texas Legislature abolished the previous version of alien land laws in 1965 in a bipartisan effort. The letter states. "These bills are unconstitutional and discriminatory, as they target individuals based on their nation of origin. In other words, individuals are being denied their rights not for anything they have done, but simply because of where they come from." The letter urges lawmakers not to repeat past mistakes that echo historical injustices. Representative Gene Wu 吴元之 , chair of Texas House Democratic Caucus, points out that "The Texas Senate listened to our community's repeated pleas for fairness and respect, and instead they gave us more discrimination by passing SB 17 that puts us even closer to repeating the forced internment of Asian Americans 80 years ago. Our community must respond and mobilize, otherwise we will be welcoming this hate and suffer no less." Meanwhile, organizers of the Houston rally—Texas Multicultural Advocacy Coalition (TMAC) and United Chinese Americans (UCA)—are placing ads in the Houston Chronicle to amplify this call to action. UCA Action is also running print and digital ads in the Austin American-Statesman, San Antonio Express-News and Dallas Morning News to highlight the protest letter and mobilize public support. The tri-city rallies started in Austin at the Texas Capitol Grounds East Steps on March 29, 2025. According to CBS-19 , elected officials, including Congressman Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin), State Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D-Austin) and Austin City Council Member Mike Siegel of District 7, spoke against HB 17 and SB 17 at the rally.“Ultimately this fight, in my eyes, is about who gets to be American,” said Daniel Wang . “I think America is great and has been great and was made great by its promise that, you know, we welcome everyone who wants to come here and contribute.”SB 17 passed the Texas Senate on March 19. A public hearing for HB 17 will be held on April 3 in the Texas House Homeland Security, Public Safety & Veterans Affairs Committee. The meeting starts at 10:30 a.m. APA Justice will report on March 30 rallies in Dallas and Houston and continuing developments in the next newsletter. The Decline of Science in the U.S. under Trump 2.0 According to multiple media reports, the United States has experienced a notable decline in scientific research and development under Trump 2.0, marked by significant policy shifts and funding reductions. One of the administration's early actions was a freeze on federal grants, leading to widespread uncertainty within the scientific community. This freeze has disrupted ongoing research projects and hindered the initiation of new studies. The Trump administration has imposed substantial funding cuts to prominent universities, which are heavily reliant on federal research grants. These cuts have compelled institutions to make difficult decisions, including reducing graduate student admissions and implementing hiring freezes, thereby affecting the future landscape of American research and innovation.Environmental and climate science programs have faced particularly severe setbacks . The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has undergone significant budget reductions and staff layoffs, undermining its capacity to enforce environmental regulations and conduct critical research. Climate science initiatives at agencies like NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have experienced funding cuts, impeding efforts to monitor and address climate change. The administration has also appointed conspiracy theorists skeptical of established scientific consensus to key positions, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointment to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which has announced plans to cut 10,000 full-time employees across health agencies on top of 10,000 employees who have left voluntarily, shrinking the workforce from about 82,000 full-time employees to 62,000. On March 28, 2025, the Washington Post reported that the Trump administration pushed out Peter Marks , the nation’s top vaccine regulator and an architect of the U.S. program to rapidly develop coronavirus vaccines amid a worsening U.S. outbreak of measles. “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” Marks wrote in his resignation. He was offered the choice to resign or be fired. He opted to resign, with an effective departure date of April 5.These collective actions have prompted widespread concern among scientists and researchers, leading to organized protests such as the " Stand Up for Science 2025 " rallies. These demonstrations reflect the scientific community's alarm over policies as undermining scientific integrity and progress. These policies have prompted many scientists to consider relocating abroad. According to Nature on March 27, 2025, more than 1,200 scientists who responded to an online poll — three-quarters of the total respondents — are considering leaving the United States following the disruptions prompted by Trump. Europe and Canada were among the top choices for relocation. The trend was particularly pronounced among early-career researchers. Of the 690 postgraduate researchers who responded, 548 were considering leaving; 255 of 340 PhD students said the same. According to Science on March 17, 2025, Emma , an early-career chemist, withdrew from a faculty position at the University of Mississippi due to concerns over the Trump administration’s impact on higher education, including threats to federal funding and diversity initiatives. Her decision reflects a broader trend of U.S.-based researchers seeking opportunities abroad as uncertainty grows over academic stability. Countries like France and China are actively recruiting displaced scientists, with initiatives such as Aix Marseilles University’s “Safe Place for Science” and direct outreach from researchers like Yi Rao at Peking University.However, while some nations welcome this talent shift, financial constraints in countries like Canada, the UK, and the Netherlands may limit their ability to absorb U.S. researchers. Experts warn that Trump’s policies could trigger a broader exodus from global science, as universities face funding cuts and instability. Although legal challenges may delay the full impact, the trend suggests a potential loss of scientific talent, with no clear destination for displaced researchers. Chinese Scholars/Students Face Heightened Scrutiny and Profiling Under Trump 2.0, Chinese and Asian scholars and students have faced heightened scrutiny and profiling. Visa Restrictions and Deportations Republican members of Congress and the Trump administration have intensified visa restrictions, notably through the Stop CCP VISAs Act, introduced by Representative Riley Moore (R-WV). This proposed legislation aims to halt the issuance of student visas to Chinese nationals, citing concerns over espionage and intellectual property theft. International students have also become targets of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), leading to detentions and deportations from college campuses. Notable cases include students from Columbia and Cornell universities, sparking protests and legal actions by organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). Scrutiny of Chinese Students and Scholars Republican members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), chaired by Representative John Moolenaar (R-MI), has targeted Chinese students in U.S. universities under the pretense of national security. In March 2025, the committee sent letters to presidents of six universities, requesting detailed information about their Chinese student populations and research activities. Without substantive facts and evidence, the committee alleges that the CCP has established a systematic pipeline to embed researchers in leading U.S. institutions, providing them direct exposure to sensitive technologies with dual-use military applications. Impact on Higher Education Institutions Universities with significant Asian and Asian American populations have faced increased scrutiny over international collaborations, especially those involving Chinese researchers. For example, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh has highlighted potential impacts due to proposed federal funding cuts and restrictions on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. These measures threaten the region's economy and its identity as an innovation hub. Challenges to Diversity Initiatives By diverting resources to investigate and potentially sue universities implementing diversity programs, the Trump administration threatens to reverse progress toward educational equity. This move has been criticized as an attempt to exploit divisions among communities of color and disrupt policies that help marginalized groups gain access to higher education. Rise in Anti-Asian Sentiment Following President Trump's 2024 election, there has been a marked increase in anti-Asian hate, particularly in online spaces. Between November 2024 and January 2025, anti-Asian slurs and threats of violence surged, with South Asian communities being disproportionately targeted. This rise in xenophobic rhetoric has created a hostile environment for Asian American students and scholars, affecting their sense of safety and belonging within academic institutions. Latest on Litigations Against Trump's Executive Actions As of March 30, 2025, the number of lawsuits against President Donald Trump 's executive actions reported by the Just Security Litigation Tracker has grown to 152 (3 closed cases). These are some of the latest developments: · Block on Alien Enemies Act Deportations Extended . On March 27, 2025, the legal team led by ACLU, Democracy Forward, and the ACLU of the District of Columbia filed a motion to extend the Temporary Restraining Orders (TROs) set to expire on March 29 for 14 days, claiming that good cause exists to extend the TROs. On March 28, the Court ordered the extension of the TROs until April 12, 2025. · Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility . In the case of State of California v. U.S Department of Education (1:25-cv-10548) , eight states challenge the Department of Education’s decision to terminate approximately $250 million in federal grants under the Teacher Quality Partnership and Supporting Effective Educator Development programs. On March 24, Judge Myong J. Joun granted Plaintiffs’ request to extend the TRO until April 7. On March 26, the government appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to vacate the order by the district court and issue an administrative stay. In the case of Chicago Women in Trades v. Trump (1:25-cv-02005) , U.S. Judge Matthew Kennelly for the Northern District of Illinois granted a Temporary Restraining Order to block the implementation of two of Trump's DEI Executive Orders. · Actions Against Law Firms Blocked. On March 28, 2025, the law firm WilmerHale sued the Executive Office of the President and several government agencies over Trump’s March 27 executive order (EO) terminating government contracts, denying members of the firm access to federal employees, and suspending employees’ security clearances. U.S. Judge Richard Leon of the District of Columbia granted the law firm’s request to temporarily block several sections of the EO. In a separate lawsuit Jenner & Block LLP v. U.S. Department of Justice (1:25-cv-00916) , U.S. Judge John Bates of the District of Columbia also granted the Temporary Restraining Order to temporarily block several sections of the EO. News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar 2025/04/07 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/04/13 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/04/15 China Connections: A Conversation with Emily Feng2025/04/24-26 Committee of 100 Annual Conference and Gala2025/04/27 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/05/05 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/05/12-14 APAICS Annual Summit and GalaVisit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. 2. Temporary Injunction on Florida State Law (SB846) On March 28, 2025, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against a Florida law known as SB846 that essentially bans international students from China and six other countries. This is a milestone victory for racial equity and academic freedom as other red states and the Congress are considering similar discriminatory laws. The lawsuit Yin v. Diaz (1:24-cv-21129) is led by Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance 华美维权同盟 (CALDA), ACLU Florida, and Perkins Coie. Clay Zhu 朱可亮 , Co-Founder of CALDA, gave an update at the APA Justice monthly meeting on March 3, 2025: https://bit.ly/4iOexLD 3. CAPAC Chair Meng Statement on the Anniversary of United States v. Wong Kim Ark Decision On March 28, 2025, Rep. Grace Meng 孟昭文 , Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, released a statement marking the 127th anniversary of the United States v. Wong Kim Ark decision upholding birthright citizenship as a constitutionally protected right:“Today marks 127 years since the landmark United States v. Wong Kim Ark decision that affirmed birthright citizenship to anyone born in our country, including those born to immigrant parents. This was established by the Supreme Court, even as the Chinese Exclusion Act and anti-Asian sentiment was in full force in the 1800s, because the Constitution made clear that ‘all persons’ born in the United States means ‘all persons.’“Despite this century-old legal precedent, President Trump issued an unlawful executive order to revoke birthright citizenship and eliminate the core principle that has allowed millions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to become U.S. citizens. It is a flagrant violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the President’s oath to protect and defend the Constitution. “This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to sow division and stoke xenophobic sentiment for political gain. We will not allow this administration to trample over the Constitution and redefine who is American. I vow to fight tooth and nail against this unlawful action and to protect the principles that have made our country into what it is today.” # # # APA Justice Task Force is a non-partisan platform to build a sustainable ecosystem that addresses racial profiling concerns and to facilitate, inform, and advocate on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American community. For more information, please refer to the new APA Justice website under development at www.apajusticetaskforce.org . We value your feedback. Please send your comments to contact@apajustice.org . Back View PDF March 31, 2025 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #319 NYU Shanghai; JACL et al v Musk/DOGE; Birthright/SB17/Student Visa Ban; Mahmoud Khalil #319 NYU Shanghai; JACL et al v Musk/DOGE; Birthright/SB17/Student Visa Ban; Mahmoud Khalil In This Issue #319 · NYU Shanghai Receives Record Number of Applicants · JACL and OCA Join Lawsuit Against Musk and DOGE · Latest on Birthright Citizenship, Texas SB17, and Ban on Student Visas · Who Will Be Next After Mahmoud Khalil? · News and Activities for the Communities NYU Shanghai Receives Record Number of Applicants According to Washington Square News , a New York University (NYU) student newspaper, on March 12, 2025, NYU Shanghai received a record-breaking 24,000 applications for its class of 2029. This surge aligns with NYU’s overall admissions growth, making it the most-applied-to private university in the U.S. The Shanghai campus maintains an enrollment of about 500 students per class, with half of the spots reserved for domestic Chinese students from China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and the other half allocated to international students, with around 53% from the United States and the rest from 156 other countries. NYU Shanghai’s class of 2027 received just 16,773 applications from 84 different countries. The campus’ class of 2026 received 16,059 applications and its class of 2024 received over 13,000. The rise in applications, particularly from Chinese students, reflects a growing interest in international education without leaving China.The university’s unique position as the first Sino-U.S. research institution in China contributes to its appeal, offering students opportunities for cross-cultural exchange and career advancement. However, while NYU Shanghai and other joint programs like Duke Kunshan University (an all-time high of 11,884 applications this year) have seen application increases, American student enrollment in China has sharply declined, largely due to political and visa restrictions. NYU Shanghai requires all students to study abroad for at least one semester, though some Chinese students worry about potential travel limitations. David Pe, Dean of Students at NYU Shanghai, emphasized the importance of encouraging more students from NYU’s New York campus to study in Shanghai, citing the growing need for global engagement. JACL and OCA Join Lawsuit Against Musk and DOGE As of March 15, 2025, the number of lawsuits against President Donald Trump 's executive actions reported by the Just Security Litigation Tracker has grown to 126 with two closed cases. The New York Times is tracking court rulings that have at least temporarily halted some of the president’s initiatives. As of March 15, 2025, there are at least 46 such rulings.On March 5, 2025, the Campaign Legal Center filed a lawsuit , Japanese American Citizens League v. Musk (1:25-cv-00643) , in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates, Sierra Club and Union of Concerned Scientists. The complaint alleges that under Musk’s leadership, DOGE has acted illegally to “slash federal funding, dismantle federal agencies and fire federal employees” to harming everyday Americans.JACL issued a statement that said: “Neither Elon Musk nor DOGE have the lawful authority to exercise the sweeping power that they currently wield in the federal government. However, since President Trump created DOGE and placed Elon Musk at its helm, Musk has exercised significant unconstitutional authority and taken control over our agencies and our funding systems. This illegal and reckless control over the federal government has upended the lives of countless individuals, both within the United States and abroad.” JACL Executive Director David Inoue said, “JACL joins this lawsuit to stop DOGE from making reckless cuts that will directly impact national historic sites under the National Park Service that are among those where over 125,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during WWII. Regarding what DOGE has done thus far, OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates Executive Director Thu Nguyen said, “The reckless budget cuts at the Department of Education are a direct assault on Pell Grant recipients, student organizations, and AANAPISI institutions that are vital to advancing educational equity.” Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous said, “We are taking DOGE to court to defend Americans’ ability to safely and freely access the landscapes that unite us.” Union of Concerned Scientists President Gretchen Goldman said, “DOGE’s actions have interfered with life-saving research and scientific collaboration on cancer, vaccines, extreme weather and more. They have pulled funding for job-boosting clean technology initiatives and fired civil servants who enforce laws that protect us from air, water and climate pollution.” Latest on Birthright Citizenship, Texas SB17, and Ban on Student Visas 1. Birthright Citizenship According to Reuters on March 11, 2025, a third federal appeals court has ruled against President Donald Trump 's executive order seeking to restrict birthright citizenship, marking another legal setback for the administration. On March 11, 2025, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston rejected the administration’s request to lift a nationwide injunction issued by a Massachusetts judge. This follows similar rulings by the 4th and 9th Circuit Courts, keeping the executive order blocked. Trump’s directive, signed on January 20, aimed to deny automatic U.S. citizenship to children born in the U.S. if neither parent is a citizen or lawful permanent resident, affecting an estimated 150,000 children annually.The 1st Circuit panel upheld the injunction, citing longstanding constitutional protections under the 14th Amendment and the 1898 Supreme Court case United States v. Wong Kim Ark , which affirmed birthright citizenship. Chief Judge David Barron criticized the administration for failing to present a constitutional defense of the order, instead attempting to disrupt established legal precedent. The lawsuits, led by 18 Democratic attorneys general, San Francisco officials, and immigrant advocacy groups, argue that the order would harm states by reducing federal funding tied to newly born citizens. According to the Washington Post and multiple media reports, the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court on March 12, 2025, to allow its birthright citizenship ban to take effect in about half of the country while legal challenges continue. The administration argues that these injunctions limit executive power and wants them restricted to only the states involved in the lawsuits. Critics say this would create legal chaos, forcing migrants to travel between states to give birth and overwhelming courts with challenges. The policy faces at least eight lawsuits, and four nationwide injunctions have already been issued against it. Opponents argue the order is blatantly unconstitutional, violating the 14th Amendment and Supreme Court precedent from United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898). The ACLU and state attorneys general argue that the executive branch cannot bypass the Constitution and must pursue a constitutional amendment to change birthright citizenship. Judge John C. Coughenour , a Reagan appointee, called the order politically motivated and unconstitutional, and his ruling is now on appeal to the 9th Circuit, with arguments expected in June.On March 8, 2025, Stanford School of Medicine hosted a teach-in on Birthright Citizenship and the 14th Amendment. Watch the video at: https://bit.ly/421Nnux (1:04:27)***** Trump Offers U.S. Citizenship to White Farmers in South Africa As Trump tries to strip birthright citizenship, according to CBS News on March 10, 2025, he reaffirmed his offer to grant U.S. citizenship to White farmers in South Africa, accusing the government of treating them "terribly" and promising "safety" and a "rapid pathway to citizenship." He criticized new land expropriation laws as "racist" and a violation of "human rights," leading to the halting of U.S. foreign aid.White farmers, reportedly making up less than 10% of South Africa's population, own around 70% of South Africa's arable land. This concentration of land ownership has been a focal point in debates about land reform in the country. Elon Musk , who was born in South Africa and still holds dual nationality, took to his X platform and criticized the government in Pretoria, claiming his Starlink satellite network was "not allowed to operate in South Africa, because I'm not black." South Africa's Electronic Communications Act , which, since 2005 has regulated broadcasting and telecommunications in the post-Apartheid country, requires that at least 30% of a company must be owned by previously disadvantaged groups as part of the criteria to gain a communications license. Starlink has not applied for a license to operate in South Africa. Clayson Monyela , the head of public diplomacy for the South African government's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, replied to Musk on X, saying: "Sir that's NOT true, and you know it! It's got nothing to do with skin color." 2. Texas Alien Land Bill SB17 Hearing According to AsAmNews on March 7, 2025, the Chinese community in Texas mobilized in large numbers to testify against Senate Bill 17 (SB17), which seeks to restrict property ownership for individuals from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea due to national security concerns. While the bill exempts citizens, lawful permanent residents, and asylum seekers, opponents argue it unfairly targets Asian Americans, discourages investment, and echoes past discriminatory policies like the Chinese Exclusion Act and Alien Land Laws. Sen. Lois Kolkhorst , who authored the bill, defended it as a measure to protect Texas’ land and resources. Lily Trieu of Asian Texans for Justice contends there is no substantial evidence of foreign land ownership posing a security threat. The hearing on March 6, 2025, saw strong opposition, with testimonies emphasizing the bill’s impact on Asian American communities and Texas’ pro-business reputation. Debbie Chen of OCA Greater Houston warned, “This bill echoes historic anti-Asian policies... fostering discrimination and anti-Asian hate.” Another speaker called it a “job killer” that undermines fundamental property rights and economic growth. With Texas home to over 1.5 million Asian Americans, opponents argue the bill casts every Chinese individual as a potential adversary. The Senate Committee on State Affairs adjourned the hearing without taking a vote. 3. House Bill to Ban Chinese from Student or Research Visas According to AP News , Northwest Asian Weekly , South China Morning Post , and multiple media reports, a new bill to ban Chinese nationals from obtaining student visas is set to be introduced by Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV), reigniting debates over national security, racial profiling, and academic exchange. The Stop CCP VISAs Act seeks to block all student and research visas for Chinese citizens, going further than previous restrictions targeting specific fields. Moore's bill aligns with broader Republican efforts, including Project 2025, which calls for reducing visas from "enemy nations".Asian American advocates, however, call the bill xenophobic and counterproductive.Representative Grace Meng , Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, said that banning only Chinese students was “xenophobic and wrong-headed. We cannot give in to fearmongering tactics that will restrict the freedoms and economic opportunities that make America the envy of the world.” Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) also denounced the bill, emphasizing that Chinese students contribute to U.S. academia and democracy, warning, “Unilaterally cutting off pathways of study for Chinese students… will make our country less innovative and the world less safe.” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) warned that security concerns should be addressed “with a scalpel, not a bludgeon.” “No policy should target individuals solely on the basis of their national origin,” Fanta Aw , executive director and CEO of Association of International Educators (NAFSA), said in a statement. Yangyang Cheng , research scholar at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, said the bill “should be seen as part of a broader effort to restrict academic freedom and hurt higher education in this country, to control what can be taught, which research projects can be pursued, and who have access to the classrooms and laboratories.” John Yang , president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, denounced the proposal, stating, “We strongly reject this move to paint all Chinese students as a threat and caution against racial profiling based on geography and not fact.” Democratic lawmakers and civil rights groups argue that such bans harm U.S. innovation, education, and diplomacy, while increasing discrimination against Asian Americans. In a public statement , Asian American Scholars Forum cautions that legislation like this would effectively harm the talent pipeline of Asian American scientists, scholars, and researchers, thereby undermining U.S. leadership in science and innovation. Who Will Be Next After Mahmoud Khalil? According to AP News , Intercept , New York Times , Washington Post , and other media reports, Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil , a legal U.S. resident and former Columbia University protest leader, was arrested by federal immigration officials and now faces deportation. Despite holding a green card, Khalil was detained on claims that his student visa had been revoked, and later, that his permanent residency was being revoked as well. Permanent residents are entitled to due process before any revocation of their status. Khalil's wife is a U.S. citizen and is eight months pregnant. The lawsuit Mahmoud Khalil v. William P. Joyce (1:25-cv-01935) was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York on March 9, 2025. District Judge Jesse Furman temporarily blocked Khalil's removal the next day, pending further judicial review on March 21. Khalil is currently being held at a federal immigration detention center in Louisiana. ACLU and NYCLU issued a statement that they have joined Khalil's legal team in filing a motion under the All Writs Act to compel ICE to return Khalil to New York, where he can have access to his legal counsel and family. According to a statement by the Asian American Legal and Education Defense Fund (AALDEF) on March 12, 2025, The arrest of Mahmoud Khalil is illegal and discriminatory. Its intended effect is to chill free speech and create a climate of fear among immigrants, chiefly Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim communities. In the 1950s, during the McCarthy “red scare” era, people with opposing viewpoints were labeled as communist and targeted for investigation, arrest, and harassment by law enforcement. In the past several weeks, ICE has raided Asian communities, seizing family members without warning, detaining and then deporting them. The new administration has weaponized the immigration system as a tool for policing and now political oppression, against many people who themselves came to this country to escape political oppression.The Khalil case raises broader concerns about free speech, racial profiling, and immigration enforcement that could impact Asian Americans, particularly activists and immigrants. His detention over alleged political affiliations—without criminal charges—mirrors past government crackdowns on dissent, such as post-9/11 surveillance of Muslims and the "China Initiative" targeting Chinese researchers. The case also highlights the vulnerability of green card holders, a status many Asian immigrants hold, as Khalil faces deportation without a conviction. If his case sets a precedent, Asian American activists, students, and immigrants could face increased scrutiny, government targeting, or restrictions on political expression.On March 14, 2025, AP News reported that Leqaa Kordia , a Palestinian from the West Bank, was arrested by immigration officers for overstaying her student visa. The Trump administration also revoked on March 5 the visa of Ranjani Srinivasan , an Indian citizen and doctoral student “for advocating for violence and terrorism.” ***** 2025/03/18 Stop AAPI Hate Community Town Hall on Anti-Immigrant Attacks WHAT : Stop AAPI Hate’s Community Town Hall on Anti-Immigrant Attacks WHEN : March 18, 2025, 7:00 pm ET/4:00 pm PT WHERE : Virtual Town Hall HOSTS : Stop AAPI Hate DESCRIPTION : ICE officials are raiding communities, businesses, and private homes. Asian immigrants are being shipped off to Central American countries. And millions of immigrants and people of color are living in fear of racial profiling, detention, and deportation. The Trump administration’s anti-immigrant agenda has put a target on the backs of our nation’s most vulnerable Asian communities — and we’re prepared to fight back. We’re bringing together advocates, organizers, and impacted folks for a virtual town hall on mass deportation and what it means for us. Register now to learn what’s at stake for immigrant communities and how different people are fighting for policies that protect our communities and our right to call this nation home. REGISTRATION : https://bit.ly/4iudJLv News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events:2025/03/18 Stop AAPI Hate’s Community Town Hall on Anti-Immigrant Attacks2025/03/21 Fighting Racial Profiling and the Criminalization of Academia in North America2025/03/26 Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within2025/03/30 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/04/07 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/04/13 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/04/24-26 Committee of 100 Annual Conference and Gala2025/04/27 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/05/05 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/05/11 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall MeetingVisit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. 2. 03/21 SFU Webinar: Fighting Racial Profiling and the Criminalization of Academia in North America WHAT : Fighting Racial Profiling and the Criminalization of Academia in North America WHEN : March 21, 2025, 4:00 pm-6:30 pm PT/7:00 pm-9:30 pm ET WHERE : Hybrid event HOST : Simon Fraser University, Labor Studies Program DESCRIPTION : Join us for an important discussion on the case of Dr. Anming Hu , a respected scientist who was wrongfully targeted under the previous Trump administration’s China Initiative. Dr. Hu’s case highlights critical issues of racial profiling, academic freedom, and the growing surveillance of scholars in North America.This event will feature insights into Dr. Anming Hu’s case and experience, the broader implications for researchers of Chinese origin, and the fight for justice in academia in North America. We will also discuss what universities, scholars, and policymakers can do to protect academic integrity and prevent future injustices. REGISTRATION : https://bit.ly/3Fd11SD # # # APA Justice Task Force is a non-partisan platform to build a sustainable ecosystem that addresses racial profiling concerns and to facilitate, inform, and advocate on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American community. For more information, please refer to the new APA Justice website under development at www.apajusticetaskforce.org . We value your feedback. Please send your comments to contact@apajustice.org . Back View PDF March 17, 2025 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Xin Zhao, a prize-winning Ph.D. from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, was forced to flee the U.S. after a federal investigation that included a failed sting, airport stops and an unfounded child-porn search. July 18, 2019 On July 18, 2019, Bloomberg reported on the story of Xin Zhao, a prize-winning Ph.D. from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, whose startup fled the U.S. after a federal investigation that included a failed sting, airport stops and an unfounded child-porn search. “My dream was defeated,” says Zhao, whose crew-cut and boyish face belie the brash candor with which he tells his story. “I came here for freedom and security. Now fear is pushing us back to China.” Inventors with Chinese last names account for one out of every 10 new patents in the U.S. today, up from less than 2% in 1975. While China lost more than 50,000 inventors to emigration from 2002 to 2011, the U.S. welcomed a net gain of more than 190,000, as measured by patent registrations, according to data compiled by the World Intellectual Property Organization, an arm of the United Nations. Xin Zhao, a prize-winning Ph.D. from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, was forced to flee the U.S. after a federal investigation that included a failed sting, airport stops and an unfounded child-porn search. Previous Next U.S. Targeting of Chinese Scientists Fueling a Brain Drain

Newsletter - #207 9/11 Meeting; AI, Civil Rights, Equity, Innovation; Franklin Tao, UNC Shooting; More News #207 9/11 Meeting; AI, Civil Rights, Equity, Innovation; Franklin Tao, UNC Shooting; More News In This Issue #207 2023/09/11 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Artificial Intelligence (AI), Civil Rights, Equity, and Innovation Tenth Circuit Court To Hear Appeal of Professor Franklin Tao 陶丰 Statements and Media Reports on UNC Shooting News and Activities for The Communities 2023/09/11 APA Justice Monthly Meeting The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, September 11, 2023, starting at 1:55 pm ET. In addition to updates by Nisha Ramachandran , Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC); John Yang 杨重远 , President and Executive Director, Advancing Justice | AAJC; Gisela Perez Kusakawa , Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), Clay Zhu 朱可亮 , Partner, DeHeng Law Offices 德恒律师事务所; Founder, Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance 华美维权同盟, confirmed speakers to cover the renewal of the US-China Science and Technology Agreement are: Deborah Seligsohn , Senior Associate (non-resident), Center for Strategic and International Studies; Assistant Professor, Villanova University https://bit.ly/3OMc8En Steve Kivelson , Prabhu Goel Family Professor of Physics, Stanford University https://bit.ly/44xTNPX Sudip Parikh , Chief Executive Officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Executive Publisher, Science Family of Journals Ting Wu , Advisor, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, Office of the Chief of Staff, The White House 1. Committee of 100 Letter to the President On September 6, 2023, Gary Locke , Chair of the Committee of 100 (C100), wrote to President Joe Biden urging him to renew for another five years the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the PRC on Cooperation in Science and Technology (STA). "The STA offers the United States significant benefits to advance scientific progress in many fields and in people-to-people exchanges, and it presents minimal risks to American national security," the letter said. "Committee of 100 believes renewing the STA for another five-year term will enhance American scientific and technological achievement and promote U.S. leadership in open and transparent scientific cooperation globally. Conversely, Committee of 100 argues that allowing the STA to expire would disrupt mutually beneficial scientific exchange and disrupt peaceful people-to-people ties between the U.S. and the PRC. For these reasons, Committee of 100 urges you and your Administration to renew the STA with whatever additional safeguards your national security advisors deem appropriate and not simply to abandon this proven framework for constructive bilateral engagement."Gary Locke is also former U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), former U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and a former college president. Read the C100 letter at: https://bit.ly/3sJD1R0 2. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Members' Update: China! In a recent Members' Update, NAS President Marcia McNutt reported that "[m]embers have expressed concern about the deteriorating relationship between the U.S. and China, pointing out that this partnership has resulted in extensive collaborations, joint research projects, and mutual contributions to global scientific knowledge."The National Academy of Sciences has promoted engagement with China since Frank Press' presidency in the 1980s. More recently, I had the honor of co-chairing the first Chinese-American Frontiers of Science symposia, which brought young researchers from both nations together to discuss forefront research and build relationships."Although there have been bumps in the road in our relationship with China, one could well argue that a U.S. position that focuses on de-risking does not fully account for the risks to the U.S., our science, and innovation of pursuing a one-size-fits-all approach towards China. For example, we have seen how policies such as the so-called 'China Initiative' have resulted in many Chinese-American researchers' feeling persecuted and afraid for their safety."To be sure, there are several real concerns related to the actions of China's leadership around the world, and some important issues related to intellectual property, research security, and research misconduct must be addressed. Understanding the nature and implication of these threats requires dialogue among the many stakeholders, and the NAS is leading these discussions. At the same time, we need to identify productive ways to maintain connections between the U.S. and China, especially in mutually beneficial areas. The bilateral science and technology cooperation agreement between the U.S. and China was temporarily renewed last week for six months, but its long-term fate in uncertain."The United States has the most dynamic innovation economy in the world. Our country has benefitted over the centuries from our ability to assess the talent and ideas being developed around the world. At a time when more and more science is being produced outside the U.S., the nation is handicapping itself by restricting these collaborations. NAS will continue to engage with policy makers to listen to their concerns with engagement, while highlighting to them the benefit of such connections for fostering a healthy U.S. science and innovation ecosystem." Artificial Intelligence (AI), Civil Rights, Equity, and Innovation 1. First look: Civil rights group starts center to monitor AI for hate speech According to Axios on September 7, 2023, The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights (LCCHR), one of the nation's largest and oldest civil rights coalitions, is launching a Center for Civil Rights and Technology to investigate how artificial intelligence (AI) affects civil rights, fosters racism, and spreads bigotry. The center comes amid rising concern that AI may fuel racism and more antisemitism in the U.S. by amplifying bias from human-generated content on the internet.The center will monitor legislation and regulations on AI and other emerging technologies and assess how those will impact civil and human rights. The center also will publish papers and policy positions, and support active civic conversations about generative AI.Because AI models learn to complete sentences by analyzing enormous quantities of text created by people, usually on the internet, they pick up bias embedded in both the digital environment and broader society."Hate has had a very comfortable home on our social media platforms. And it has been given cover by, sadly, sometimes, by leaders that have every ability to disrupt that," LCCHR president and CEO Maya Wiley said. An advisory group of experts and civil rights organizations will advise the center, including Alondra Nelson , Acting Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) under the Biden Administration.Read the Axios report: https://bit.ly/467vI3F 2. Embed equity throughout innovation According to a Science editorial on September 7, 2023, the social benefit of technologies is frequently unevenly realized across the United States. Rural communities, individuals with disabilities, and historically marginalized groups face out-of-reach costs or lack access to products that meet their needs. Blame is typically placed on complicated regulatory processes or complex delivery systems, but this response neglects the problem that equity is not baked into the nation’s innovation process at any stage. The United States needs to rethink its entire innovation ecosystem to incorporate equity as a foundational guiding principle—from research design and funding requirements to policies and regulations that govern the delivery and oversight of new products to the public.Development of new technologies and products in the United States benefits from a governance framework that optimizes fairness and opportunity for creators and investors while prioritizing the safety and autonomy of end users. Equity is typically an afterthought, usually arising after unfair public outcomes are recognized. Given the recent remarkable pace of progress across all scientific disciplines, there is an urgent need to incorporate equity considerations throughout the innovation life cycle. Consider, for example, the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in health care. Lack of diversity in the workforce and in the geographic distribution of innovation centers reduces the range of perspectives that shape research in this field. Nonrepresentative and discriminatory data sets and poor selection of proxy outcomes measures lead to biased algorithms that skew machine learning and adversely affect AI platforms that influence decision-making. Although efforts are underway to advance the ethical use of AI, a fundamental cultural shift is needed to fully integrate equity in this field and in many others.Embedding these values in innovation means accounting for equity at each stage, from idea conception to technology and product development, evaluation, monitoring, and iterative learning and improvement.A diverse community of users and creators should join traditional stakeholders to rethink governance strategies and incentives. Equitable innovation will require creative steps and new practices, such as engaging with underserved and marginalized communities at each stage of the innovation life cycle. This will ensure that these groups are not only consulted during research but also have opportunities to substantively lead and engage in innovation partnerships. If 21st-century innovation is to reflect social needs and improve the well-being of the entire public, then it will require a strong vision activated by a coalition of public and private partners that embrace an equity-centric approach at every stage.Authors of the Science editorial: Keith A. Wailoo , Henry Putnam University Professor of History and Public Affairs, Princeton University. Victor J. Dzau , President of the National Academy of Medicine. Keith R. Yamamoto , Vice Chancellor for Science Policy and Strategy and Director of Precision Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco; President, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Read the Science editorial: https://bit.ly/44HfqO4 Tenth Circuit Court To Hear Appeal of Professor Franklin Tao 陶丰 Professor Feng "Franklin" Tao 陶丰 of University of Kansas (KU) was the first academic to be indicted under the now-defunct "China Initiative." Of the ten charges against him by the government, nine were dropped or dismissed. He was convicted by jury of one count of making a false statement. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson stated that this “was not an economic espionage case” and released Professor Tao for time served. According to Inside Higher Ed on January 19, 2023, “Dr. Tao will be appealing his count of conviction and expects to prevail and be completely exonerated. And yes, he fully intends to continue his career as a scientist and researcher, either at KU or another university,” Peter Zeidenberg , Tao’s lawyer, said at that time.The 10th Circuit Appeals Court will hold a hearing on Professor Tao's appeal in Denver, Colorado, on September 21, 2023, starting at 8:30 am MT/10:30 am ET. Community members are urged to show their support for Professor Tao by attending the hearing at Byron White Court House, 1823 Stout Street, Denver, CO 80257. The Clerk's Office can be reached at 303-844-3157.Read APA Justice coverage of the case of Professor Franklin Tao at https://bit.ly/3fZWJvK . Read the Inside Higher Ed report: http://bit.ly/3wiMPQm Statements and Media Reports on UNC Shooting 1. Statements by UCA and AASF United Chinese Americans (UCA) and Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) issued statements mourning the tragic death of Dr. Zijie Yan 严资杰 , an associate professor of Applied Physical Sciences at University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill.AASF joins the UNC community in grieving the devastating killing of Dr. Yan, and boldly condemns the senseless act of violence perpetrated against him and his family. Two fundraisers have been set up - one for his daughters here and another for his parents here .Read the AASF statement: https://bit.ly/4669EXj The UCA statement condemns the racist rhetoric stemming from a public official in Wayne County, NC, which has no place in our society. "This hateful speech exacerbates the harm caused by discrimination and intolerance and can have dangerous consequences for the AAPI community," the statement said. "Together we must create an environment where every individual, regardless of their background, can pursue their educational goals without fear. Our condolences go out to the Yan family, and we hope that the UNC community finds strength and resilience in the face of this adversity. Let us come together to honor Zijie Yan's memory, strongly condemn racism, and work tirelessly for a future where such incidents can be prevented." 2. Media Reports on UNC Shooting According to CBS-17 on August 30, 2023, Wendy H. Waters , principal of Spring Creek High School in Wayne County, North Carolina, posted on Facebook a message that is widely viewed as a racist response to the shooting at UNC-Chapel Hill.“There is nothing WHITE about him,” she said as part of the post alongside a photo of Tailei Qi 齐太磊 ,, the man accused of fatally shooting Zijie Yan 严资杰 . The post continued to say “My bet is he’s a Chinese Nationalist.”In a statement from Wayne County schools, the district said Waters’ comments “do not reflect the views of the school district” and that the matter is now under review.Read the CBS-17 report: https://bit.ly/3ZsbS1j According to a report by WUNC on September 8, 2023, the death of Dr. Zijie Yan, triggered deep-seated anxiety and fear among Asian Americans in the Triangle. Jiu-Luen Tsai , 50, had been grappling with fear, frustration and grief. Like many other Asian Americans in the Triangle, he was afraid of how people would perceive him and his family after authorities identified graduate student Tailei Qi as the suspect. It reminded Tsai of instances when he and others in the Asian American community have been attacked.Tsai tried to talk to his 14-year-old son about it. “I honestly don’t know if he has experienced these things himself—xenophobia, racism and fear of gun violence,” Tsai said. “With a teenager, it’s especially hard to know. As a responsible parent, I have to talk about these things because these are truths in our world.”While the event is not characterized as a hate crime, it’s still an example of violence that’s impacted the Asian American community, said Jimmy Patel-Nguyen , the communications director at North Carolina Asian Americans Together.Events like the UNC shooting, as well as the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, highlight a culture that’s prone to gun violence and the vulnerability of Asian immigrants in America, said Eileen Chengyin Chow , a Duke University associate professor of the Practice of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. However, when the gunman and victims are Asian, such as with the shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay in California earlier this year, there is a tendency to dismiss the events as being isolated to the Asian community, she added. Anti-Asian violence has increased especially after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. But similarly violent events that have impacted Asian Americans have been happening for decades.Cary resident Lily Chen , a community organizer and PhD student at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Nursing, recalled when she was an international student at the University of Iowa in 1991. That year, Gang Lu , a graduate student, shot and killed three faculty members in the department of physics and astronomy. He also killed postdoctoral researcher, Linhua Shan , who Chen personally knew.Thirty-two years later, Chen experienced the same feelings that she did back then. She was also dismayed when a Wayne County high school principal posted an angry message on Facebook days after the shooting, speculating that the suspected shooter was “stealing intellectual property” on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.“It's like, can I have time even to grieve?” Chen said. “Can I just have time to spend time with my family, with my daughter, with my friends and not have to worry about these kinds of things?”Since the shooting, UNC social worker Susan Chung , has seen many international Asian students in her office and at mental health webinars. “They already feel like outsiders and they don’t feel included at the school,” Chung said. “They don’t feel seen. The incident that happened really escalated that. That’s kind of how they feel.” Chung herself immigrated from Taiwan when she was 12 years old and tries to act as a liaison between the two cultures. Even before the shooting, she said that international students have shared with her that they feel ignored by the school and have been bullied by their peers and professors.Read the WUNC report: https://bit.ly/3Py0mxX News and Activities for The Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar APA Justice has launched a Community Calendar to track the many events and activities. From the Committee of 100 career ceiling webinars, alien land laws, National Voter Registration Day, Franklin Tao's appeal hearing, to the AAUC National Unity Summit, they are all in a one-stop view. Options are available to look at a monthly, weekly, or a daily calendar, as well as an agenda view with event details.You can find the Community Calendar on the front page of the APA Justice website at https://www.apajustice.org/ . 2. 2023/09/11 Bay Area FBI Community Briefings Roundtable WHAT: Bay Area FBI Community Briefings Roundtable - San Mateo WHEN: Monday, September 11, 2023, 5:30 - 7:00 pm, PT WHERE: The San Mateo City Police Headquarter Community Meeting Room | 200 Franklin Pkwy, San Mateo, CA 94403 HOST: City of San Mateo: Amourence Lee, Mayor; Ed Barberini, Police Chief PRESENTATION: FBI San Francisco Field Office SPONSORS: Civic Leadership USA (CLUSA), The Asian American Foundation (TAAF); San Francisco Community Alliance for Unity, Safety, and Education (SFCAUSE) REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/3sRjBcH OBJECTIVES : Provide the Federal & regional perspectives from the FBI on Public Safety Build trust and relationships by reaching out to San Mateo Community & faith-based leaders Provide a mutual listening opportunity with follow-up actions. The roundtable format will feature selected public safety topics presented by the FBI, followed by a facilitated open dialogue in a roundtable discussion. 3. Behind Bay Area Preservation Dispute Is a Chinese American ‘Asparagus King’ According to the San Francisco Standard on September 10, 2023, Thomas Foon Chew , a young Chinese immigrant and entrepreneur in the canning industry, purchased the land in Palo Alto and built a cannery in 1918. Two years later, it grew to become the third-largest cannery of fruits and vegetables in the world, powered by a large and diverse workforce of Chinese-, Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking workers.Chew’s success turned him into a legendary and well-respected multimillionaire businessman whose company is thought to be the first to can green asparagus, earning him the moniker “Asparagus King.” Chew died in 1931 at the age of 42, and it is believed that 25,000 people attended his funeral in San Francisco's Chinatown. After his death, the cannery thrived until 1949.Now , more than 90 years since his death, a controversial plan to tear down parts of the former cannery site sparked a contentious debate within the local community members, and some of them want to preserve it as a rare piece of Asian American history. Monica Yeung Arima , a board member of Palo Alto History Museum, said this is a golden opportunity to save a critical part of both Chinese American and the city’s history.Palo Alto City Council heard hours of public comment in an early September meeting as people against the redevelopment plan held signs that read “Save the Cannery.” The council will vote on whether to proceed with the plan next week.Read the San Francisco Standard report: https://bit.ly/3LjVYQF Back View PDF September 11, 2023 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #65 06/07 Meeting Summary; WH/Hill Meetings; Anming Hu Trial; Government Transparency; + #65 06/07 Meeting Summary; WH/Hill Meetings; Anming Hu Trial; Government Transparency; + Back View PDF June 10, 2021 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #134 PennLaw Acts on Amy Wax; US-China Hostility Hurts People; UCA Convention; 5/2 Meeting #134 PennLaw Acts on Amy Wax; US-China Hostility Hurts People; UCA Convention; 5/2 Meeting Back View PDF July 21, 2022 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #81 DOC Internal Review Report; 09/13 Meeting; APS Webinar; Yellow Whistles And More #81 DOC Internal Review Report; 09/13 Meeting; APS Webinar; Yellow Whistles And More Back View PDF September 7, 2021 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

A group of Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida filed a lawsuit to combat Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264. May 22, 2023 Legal Docket : SHEN v. SIMPSON (4:23-cv-00208) On May 22, 2023, a group of Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida, as well as a real estate brokerage firm in Florida that primarily serves clients of Chinese descent, filed a lawsuit to combat Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264. Signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the legislation unfairly restricts most Chinese citizens — and most citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, and North Korea — from purchasing homes in the state. Unless the courts act, the law became effect on July 1, 2023. The plaintiffs are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Florida, DeHeng Law Offices PC 德恒律师事务所, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP , in coordination with the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance 华美维权同盟 (CALDA). The lawsuit argues that SB 264 will codify and expand housing discrimination against people of Asian descent in violation of the Constitution and the Fair Housing Act. It will also cast an undue burden of suspicion on anyone seeking to buy property whose name sounds remotely Asian, Russian, Iranian, Cuban, Venezuelan, or Syrian. Gov. DeSantis has argued that this law is necessary to protect Florida from the Chinese Communist Party and its activities. But this misguided rationale unfairly equates Chinese people with the actions of their government, and there is no evidence of national security harm resulting from real estate ownership by Chinese people in Florida. Florida’s dangerous new law recalls similar efforts over the past century to weaponize false claims of “national security” against Asian immigrants and other marginalized communities. In the early 1900s, politicians across the country used similar justifications to pass “ alien land laws ” prohibiting Chinese and Japanese immigrants from becoming landowners. These racist policies not only hurt immigrants financially, but also severely exacerbated violence and discrimination against Asian communities living in the United States. Over time, these laws were struck down by the courts or were repealed by state legislatures because they violated the Constitution’s equal protection guarantees. A group of Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida filed a lawsuit to combat Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264. Previous Next Lawsuit Against Florida Senate Bill 264

Newsletter - #137 East Tennessee US Attorney; Chinese Student Visas Plummet; Denver History; Opinion #137 East Tennessee US Attorney; Chinese Student Visas Plummet; Denver History; Opinion Back View PDF August 15, 2022 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #258 6/3 Monthly Meeting; Chinese Students; Clear&Fair Law Enforcement; 6/6 Forum with FBI+ #258 6/3 Monthly Meeting; Chinese Students; Clear&Fair Law Enforcement; 6/6 Forum with FBI+ In This Issue #258 · 2024/06/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting · Bloomberg: Expulsions of Chinese Students Spread Confusion from Yale to UVA · An Urgent Call for Clear and Fair Law Enforcement Guidelines and Procedures for Research Security · 06/06: An Open and Public Community Forum with The FBI · News and Activities for the Communities 2024/06/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, June 3, 2024, starting at 1:55 pm ET.In addition to updates by Nisha Ramachandran , Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC); Joanna YangQing Derman , Director, Advancing Justice | AAJC; and Gisela Perez Kusakawa , Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), confirmed speakers are: · Tam Dao , Assistant Vice President for Research Security, Office of Innovation, Rice University, will report on the future of the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Research on Research Security program · Haipei Shue , President, United Chinese Americans, will report on the 2024 Chinese American Convention · Jeremy Wu , Co-Organizer, APA Justice, will preview an alpha version of a web page on the story of exonerated Professor Anming Hu · Anming Hu , Professor, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, will give an update of his situation and his family since the end of his ordeal under the China Initiative. 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 . Bloomberg: Expulsions of Chinese Students Spread Confusion from Yale to UVA According to Bloomberg on May 29, 2024, Customs agents at US airports have barred entry to at least 20 students and scholars with valid visas since November in ‘more insidious’ version of disbanded China Initiative. Susan , a second-year Ph.D. student in biomedical imaging at the University of Virginia, faced relentless questioning from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent upon her return from visiting her parents in China. Accused of ties to the Chinese Communist Party, her student visa was abruptly canceled, forcing her to purchase a $1,400 ticket back to Beijing and barring her from the U.S. for five years. Her experience is part of a broader trend where at least 20 Chinese students from prestigious universities have had their visas revoked since November. The Chinese government and lawyers confirmed these accounts, highlighting the lack of transparency and public accountability in these decisions. These actions contradict the efforts to foster educational and cultural exchanges endorsed by U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping .The expulsions reveal internal divisions within the Biden administration, where Customs agents under the Department of Homeland Security are canceling visas approved by the State Department. The Biden administration ended the controversial China Initiative but has continued similar practices covertly, impacting Ph.D. students and researchers without public scrutiny. Susan and others, like Meng Fei , a fifth-year Ph.D. student at Yale, have faced racial and gender discrimination, with their exclusions linked to vague national security concerns under Presidential Proclamation (PP) 10043 . This proclamation targets students with alleged ties to Chinese military-civil fusion, yet the specifics remain undisclosed, causing confusion and fear among affected students. Universities like the University of Virginia and Yale are striving to support their students by seeking clarity and providing legal assistance. However, the ongoing lack of clear guidelines and coordination between federal agencies leaves many students in limbo, disrupting their academic and personal lives. As the U.S. grapples with balancing national security and academic freedom, the impact on foreign-born researchers like Susan underscores the need for transparent and consistent policies to ensure fairness and uphold the integrity of educational exchanges. Two years ago, the Biden administration ended a controversial Trump-era policy known as the China Initiative that purported to root out spies but resulted in more ruined careers than successful prosecutions. Now that program has been succeeded by a piecemeal effort — one that’s largely hidden from public view. Instead of targeting prominent academics, Customs agents are expelling Ph.D. and postdoctoral students, as well as company employees, by secret administrative actions with no public accountability or right to appeal. Marta Meng , founder of the Meng Law Group in Covina, California, who represents Susan and three other expelled students seeking to overturn their bans, said no reason was given to her clients or in transcripts of the airport interviews that she has reviewed. Dan Berger , Meng Fei's lawyer, said he can’t understand why his client would have been subject to PP 10043, as nothing in her background indicates ties to any of the banned universities or to state funding, and her visa was renewed by the State Department just last year. That’s a problem for learning institutions, said Toby Smith , who handles government relations and public policy at the Association of American Universities, which acts on behalf of 71 research universities including the University of Virginia, Yale and other schools with recently banned students. “Despite asking for additional clarity, the specific items that would result in visa denial for Chinese graduate students under Proclamation 10043 have never been disclosed to our universities,” he said. “So we have been left only to speculate as to what might spark such denials.” The secrecy makes what’s going on “much more insidious now,” said Gisela Perez Kusakawa , executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum , a nonprofit organization that promotes academic freedom. “The end of the China Initiative wasn’t the end, they’re just not calling it that anymore,” said Ivan Kanapathy , senior vice president at Beacon Global Strategies, a national security advisory firm in Washington, and a former National Security Council official in the Trump administration. When the Biden administration ended the China Initiative, it said that a 2021 national security memorandum about vetting foreign students would remain in effect. It instructs the State Department to work with Homeland Security to ensure that the granting of visas reflects “the changing nature of risks” to US research. But it doesn’t specify what those risks are or how the agencies should be coordinating enforcement. “The question is, who is coordinating the whole thing, the guidelines and procedures for law enforcement,” said Steven Pei , an electrical engineering professor at the University of Houston and co-organizer of the Asian Pacific American Justice Task Force , which advocates against racial discrimination. “We are trying hard to balance national security, US competitiveness with China in high tech and civil rights,” he said. “But this top-level policy has not trickled down.”Read the Bloomberg report: https://bloom.bg/3wRL4O3 An Urgent Call for Clear and Fair Law Enforcement Guidelines and Procedures for Research Security Neal Lane* , Steven Pei* , and Jeremy Wu* posted a public commentary, calling for the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and other federal law enforcement agencies to coordinate their policies using comparable principles and set clear, fair guidelines and procedures. Our scientific success is rooted in core values, including collaboration, honesty, transparency, integrity, the fair competition of ideas, and the protection of intellectual capital. Some foreign entities do not share these values and are working to illicitly acquire our research and innovation. This necessitates laws – and law enforcement.But it is vital that law enforcement guidelines and procedures be clear and fair for maintaining public trust, upholding individual rights, and promoting accountability and consistency within the justice system. Otherwise, we can expect our competitive edge in science and technology to wane, as well as our standing as a leading democracy.With its sharp focus on research security, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has set a balanced path to guide policies of federal agencies that support research. There is a similar need for the FBI, HSI, and other federal law enforcement agencies to coordinate their policies using comparable principles and set clear, fair guidelines and procedures.Given OSTP’s unique role and capability within the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), it should also coordinate with all key law enforcement agencies to close the apparent gap in communication between national science and technology policy set by NSTC and agents at the forefront of law enforcement. In doing so, it can protect America’s security and economic competitiveness while minimizing the unintended negative impact and associated chilling effects on the science and technology community. * Dr. Neal Lane is Senior Fellow in Science and Technology Policy, Baker Institute, Rice University, and Former Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House. Dr. Steven Pei is Co-Organizer of APA Justice; Founding Chair of United Chinese Americans; and Professor at the University of Houston. Dr. Jeremy Wu is Co-Organizer of APA Justice; Member of Committee of 100; and Retired from the Federal Government. Read the full commentary: https://bit.ly/3yDRaSB 06/06: An Open and Public Community Forum with The FBI On June 6, 2024, the Baker Institute and the Office of Innovation at Rice University, the Texas Multicultural Advocacy Coalition, and APA Justice will co-host a hybrid forum titled " A Dialogue Between the Academic and Asian American Communities and the FBI ." Registration for in-person attendance and Zoom webinar is now open. In 2022, the Department of Justice ended its China Initiative — a strategy to counter Chinese espionage and threats to U.S. research security — after academic and civil rights groups raised concerns about bias and damage to the United States’ scientific enterprise. However, there were several recent media reports of border entry issues for Chinese graduate students and academic researchers who are green card-holders and even American citizens. This event brings together Jill Murphy, deputy assistant director of counterintelligence at the FBI, and the leadership of the FBI’s Houston field office for a dialogue with members of the academic and Asian American communities. It will examine gaps between national science and technology policy and its implementation. It will also explore the possibility of establishing a regular communication channel between the academic and Asian American communities with FBI field offices. Register to join the forum in person: https://bit.ly/4aFwvuK . Register to join the forum via Zoom: https://bit.ly/3wjg759 . News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2024/05/31 A Discussion on the History of Discrimination Against Asian Americans2024/06/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2024/06/06 A Dialogue Between Academic/AAPI Communities with The FBI2024/06/20 U.S.-China Relations: Untangling Campaign Rhetoric & Understanding Policy – Teachers Workshop2024/06/20-22 Social Equity Leadership ConferenceVisit https://bit.ly/45KGyga for event details. 2. MOCA Forum: A Discussion on the History of Discrimination Against Asian Americans WHAT: A Discussion on the History of Discrimination Against Asian Americans WHEN: May 31, 2024, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm ET WHERE: 215 Centre Street, New York, NY HOST: Museum of Chinese in America MODERATOR: Scott Wong. Reporter, NBC News SPEAKERS: · Christopher P. Lu, U.S. Representative to the United Nations for Management and Reform · Mark Takano, Member, U.S. House of Representatives DESCRIPTION: From the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese incarceration to recent hate crimes, a discussion on the history of discrimination against Asian Americans. REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/3yG2ltY 3. WHIAANHPI Celebrates 25th Anniversary On June 7, 1999, President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13125 establishing a White House Initiative and presidential advisory commission dedicated to improving the lives of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Over the course of 25 years and five presidential administrations, the size and scope of these entities have evolved. But the full story of how they came to be has rarely been told. On May 17, 2024, The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) posted a documentary video titled "Lasting Legacies - The White House Initiative on AA and NHPIs Turns 25” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9nw4TL80yI (10:29) 4. Two New Pandas Coming to Washington DC According to multiple media reports, months after the nation’s capital bid an emotional farewell to its giant pandas, the National Zoo is expecting a renewed surge in panda-mania with the announcement that two more of the furry black-and-white icons will be coming to Washington DC.A fresh agreement had been struck with the Chinese government, and a pair of adult pandas would be arriving from China by the end of the year. The incoming pair are Bao Li and Qing Bao. Both are two years old.Pandas have been a symbol of U.S.-China friendship since Beijing sent a pair to the National Zoo in 1972, ahead of the normalization of bilateral relations. Later, Beijing loaned pandas to other U.S. zoos, with proceeds going back to panda conservation programs. Back View PDF May 31, 2024 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #348 Special Edition: Shutdown of Corporation of Public Broadcasting #348 Special Edition: Shutdown of Corporation of Public Broadcasting In This Issue #348 Special Edition: Shutdown of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Author: Madeleine Gable, APA Justice Communications Associate On July 24, 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the GOP-backed Rescissions Act of 2025, cutting about $1.1 billion in previously approved funding allocated to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) over the next two years. A week later, CPB President Patricia Harrison announced the organization would shut down, with most of its 100 employees leaving by the end of September. Despite widespread public opposition, including letters and petitions, the shutdown advances, threatening the future of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the National Public Radio (NPR), and hundreds of local stations nationwide, significantly impacting Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. What is the CPB? Established in 1967 under the Public Broadcasting Act, the CPB is a private nonprofit corporation supporting noncommercial, educational, and accessible broadcasting. Beyond funding PBS and NPR, the CPB provides support to over 1,500 local radio and TV stations. Many of the rural networks are the only broadcasting stations in the area.Former President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act as part of Great Society legislation , initiatives intended to reduce poverty and promote social equity. Early broadcasters, often based at universities and land-grant schools, provided continuing education programs, which eventually expanded to include children’s programming, documentary films, and feature stories.The CPB allocates more than $400 million to over 500 public-media organizations nationwide. In particular, its funding has a much greater impact on stations that serve local communities than it does on PBS and NPR. In fact, the CPB funds 15% of the budget for PBS and only 1% of the budget for NPR. The vast majority of the CPB’s funds are allocated directly to local TV and radio stations, and 31% of the CPB’s grants were allocated directly to rural networks in 2023. According to CPB analysis, more than half of the rural stations it supported relied on federal funding for at least 25% of their budget. Consequences of the Shutdown At its inception, the CPB was designed to ensure nonpartisanship by creating a degree of separation between its operations and the lawmakers responsible for approving the annual federal budget. Recently, the CPB, and especially NPR and PBS, have garnered criticism for alleged liberal bias. Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene vehemently called for the defunding of the CPB because NPR and PBS had become “echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy white urban liberals and progressives who generally look down on and judge rural America.” On Truth Social in April, President Donald Trump referred to NPR and PBS as “radical left monsters that so badly hurt our country.” 1. Loss of Local/Rural Representation and Voice Both Rep. Greene and President Trump’s statements underscore the irony of shuttering the CPB. The shutdown would hit rural, low-income areas hardest, places where local stations are often the sole source of essential information, leaving these communities at a significant disadvantage. With the loss of funding, smaller, public radio stations will be forced to rely more heavily on national programming, thereby reducing the diversity of perspectives on the air. As Emily Cohen , station manager of KHOL in Jackson, Wyoming, observed , “If you take away the funding that’s supporting local coverage, it could potentially make polarization worse.”Such smaller, rural broadcasting stations include Allegheny Mountain Radio (AMR), a network of three radio stations in West Virginia and Virginia that serve as the area’s only broadcasters. Located within the National Radio Quiet Zone, a 13,000 square-mile region where airwaves are restricted due to a nearby radio telescope, AMR operates at a frequency low enough to avoid interference. More than 60% of its annual budget is funded by the CPB; any reduction in this funding would seriously harm residents who may otherwise lose access to local broadcasting. Josh Shepperd , associate professor at the University of Colorado, suggests “20% of the country is effectively going to lose any concept of itself as a place within the next 10 years without public media.” He added local communities are “all going to have national ideology on the local level, and no local memory and no local experience.” 2. Reduced Access to Critical Information and Services Importantly, the shutdown of the CPB will severely dampen the efficacy of local alert systems, endangering the lives of those who rely on local broadcasting systems for emergency messages. In rural communities that lack reliable internet, radio is often a more effective means of disseminating emergency alerts. While the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has the ability to send emergency messages directly to people’s cellphones, radio stations can cover a larger geographical area and are more reliable than cell towers.In the Permian Basin in southwest Texas, radio is often the only outlet available to provide residents with emergency information in times of natural disaster. Marfa Public Radio and KPBT-TV (also known as Basin PBS) are two of the stations that primarily serve this area. 30% of Marfa Public Radio’s budget is funded by the CPB, while 48% of KPBT-TV’s comes from the CPB. Directors of both of these stations have expressed their concerns about continuing to operate as their budgets must now be fully funded by donors.Mendocino-based NPR member station KZYX in California serves roughly 130,000 listeners. Andre de Channes , KZYX’s general manager and director of operations, worried about fire safety as the station provides service to many off-the-grid rural areas without access to internet or cell service. Residents of those areas rely primarily on KZYX for emergency information. KZYX has lost 25% of its operating budget. 3. Impact on Cultural Programming In addition to limited diversity of programming and reduced access to critical information and services, the shutdown of the CPB will also profoundly impact cultural programming, particularly because local stations broadcast the majority of such content. Jack Jones is the acting station manager of KGVA, a tribal radio station on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in northern Montana, which receives 85% of its funding from the CPB. Much of the rest of its funding is allocated by the reservation’s college, which also faces a severe funding crisis. According to Jones, KGVA daily broadcasts feature educational programming, words of the day in Aaniiih and Nakota languages, interviews with tribal elders, Native American drum groups, and local high school basketball games. Republican Senator from South Dakota Mike Rounds noted that tribal radio stations are crucial for "delivering critical emergency alerts and public safety information.” Jones remains concerned that the shutdown of the CPB will deprive listeners of both vital cultural programming and essential public safety information. Loris Taylor , President and CEO of Native Public Media, warned that the “cost of silence” from shuttering tribal radio stations also includes the loss of emergency alerting capabilities and the collapse of civic engagement coverage. Perhaps most importantly, Taylor says defunding tribal stations "turns off a pathway to participation, representation, and leadership for Native youth.” The CPB shutdown also threatens the more than 1,000 public radio stations that play independent music, as the CPB funding often covers all music licensing fees for public radio stations. Without that funding, public radio stations would have to renegotiate those deals individually. NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher recently estimated that 96% of all classical music broadcast in the U.S. is on public radio stations. Impact on AANHPI Communities 1. Cultural Programming at Risk Beyond local stations, CPB funding also supports national and digital platforms that amplify AANHPI voices.To celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month in 2024, the CPB published a comprehensive guide to its programming exploring and celebrating the history and culture of AANHPI individuals and communities. Examples include PBS’s “ The Composer is Yoo ” and Photographic Justice: The Corky Lee Story , Dear Corky , WORLD’s “ Chinatown Auxiliary ” and In Search of Bengali Harlem , NPR’s Tiny Desk Japan and Tiny Desk Korea , and PBS’s five part documentary series Asian Americans .Other PBS stations offering extensive, culturally rich programming about Asian Americans include PBS Hawai’i , KQED , and PBS SoCal . The latter aired “ Snapshots of Confinement ,” a locally-produced documentary chronicling the experiences of Japanese Americans at internment camps during World War II.Other radio and online platforms uplifting AANHPI voices include NPR Live Sessions , Seattle’s KEXP , LAist Studios and NPR’s Inheriting , StoryCorps , and the American Archive of Public Broadcasting . 2. Arts and Story Telling The Serica Initiative , a nonprofit in New York City, raises awareness of the Asian diaspora in America through storytelling, dialogue, and the power of convening. According to CEO and founder Anla Cheng , a key partner of Serica's is The WNET Group in New York and a past recipient of CPB funds. Together, Serica and ALL ARTS — the arts and culture hub created by The WNET Group — have co-produced a series of short videos highlighting the impact of AAPIs; most recently, their series " Climate Artists " (which featured artists centering climate change and sustainability in their work, including architect and designer Maya Lin ) was nominated for three NY Emmy Awards; a fourth Emmy nomination was for their video " Voices Rising: What's Next for Asian Americans in the Arts? ", which was also co-produced with ALL ARTS and featured such speakers as playwright David Henry Hwang (Golden Child, Yellow Face) as well as actors Rosalind Chao (Three Body Problem) and BD Wong (Jurassic Park, Law & Order: SUV). Cheng highlighted that reductions in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) funding, academic research grants, and resources supporting AAPI communities will have far-reaching effects throughout the entire community. She also emphasized that the willingness to support one another remains stronger than ever, with emotional and creative contributions often being just as valuable as financial support, making the phrase “Collectively, We are Stronger” a reality. 3. Asian American Films and Festivals Two of the country’s largest Asian American Film Festivals, CAAMFest and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, also risk losing a significant portion of their funding. CAAM , the Center for Asian American Media, originated through the efforts of Loni Ding and others to secure funding from the CPB to create the National Asian American Telecommunications Association in 1980, later renamed CAAM. CAAMFest, an offshoot of CAAM, debuted in 1982 as the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival before adopting its current name in 2013. Since then, it has been held annually, except in 1985. According to Grace Yu of the 1990 Institute , CAAM remains the primary organization recognized by the CPB representing Asian Americans. CAAM’s Executive Director Don Young warned that the group faces a major financial crisis following President Trump’s funding cuts, which threaten 40% of its total budget. While the most severe restrictions were not applied directly to the film festival, they will significantly disrupt CAAM’s core work of funding, producing, distributing, and showcasing film, television, and other digital media. The festival itself is not the main target of the cuts, but it remains vulnerable to their ripple effects.Young underscored the importance of documentary filmmaking as a “fundamental influence to help the Asian American community discover our voice and to provide greater shared understanding of Asian America to the broader public.” Despite the financial strain, Young reaffirmed that “CAAM’s commitment to storytelling for the public good, and not corporate profits, will continue,” with an emphasis on public media, sustainability, and innovation. Similarly, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival forecasts it will lose 10-20% of its funding, much of which stems from the National Endowment of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the CPB. Francis Cuillado , executive director at Visual Communications, noted that their archive will bear the greatest impact. The archive works to “preserve and digitize film, photographs and other media” in order to create a freely accessible library. Presented by Visual Communications, the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival first debuted in 1983 and has presented over 5,000 films, videos, and digital mediaworks by Asian and Pacific Islander artists. The festival also features seminars, panels, and in-person guest appearances.With the imminent shutdown, all of the above programming faces significant disruption or cancellation. Even organizations not directly affected will feel the loss of a broader network, frequent collaborators, and reliable source material, further hindering the production and dissemination of Asian American programming. Economic and Employment Impact The CPB shutdown will also significantly impact employment and local economies. The CPB estimates nearly 6,000 people are employed by rural stations that it supports. All of those employees face the risk of severe pay cuts due to the shutdown, in addition to the threat of losing their jobs.As Montana’s KGVA stands to lose $100,000 in funding, station manager Jack Jones plans to phase out all programming that requires someone in the studio, cutting the station’s budget down to just $30,000 for licensing fees and station upkeep. Jones says he plans to “start letting people go” as salaries are their largest expense. KGVA only employs one part-time worker, a summer disc jockey. When The New Yorker journalist Oliver Whang noted that Jones himself was the only other employee who could be let go, Jones paused, then quipped “yeah.” "The Race to Rescue PBS and NPR Stations" According to the New York Times on August 19, 2025, philanthropists from the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation, Pivotal Ventures, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced they have committed $26.5 million to support the most at-risk public radio and TV stations. In their definition, these stations include those who have historically received more than 30% of their support from the CPB. They hope to reach $50 million for the Public Media Bridge Fund by the end of this year through additional fundraising. According to Maribel Pérez Wadsworth , president and CEO of the Knight Foundation, philanthropy could not provide a substitute for the federal funding in the long term. A broad overhaul of the public radio system is needed, and many stations will need to merge or pool their resources to save costs. Additional Resources 2025/08/07 The New Yorker: What Happens to Public Media Now? https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/what-happens-to-public-media-now 2025/08/06 Christian Science Monitor: As Corporation for Public Broadcasting shuts down, what will that mean on airwaves? https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2025/0806/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-npr-pbs 2025/08/05 Forbes: Will NPR And PBS Go Away? How CPB Shutting Down Affects Them https://www.forbes.com/sites/andymeek/2025/08/05/will-npr-and-pbs-go-away-how-cpb-shutting-down-affects-them/ About the author: Madeleine Gable is a junior at New York University, studying International Relations, Economics, and Chinese. She will spend the upcoming fall semester at NYU Shanghai and has been working with APA Justice since October 2024. News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2025/09/06 The 2025 Asian American Youth Symposium2025/09/08 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/09/08 Committee of 100 Conversations – “Recollections, Pioneers and Heroes” with Janet Yang2025/09/09 China Connections — Chinese Encounters with America: Profiles of Changemakers Who Shaped China2025/09/16-17 2025 AANHPI Unity Summit2025/09/23 Committee of 100: Is Deglobalization Inevitable?Visit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. 2. C100: Is Deglobalization Inevitable? On September 23, 2025, the Committee of 100 and the Foreign Policy Association will co-host a keynote fireside chat and debate on the topic of "Is Deglobalization Inevitable?" Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz at Columbia University will open with a fireside chat on the evening’s central issue, followed by a lively debate between two leading experts: Walden Bello , Professor, State University of New York at Binghamton and Kyoto University (and credited with coining the term “deglobalization”), and Professor Edward Ashbee, Professor, Copenhagen Business School. They will present opposing views in a traditional debate format—opening statements, rebuttals, and closing remarks. Peter Young, Committee of 100 Member and Board Member, CEO of Young & Partners, will serve as moderator. The in-person event at the Yale Club of New York City is by invitation only. The virtual invitation is open to the public; register to attend at https://bit.ly/3Jnwi7z Contact events@committee100.org for more information. # # # APA Justice Task Force is a non-partisan platform to build a sustainable ecosystem that addresses racial profiling concerns and to facilitate, inform, and advocate on selected issues related to justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American community. For more information, please refer to the new APA Justice website under development at www.apajusticetaskforce.org . We value your feedback. Please send your comments to contact@apajustice.org . Back View PDF August 21, 2025 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session launched the China Initiative to combat national security threats and economic espionage emanating from the People’s Republic of China. Without a definition of what constitutes a China Initiative case, it drifted to profile and stigmatize Asian Americans and individuals of Asian descent, creating severe damage and a chilling effect on scientific collaboration and harming U.S. leadership in science and technology. November 1, 2018 Table of Contents Overview FBI Director’s Profiling Approach NIH’s Own “China Initiative” Criminalizing China The Ethnic Targeting of Chinese Scientists Links and References Overview On November 1, 2018, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session announced the launch of the China Initiative to combat national security threats and economic espionage emanating from the People’s Republic of China (PRC). “This Initiative will identify priority Chinese trade theft cases, ensure that we have enough resources dedicated to them, and make sure that we bring them to an appropriate conclusion quickly and effectively.” Sessions said. President Donald Trump fired Sessions less than a week later, but the China Initiative remained in operation for 1,210 days until it was ended by the Joe Biden Administration on February 23, 2022. The Department of Justice (DOJ) had no definition of what constitutes a China Initiative case. DOJ created an online report on what it considered to be Chinese Initiative cases. The online report was last updated on November 19, 2021, three months before the initiative officially ended. According to MIT Technology Review , there have been 77 known China Initiative cases impacting 162 individuals. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the cases, MIT Technology Review concluded that the initiative had increasingly charged academics with “research integrity” issues. Nearly 90% of the defendants charged were of Chinese heritage, lending credence to wide-spread allegations that scientists and researchers of Chinese origin were racially profiled and targeted under the China Initiative despite denials by the government. The DOJ China Initiative cases included only indictments and prosecutions. It did not include investigations or surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and other federal law enforcement agencies and grant agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH ran its own China Initiative. By March 23, 2023, a year after the official end of the China Initiative, NIH’s own “China initiative” had upended hundreds of lives and destroyed scores of academic careers. In contrast to the very public criminal prosecutions of academic scientists under the China Initiative, NIH’s version was conducted behind closed doors. FBI Director’s Profiling Approach The first thunder of the New Red Scare came on February 13, 2018, when FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing and targeted all students, scholars and scientists of Chinese origin as a national security threat to the United States. Wray responded to a question in the hearing, “I think in this setting I would just say that the use of nontraditional collectors, especially in the academic setting, whether it’s professors, scientists, students, we see in almost every field office that the FBI has around the country. It’s not just in major cities. It’s in small ones as well. It’s across basically every discipline.” Asian American advocates were outraged by Wray’s presumption that every Chinese professor, scientist, and student was guilty of collecting intelligence for the Chinese government until proven innocent. Conflating the stereotype of “perpetual foreigners” and the loyalty of Asian Americans to the United States, Wray pledged to pursue a “whole-of-society” approach to address the threat of China. His use of the term “non-traditional collectors” for spies parallelled “thousand grains of sand” during the prosecution of Dr. Wen Ho Lee and “fifth column” in referral to Japanese Americans during World War II. Qian Xuesen, also known as Hsue-shen Tsien, a founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, became a victim of the Second Red Scare during the Cold War era, facing accusations of “communist sympathies” despite his contributions to American scientific advancement. Fourteen Asian American community organizations wrote to Wray on March 1, 2018, and called for “an opportunity to discuss how well-intentioned public policies might nonetheless lead to troubling issues of potential bias, racial profiling, and wrongful prosecution.” Wray never responded to the letter. References and Links Wikipedia: Qian Xuesen 2020/02/02 The Intercept: The FBI’s China Obsession - The U.S. Government Secretly Spied on Chinese American Scientists, Upending Lives and Paving the Way for Decades of Discrimination 2019/12/31 Bloomberg: As China Anxiety Rises in U.S., Fears of New Red Scare Emerge 2019/07/20 New York Times: A New Red Scare Is Reshaping Washington 2018/03/23 Huffington Post: FBI Director Defends Remarks That Chinese People In U.S. Pose Threats 2018/03/08 Washington Post Opinion: America’s new — and senseless — Red Scare 2018/03/01 14 Coalition Organizations: Coalition letter to FBI Director Wray 2018/03/01 Committee of 100: Community Organizations Call for Meeting with FBI Director Christopher Wray Regarding Profiling of Students, Scholars, and Scientists with Chinese Origins 2018/02/27 Asia Times: FBI director’s grave mistake on targeting Chinese-Americans 2018/02/16 纽约都市新闻网: 华裔议员严厉谴责Rubio和Wray针对中国学生的极端言论 2018/02/15 CAPAC: CAPAC Members on Rubio and Wray’s Remarks Singling Out Chinese Students as National Security Threats 2018/02/14 Inside Higher Ed: The Chinese Student Threat? 2018/02/13 Advancing Justice | AAJC: FBI Director’s Shock Claim: Chinese Students Are a Potential Threat 2018/02/13 U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: Hearing on Global Threats and National Security 2016/05/25 60 Minutes: Collateral Damage 2015/05/10 New York Times: Accused of Spying for China, Until She Wasn’t 2000/09/14 New York Times: Statement by Judge in Los Alamos Case, With Apology for Abuse of Power . 1999/12/11 Washington Post: China Prefers the Sand to the Moles 1964/02/02 New York Times: F.B.I. Chief Warns of Red China Spies NIH’s Own “China Initiative” According to the Science Magazine, Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sent a missive to more than 10,000 institutions on August 20, 2018, asserting that "threats to the integrity of U.S. biomedical research exist" and highlighted the failure to disclose "substantial resources from other organizations, including foreign governments." Collins wrote that "in the weeks and months ahead you may be hearing from [NIH] regarding … requests about specific … personnel from your institution." Dubbed as NIH’s own “China Initiative,” NIH began sending letters to dozens of major U.S. research universities in March 2019, asking them to provide information about specific faculty members with NIH funding who are believed to have links to foreign governments that NIH did not know about. Universities reportedly scrambled to respond to the unprecedented queries. Some academic administrators worry the exercise could cast a chill over all types of international scientific collaborations. Others fear that the inquiry may become a vehicle to impugn the loyalty of any faculty member—and especially any foreign-born scientists—who maintain overseas ties. At some institutions, every researcher flagged by NIH was Chinese American. The vaguely worded letters did not contain specific accusations, nor did it explain any aspect of the process. By March 23, 2023, a year after the official end of the China Initiative, Science reported that NIH’s “China initiative” has upended hundreds of lives and destroyed scores of academic careers. In contrast to the very public criminal prosecutions of academic scientists under the China Initiative, NIH’s version was conducted behind closed doors. More than one in five of the 246 scientists targeted were banned from applying for new NIH funding for as long as 4 years—a career-ending setback for most academic researchers. And almost two-thirds were removed from existing NIH grants. Some 81% of the scientists cited in the NIH letters identify as Asian, and 91% of the collaborations under scrutiny were with colleagues in China. In only 14 of the 246 cases—a scant 6%—did the institution fail to find any evidence to back up NIH’s suspicions. NIH is by far the largest funder of academic biomedical research in the United States, and some medical centers receive hundreds of millions of dollars annually from the agency. So when senior administrators heard Michael Lauer, NIH deputy director for extramural research, say a targeted scientist “was not welcome in the NIH ecosystem,” they understood immediately what he meant—and that he was expecting action. “If NIH says there’s a conflict, then there’s a conflict, because NIH is always right,” says David Brenner, who was vice chancellor for health sciences at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), in November 2018 when the institution received a letter from Lauer asking it to investigate five medical school faculty members, all born in China. “We were told we have a problem and that it was up to us to fix it.” In a panel discussion hosted by the University of Michigan in March 2024, Professor Ann Chih Lin, asserted that NIH made it clear that if they couldn’t resolve concerns regarding a faculty member and a grant, NIH would not only require universities to repay the grant, but also investigate universities’ entire portfolio of NIH grants. Fearing the loss of grant money, universities often approached the implicated professors and encouraged them to resign voluntarily or retire early. This strategy aimed to avoid a public disciplinary hearing or grievance process, which could bring unwanted attention to the case. Professors involved in such investigations typically refrained from discussing their cases to protect both themselves and the universities, often choosing to depart quietly. References and Links 2024/03/29 University of Michigan News: US universities secretly turned their back on Chinese professors under DOJ’s China Initiative 2023/02/23 Science: Pall of Suspicion 2019/03/01 Science: NIH letters asking about undisclosed foreign ties rattle U.S. universities Criminalizing China The name of China Initiative by itself is problematic. "Using 'China' as the glue connecting cases prosecuted under the Initiative's umbrella creates an overinclusive conception of the threat and attaches a criminal taint to entities that possess 'China-ness,' based on PRC nationality, PRC national origin, Chinese ethnicity, or other expressions of connections with 'China.,'" Professor Margaret Lewis wrote in her article "Criminalizing China" in 2020. Her article further contends that, when assessed in light of the goals of deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retribution, it is worrisome that the prosecution and punishment of people and entities rests in part on a connection with “China.” A better path is to discard the “China Initiative” framing, focus on cases’ individual characteristics, and enhance the Department of Justice’s interactions with nongovernmental experts. Margaret K. Lewis, Criminalizing China , 111 J. Crim. L. & Criminology 145 (2020). https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol111/iss1/3 The Ethnic Targeting of Chinese Scientists On November 19, 2020, The China Project produced a video titled “ The China Initiative: The ethnic targeting of Chinese scientists and the subsequent brain drain .” (7:30) The China Project talked to lawyers, academics, and victims of the China Initiative for their perspective. Many Chinese and Chinese American researchers feel that the program has placed a target on their back, and that they are being unfairly targeted for their Chinese ethnicity. There are also critics who say the Initiative has done little more than drive talent away from the U.S. Jump to: Overview FBI Director’s Profiling Approach NIH’s Own “China Initiative” Criminalizing China Ethnic Targeting of Chinese Scientists U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session launched the China Initiative to combat national security threats and economic espionage emanating from the People’s Republic of China. Without a definition of what constitutes a China Initiative case, it drifted to profile and stigmatize Asian Americans and individuals of Asian descent, creating severe damage and a chilling effect on scientific collaboration and harming U.S. leadership in science and technology. Previous Next 1. DOJ launched China Initiative