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Newsletter - #57 Heritage Month Activities; Goverment's Own Bias; Yellow Whistle Campaign Grows #57 Heritage Month Activities; Goverment's Own Bias; Yellow Whistle Campaign Grows Back View PDF April 30, 2021 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #86 Media on Anming Hu and UTK; 10/05 Meeting; New on "China Initiative"/Baylor; PCAST #86 Media on Anming Hu and UTK; 10/05 Meeting; New on "China Initiative"/Baylor; PCAST Back View PDF September 28, 2021 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #256 Registrations Open; Anming Hu; Students Targeted? Legislative Alert; Book Chapter; + #256 Registrations Open; Anming Hu; Students Targeted? Legislative Alert; Book Chapter; + In This Issue #256 · Registrations Open for Two Events Co-Hosted by The Baker Institute · Update of Exonerated Professor Anming Hu · Overblown or Legitimate: Are Chinese Students Targeted by CBP at U.S. Airports? · ALERT: Continuing Attempts to Revive The China Initiative and Texas Alien Land Bill · "New Red Scare: The China Initiative" Chapter in New Book · News and Activities for the Communities Registrations Open for Two Events Co-Hosted by The Baker Institute The National Science Foundation (NSF) launched its Research on Research Security (RoRS) program on July 12, 2023, to support the study of research security as required in the CHIPS and Science Act and following the federal requirements outlined in the National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 and its accompanying implementation guidelines .Following a virtual workshop on May 2, an in-person workshop will be hosted by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy on May 23-24, 2024. The workshop will bring together leading experts from academia, government, and industry to explore the threats and challenges facing the international research and innovation ecosystem. Participants will identify current themes, major issues, and challenges in research security, as well as chart a road map for the future of the NSF’s RoRS program.The workshop is led by Rice University’s Office of Research Security and the Baker Institute Science and Technology Program in close collaboration with the University of Houston, IPTalons, Inc., the Society of Research Administrators International, and the NSF (Grant No. 2348714).Dr. Rebecca Keiser , NSF chief of research security strategy and policy, will deliver a keynote address on the origins of the RoRS program on May 23 at 8:30 am CDT. Her remarks will be livestreamed. Registration to watch her remarks is open at: https://bit.ly/4brHcCr ***** On June 6, 2024, the Baker Institute and the Office of Innovation at Rice University will co-host a hybrid forum titled "A Dialogue Between Academic & APA Communities and The FBI."The event brings together Jill Murphy , the deputy assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, who oversees the FBI’s espionage investigations, and the leadership of the FBI Houston Field Office with members of the academic and Asian American communities to discuss the gaps between national science and technology policy and its implementation at the forefront of law enforcement.The Texas Multicultural Advocacy Coalition (TMAC) and APA Justice are co-hosts of this important forum. The communities will be represented by Gordon Quan , Managing Partner & Co-Founder, Quan Law Group, PLLC; Former Houston City Mayor Pro-Tem; David Donatti , Senior Staff Attorney, Legal Department, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas; and Gisela Perez Kusakawa , Executive Director, Asian American Scholar Forum. Professor Steven Pei serves as Moderator.Register to attend the forum between the academic/APA communities with the FBI via Zoom at : https://bit.ly/3wjg759 Update of Exonerated Professor Anming Hu On February 27, 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the indictment of Professor Anming Hu 胡安明 , an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK).Professor Hu, a naturalized Canadian citizen, was the second China Initiative case involving a U.S. university professor of Asian ancestry. He was charged with three counts each of wire fraud and making false statements, but not espionage. The charges stemmed from his purported failure to disclose affiliations with a Chinese university while receiving funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).Professor Hu was the first academic to go to trial under the China Initiative. A mistrial was declared on June 16, 2021, after the jury deadlocked. Despite the absence of evidence and misconduct, DOJ opted to pursue a retrial on July 30, 2021, prompting outrage by members of Congress, national and local organizations, the Asian American community, and the general public.On September 9, 2021, Judge Thomas Varlan issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order and acquitted Professor Hu of all charges in his indictment. “The government has failed to provide sufficient evidence from which any rational jury could find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that defendant had specific intent to defraud NASA by hiding his affiliation with BJUT [Beijing University of Technology] from UTK," he wrote. On the part of UTK administrators, they concealed the federal investigation from Professor Hu, provided his records to the authorities without a warrant or informing him, suspended him without pay, and fired him shortly after. Without any attempt to protect its faculty, UTK was broadly criticized for throwing Professor Hu “under the bus.” On October 14, 2021, UTK offered to reinstate Professor Hu. On February 1, 2022, Professor Hu returned to his laboratory.It has been two years since Professor Hu was exonerated. He has agreed to speak at the June APA Justice monthly meeting and provide an update on his situation and his family.The APA Justice monthly meetings are by invitation only. The next meeting will be held on June 3, 2024. 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 . Overblown or Legitimate: Are Chinese Students Targeted by CBP at U.S. Airports? Recently, diplomats from China and the United States have debated over a new point of contention: How serious is the issue of Chinese students and scholars being subjected to secondary screening at airports upon arrival in the United States? Chinese diplomats have protested the treatment of Chinese students at the airport for months. Nicholas Burns , the U.S. Ambassador to China, reaffirmed that the U.S. is committed to opening its doors to Chinese students. Summer is coming; prospective students will come to the U.S. for school, and students in the country may travel back to China to visit their families. When those students return to the U.S., will they be “harassed” again at the airports?In a report published on May 20, 2024, The US-China Perception Monitor ( USCPM ) analyzed this question by focusing on how to read the numbers and how the Chinese students are stuck between U.S. Embassy or Consulates in China and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).For months, the Chinese media reported incidents of Chinese students and scholars undergoing secondary security checks and being held in “little black rooms” at U.S. airports. From January to March, students in Ph.D. science programs at Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and other major U.S. research universities have been denied re-entry after visiting family in China, and in some cases, they were immediately sent back home, according to a Science report .The so-called secondary security check is an airport security measure used in the United States to select passengers for additional inspection. The State Department denied visas to 1,964 Chinese scholars in 2021 and 1,764 in 2022. Compared to many thousands of vias issued for Chinese students, the number of students affected is considered small.Nevertheless, visa denials and airport incidents inevitably negatively affect the morality of potential students and those already in this country, wondering whether coming to the United States is the right choice. Already, amidst tense U.S.-China bilateral relations, the number of students studying in the U.S. has declined sharply.Read the US-China Perception Monitor report: https://bit.ly/3WLxGpb .2024/05/10 中美印象简报 ： 中国学生被关“小黑屋”是否被夸大 ALERT : Continuing Attempts to Revive The China Initiative and Texas Alien Land Bill On May 22, 2024, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee will hold a markup hearing that includes H.R. 1398 , which is yet another attempt to relaunch the now-defunct China Initiative. Read more and watch the markup hearing: https://bit.ly/3UOqbLr On May 29, 2024, the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs will hold a public hearing that includes " Protecting Texas Land and Assets : Evaluate strategic land and asset acquisitions in Texas by foreign entities that threaten the safety and security of the United States. Further, evaluate large-scale purchases of single-family homes by domestic entities and its impact on housing affordability for Texas families. Make recommendations to ensure Texans are secure from foreign threats and homes are affordable in our state." Read the Notice of Public Hearing: https://bit.ly/3QV7ODx "New Red Scare: The China Initiative" Chapter in New Book Steven Pei , Jeremy Wu , and Alex Liang co-authored a chapter " New Red Scare: The China Initiative " in a new book titled "Communicated Stereotypes at Work." The book, co-edited by Anastacia Kurylo and Yifeng Hu , was published by Lexington Books on May 15, 2024. The editors and contributors of the new book posit that stereotypes communicated in the workplace remain a pervasive issue due to the dichotomy between the discriminatory and functional roles that these stereotypes can play in a range of professional settings. Contributors demonstrate that while the use of stereotypes in the workplace is distasteful and exclusionary, communicating these stereotypes can also appear—on the surface—to provide a pathway toward bonding with others, giving advice, and reducing uncertainty. The result of this dichotomy is that those who communicate stereotypes in the workplace may not view this communication from themselves or others as being problematic. Pei, Wu, and Liang opined that the FBI has a long history of surveillance of ethnic Chinese scientists in the United States. McCarthyism, the Economic Espionage Act, and more recently the China Initiative were initiatives adversely impacting Chinese and Chinese Americans living in the U.S. The stereotypes of Asian and Chinese scientists as “disloyal” stem from the perpetual foreigner trope. The key here is that most of them were U.S. citizens. They are as much an American as any other American, yet their “loyalty” is perceived as less trustworthy. This stereotype has harmful, life-altering consequences. News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2024/05/22 Heritage, Culture, and Community: The Future of America's Chinatowns2024/05/23 Responsible Collaboration Through Appropriate Research Security2024/06/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2024/06/06 A Dialogue Between Academic/AAPI Communities with The FBI2024/06/20-22 Social Equity Leadership ConferenceVisit https://bit.ly/45KGyga for event details. Back View PDF May 22, 2024 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #59 Stand Up, Speak Out, Take Action In 05/15 National "Unity Against Hate" Rallies #59 Stand Up, Speak Out, Take Action In 05/15 National "Unity Against Hate" Rallies Back View PDF May 13, 2021 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Charles Lieber Docket ID: 1:20-cr-10111 District Court, D. Massachusetts Date filed: June 9, 2020 Date ended: May 8, 2023 Charles Lieber, former chair of Harvard's Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, was prosecuted under the U.S. Department of Justice’s China Initiative. Arrested in January 2020, he faced six felony charges, including Making false statements to federal authorities Failing to report income from China Failing to disclose a foreign bank account The case centered on Professor Lieber's undisclosed ties to China’s Thousand Talents Program and Wuhan University of Technology (WUT). Prosecutors alleged that Lieber received significant compensation (including a $50,000 monthly salary and over $1.5 million in research funding) from WUT, which he failed to report to U.S. agencies while receiving U.S. grant funding. In December 2021, a federal jury convicted Professor Lieber on all six felony charges. In April 2023, Professor Lieber was sentenced to time served, 2 years of supervised release, $50,000 fine, and $33,600 restitution. Professor Lieber’s case became a high-profile example of the program’s controversial targeting of academics with ties to China, despite no charges of espionage. In May 2025, Professor Lieber accepted a new academic position in China. He joined the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (SIGS) as a full-time chair professor and is also serving as an Investigator at the newly established Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation (SMART), led by biologist Nieng Yan. References and Links CourtListener: United States v. Lieber (1:20-cr-10111) Wikipedia: Charles M. Lieber 2025/05/02 Inside Higher Ed: US academic convicted over China ties joins Tsinghua University 2025/05/02 Chemistry World: Harvard’s former chemistry chair takes new position at Chinese university 2025/05/01 South China Morning Post: Former Harvard professor convicted over China ties joins Tsinghua University 2024/10/30 The Harvard Crimson: After Conviction for Lying About China Ties, Ex-Harvard Chemist Gets Approval to Visit Beijing 2023/04/26 New York Times: Ex-Harvard Professor Sentenced in China Ties Case 2021/12/28 ScienceInsider: What the Charles Lieber verdict says about U.S. China Initiative Previous Item Next Item

Newsletter - #329 5/5 Meeting; William Tong; Hanfan Lin; China Initiative; Harvard Push Back; Uprising + #329 5/5 Meeting; William Tong; Hanfan Lin; China Initiative; Harvard Push Back; Uprising + In This Issue #329 · 2025/05/05 APA Justice Monthly Meeting · William Tong: Connecticut Attorney General · Haifan Lin: President of Federation of Asian Professor Associations · Long Shadow of the "China Initiative" · University Leaders Stand Up to Trump Administration Threats · NYT Opinion : "America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal" · News and Activities for the Communities 2025/05/05 APA Justice Monthly Meeting The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, May 5, 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 speakers are: · William Tong 湯偉麟 , Attorney General, State of Connecticut · Robert L. Santos , Former Director, U.S. Census Bureau; Former President, American Statistical Association · Haifan Lin 林海帆 , President, Federation of Asian Professor Associations (FAPA); Professor, Yale University · Gee-Kung Chang 張繼昆 , Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology 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 . William Tong: Connecticut Attorney General William Tong 湯偉麟 is the 25th Attorney General (AG) to serve Connecticut since the office was established by the state constitution in 1897. He first took office in 2019 and is currently serving his second term. Born in Hartford, he is the first Asian American elected to any state office in Connecticut history, and the first Chinese American to be elected Attorney General nationwide. AG Tong was elected to serve as the President-elect of the National Association of Attorneys General. The vote was unanimous. His term begins in 2026.AG Tong has accepted our invitation to speak at the APA Justice monthly meeting on May 5, 2025.Since taking office in 2019, he has been a leading voice in defending civil rights and challenging federal overreach. He and fellow state attorneys general have filed at least eight lawsuits against the Trump administration, including efforts to oppose attempts to end birthright citizenship, prevent the freezing of federal funds critical to states, and overturn the planned $11 billion cut in the federal public health grants. AG Tong's advocacy underscores his commitment to upholding constitutional protections and ensuring equitable treatment for all communities. · 2025/04/02 CTpost: Connecticut sues Trump administration, Kennedy over health cuts, $120 million to state at risk · 2025/03/06 Attorney General Tong Secures Court Order Blocking Trump Administration from Freezing Federal Funds · 2024/12/29 NBC News: 'The first to sue': Opposing Trump's desire to end birthright citizenship is personal for this attorney general Haifan Lin: President of Federation of Asian Professor Associations Dr. Haifan Lin 林海帆 , President of the Federation of Asian Professor Associations (FAPA), is an invited speaker at the APA Justice monthly meeting on May 5, 2025.FAPA is a national coalition dedicated to uniting Asian and Asian American faculty across U.S. institutions. Established in 2024, FAPA aims to foster collaboration, amplify advocacy, and promote shared initiatives among Asian faculty organizations nationwide. Its mission encompasses advancing academic freedom, equity, and representation, particularly in response to challenges such as racial profiling and underrepresentation in leadership roles.Dr. Lin is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Cell Biology at Yale University and the founding director of the Yale Stem Cell Center. Renowned for his pioneering work in stem cell biology, Dr. Lin is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. On April 12, 2025, FAPA issued a public statement on the case of Indiana University Professor Xiaofeng Wang 王晓峰 and sent an open letter to Dr. Pamela Whitten , President of Indiana University, to condemn the abrupt dismissal of Dr. Wang, citing a lack of due process and growing racial profiling of Chinese American scientists. FAPA urges the university to reverse the decision, warning that such actions undermine academic freedom and set a dangerous precedent. Long Shadow of the "China Initiative" On April 25, 2025, the Committee of 100 annual conference will kick off with a session on " The Evolving National Security Landscape and Its Impact on Civil Rights ." This panel will examine what has replaced the China Initiative, who is being targeted now, and what comes next. Panelists will explore the broader implications of national security-driven discrimination, including the erosion of due process rights, racial profiling in espionage cases, and restrictions on cross-border collaboration. They will also discuss strategies for resisting policies that reinforce systemic inequality and advocate for civil liberties in an era of rising geopolitical tensions. Speakers for the panel are: · Gang Chen 陈刚 , Carl Richard Soderberg Professor of Power Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) · Seth DuCharme , Chair, National Government Enforcement & Investigations Practice, Bracewell LLP; Former United States Attorney · Gary Locke 骆家辉 , Former U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China · Brian Sun 孙自华 , Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright US 1. The Case of Dr. Chee-Kung Wang Dr. Gee-Kung Chang 張繼昆 , currently a retired professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, was indicted in 2021 for 10 counts of visa and wire fraud. Prosecutors claimed he facilitated a scheme that brought Chinese nationals to the U. S. on J-1 visiting scholar visa to work at a private telecommunications firm instead of at the University. In April 2025, all charges were dismissed at the pretrial stage due to lack of evidence and not meeting fundamental principles of law. His case is widely seen as another example of racial profiling and prosecutorial overreach under now-defunct "China Initiative." He was represented by attorneys Robert Fisher and Brian Kelly , who also defended MIT Professor Gang Chen in a separate case under "China Initiative." Dr. Gee-Kung Chang and Mr. Robert Fisher will speak at the APA Justice monthly meeting on May 5, 2025. 2. China Initiative 2.0? The Case of Dr. Xiaofeng Wang 王晓峰 On March 28, 2025, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security executed search warrants at Indiana University (IU) Professor Xiaofeng Wang 's 王晓峰 residences in Bloomington and Carmel, Indiana. Simultaneously, IU terminated Professor Wang's employment via email without any formal reason. His wife, Nianli Ma , also affiliated with IU, was dismissed four days earlier without explanation. At the April 14, 2025 State of Play Town Hall, Nianli Ma shared her family's profound sense of betrayal and emotional distress over IU's unexplained dismissals, vowing to fight for justice and support the broader research community.On April 1, 2025, Stanford University legal scholar Riana Pfefferkorn filed a motion (1:25-mc-00022) to unseal the warrants, emphasizing the public's right to transparency. The U.S. Attorney's Office has argued to keep them sealed.Professor Wang's termination reportedly involved an undisclosed research grant from China in 2017-2018. Joining the protest on April 17, 2025, Day of Action for Higher Ed, IU computer science chair Yuzhen Ye said Professor Wang was not even aware of the grant when university officials asked him about it. “So apparently a researcher in China applied for this grant without his knowledge," she said "So (Wang) explained and also he provided a supporting documentation to IU. I truly believe this really could have unfolded in a very different way if IU administration had chosen to trust its own faculty or give them a fair chance to respond,” Professor Ye said. Read the continuing development of Professor Wang's case: https://bit.ly/42tbPVR 3. The Unsolved Suicide of Dr. Nongjian Tao According to an exclusive report by the South China Morning Post on April 14, 2025, Nongjian Tao 陶农建 , a renowned Chinese American scientist and pioneer in nanotechnology, was found dead in March 2020 outside a parking garage at Arizona State University (ASU), where he led the Center for Bioelectronics and Biosensors. A police report later concluded that Tao died by suicide amid significant "work-related stress." His sudden death at age 57 shocked colleagues, as he had been actively engaged in professional activities shortly before his passing. Tao was celebrated for his invention of the scanning tunneling microscopy break junction technique, which advanced the study of single molecules and contributed to the field of nanoscience. He also founded two biotech startups and secured over $10 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. Stuart Lindsay , a Regents Professor at ASU and Professor Tao’s PhD adviser in the 1980s, called him “the brightest and hardest working student” he had ever had.In 2021, the American Chemical Society published the first-ever special issue of ACS Sensors dedicated to the memory of Professor Tao, recognizing him as "a person that made an incredible impact on our lives and those of many others." He was named an honorary fellow by the Chinese Chemical Society in 2012. In April 2020, The obituary in Nature Nanotechnology honors Professor Tao (1963–2020) as a pioneering nanoscientist. Professor Tao's death occurred during the era of the "China Initiative," which aimed to counter alleged economic espionage but shifted to racial profiling against Chinese researchers. Five years later, questions about Professor Tao’s death remain – including whether some of that stress was the result of possible inquiries by NIH.The cause of Professor Tao’s death may never be known. University Leaders Stand Up to Trump Administration Threats According to Harvard Crimson on April 22, 2025, Harvard University President Alan Garber joined over 180 university leaders (which has since grown to more than 220) in signing a public statement denouncing government overreach and political interference in higher education. Issued by the American Association of Colleges and Universities , the statement calls for constructive engagement with the White House while opposing undue intrusion on campuses. It follows Harvard’s lawsuit challenging a $2.2 billion funding cut and marks the first time the university has directly co-led opposition to the Trump administration. The statement also criticized threats of deportation, emphasizing the importance of academic freedom and open inquiry.On April 21, 2025, Harvard filed a lawsuit to halt a federal freeze on more than $2.2 billion in grants: President and Fellows of Harvard College v. US Department of Health and Human Services (1:25-cv-11048) On April 14, 2025, Harvard publicly rejected a series of sweeping demands from the Trump administration, which included overhauling its admissions, hiring, and diversity programs, and submitting to federal oversight. “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” the Harvard President Garber wrote. On April 18, 2025, the New York Times reported that some administration officials claimed the initial letter on April 11 was sent in error. According to the Washington Post on April 19, 2025, Harvard pushed back on the assertion that the letter was sent in error, pointing out that the Trump administration had “doubled down” on its threats. After Harvard refused to comply with the letter’s demands, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to the university without proof of violatons and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status. NYT Opinion: "America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal" In an essay published by the New York Times on April 17, 2025, Columnist David Brooks opined that " What's Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal. " According to the opinion, Trumpism is not normal politics — it is a systematic, multifront assault on the foundational institutions of modern civilization. As the opinion explains, "Trumpism is about ego, appetite and acquisitiveness," and it actively seeks to dismantle the safeguards that make society humane and just — from universities and law firms to NATO and the rule of law. The usual compartmentalized responses have failed; treating these attacks as separate issues is a "disastrous strategy" that allows Trumpism to divide and conquer. This moment demands recognition that what’s at stake is not a partisan struggle, but “an assault on the fundamental institutions of our civic life.”What is urgently needed is not passive defense, but an “abnormal uprising” — a coordinated, national civic movement that unites all sectors of society: law, academia, science, media, business, and civil service. Drawing from historic examples in Why Civil Resistance Works , such movements start small but grow through strategic nonviolence — lawsuits, boycotts, mass rallies — eventually shifting the momentum and narrative. As the opinion argues, “Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he is confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.” This is a call not just to resist, but to reform, heal, and rebuild. “We have nothing to lose but our chains,” the opinion concludes.Read the New York Times opinion by David Brooks: https://bit.ly/4ivpDUL News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar 2025/04/24-26 Committee of 100 Annual Conference and Gala2025/04/24 CHINA Town Hall: The First 100 Days: President Trump's China Policy2025/04/24 Federal Employees: Know your Legal Rights2025/04/24 Stop AAPI Hate Community Town Hall - Trump’s Travel Ban: How to Prepare and Push Back2025/04/28 California AANHPI Advocacy Day2025/04/30 Beyond the China Initiative: Civil Rights, National Security, and the Future of AAPI Communities2025/05/04 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/05/05 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/05/06 Asian American Careers - How to Build Your Personal Network, including Through Strategic Allies2025/05/12-14 APAICS Annual Summit and GalaVisit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. # # # 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 April 24, 2025 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #277 Passing of Dr. Jane Wu; Anti-Asian Laws; Rock Springs; White House Initiative Meets; + #277 Passing of Dr. Jane Wu; Anti-Asian Laws; Rock Springs; White House Initiative Meets; + In This Issue #277 · The Tragic Passing of Dr. Jane Y. Wu · Anti-Asian Laws in America - Past, Present, and What's Coming · The Rock Springs Massacre · White House Initiative Policy Summit in Washington DC · News and Activities for the Communities The Tragic Passing of Dr. Jane Y. Wu On August 31, 2024, South China Morning Post published an exclusive report on the tragic passing of Dr. Jane Y. Wu 吴瑛 , a prominent Chinese American researcher in neurology and genetics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Wu took her own life on July 10, 2024, after her lab was shut down and all records of her work were erased by Northwestern University.Her death has drawn attention to the negative impact of the "China Initiative" and "foreign interference" investigations by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which targeted scientists of Chinese descent. Over 250 scientists, most of them of Asian origin, have been scrutinized by the NIH alone, leading to job losses and severe personal and professional damages, and now a loss of life.According to the report, there were only two indictments and three convictions as legal outcomes of the NIH's "China Initiative" investigations, yet 112 scientists lost their jobs as a result.The NIH Office of Extramural Research, headed by Dr. Michael Lauer , declined to say whether Dr. Wu was a target but a source informed about the matter said there were investigations of Dr. Wu.Dr. Wu was remembered by her peers as a warm, caring, and inspiring role model. Dr. Wu's contributions to neurodegenerative disease research and her involvement in training the next generation of scientists in the U.S. and China were widely recognized. She significantly influenced the careers of many scientists, including Dr. Bing Ren , who credits her with guiding him into molecular biology. “Dr Wu taught me basic molecular biology skills, and showed me how discoveries were made at the bench,” said Dr. Ren, who first met Dr. Wu in 1993 and worked under her direct supervision at Harvard University. “Dr Wu was the one that opened my eyes to the wonderful world of molecular biology, and convinced me to pursue a career in this field,” said the professor in cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego.“The investigations killed her career,” said Dr. Xiao-Fan Wang , a distinguished professor in cancer research at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. “She was such a devoted scientist. Denying her the right to do research was like taking away the most important thing in her life,” Dr. Wang said. Dr. Wang is a former president of the Society of Chinese Bioscientists in America (SCBA) said the research community had been devastated by Wu’s death. “It’s hard to believe such a familiar and upbeat colleague has left us,” he said.In March 2019, SCBA, the Chinese American Hematologist and Oncologist Network, and the Chinese Biological Investigators Society write an open letter to Science , titled " Racial Profiling Harms Science ." "[We] hope that ... increased security measures will not be used to tarnish law-abiding scientists ...," the letter said.Molecular geneticist Adrian Krainer from the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York said, “I remember her as a kind and caring person. She was very devoted to training the next generation of scientists in both the US and China.” Born in Hefei, Anhui province in 1963, Dr. Wu graduated from Shanghai Medical University in 1986 and went on to earn her doctorate in cancer biology from Stanford University in the US. She did postdoctoral research at Harvard University and spent a decade at Washington University in St Louis as an assistant and then associate professor in pediatrics, molecular biology and pharmacology before joining Northwestern University in 2005.Northwestern University has not responded to multiple inquiries from the South China Morning Post since July. Dr. Wu’s profile page on the medical school has disappeared. Other web pages, such as her publication and grant records on the Northwestern Scholar website, have also been deleted. “The university’s reaction is rather unusual,” said a Chinese American biologist based in Ohio, who did not wish to be named. “Normally, the school or the university would publish an obituary and keep the faculty’s webpage for a period of time.”Dr. Wu was buried in Chicago on July 17. She was 60 years old.Read the South China Morning Post report: https://bit.ly/4787IiK Anti-Asian Laws in America - Past, Present, and What's Coming On August 29, 2024, Texas State Representative Gene Wu hosted a webinar on "Anti-Asian Laws in America - Past, Present, and What's Coming." It was repeated on September 1, a video of which is posted at https://youtu.be/QDEf4vvN_g4 (37:07)In the past two centuries, more than a dozen states passed laws banning Asian immigrants from purchasing or acquiring property. Nationwide, states enacted Anti-Alien Land Laws in response to a wave of Anti-Asian feeling that began in mid-1800s. However, the history of Anti-Alien Land Laws can be traced back to the very founding of our country. Previous alien land laws have since been ruled unconstitutional for violating the 14th Amendment right to equal protection, as well as regulations prohibiting discrimination based on race, ethnicity, and national origin. However, legislative efforts across the United States, including in Texas and Florida, continue to target individuals from China based solely on their national origin.In 2021, Texas passed Senate Bill (SB) 2116, which stops businesses and government entities from making deals involving state critical infrastructure with certain foreign-owned companies, including those run by non-citizens from China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. The law defines "critical infrastructure" to include communication systems, cybersecurity, electric grids, hazardous waste treatment, and water treatment facilities. This law took effect immediately.In 2023, SB 147 was introduced to prevent foreign entities and individual immigrants from China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia from purchasing or acquiring real property in Texas. This bill targets individuals based solely on their national origin. With a simple amendment, these restrictions could easily be extended to people from any other country. The bill does not require any proof or accusation for an individual to be targeted. It also applies to businesses owned by foreign-born individuals or those with investments from foreign-born individuals. SB 147 did not pass the Texas legislature in 2023, but it is expected to return in the 2025 legislative session. A Texas House Select Committee was formed in May 2024, and it has been holding hearings, including individuals from The Heritage Foundation, the authors of Project 2025.Project 2025 is a 900-page plan developed by a conservative coalition for a potential future Republican U.S. presidential administration. It outlines a detailed blueprint for the next Republican president to implement a sweeping overhaul of the executive branch. Throughout the document, significant attention is given to the U.S.'s top four foreign adversaries, but there is a clear emphasis on China and Chinese nationals. The plan mentions China nearly 900 times, while the other three nations combined are referenced fewer than 200 times.Project 2025 is a 900-page conservative coalition's plan for a potential future Republican U.S. presidential administration. The multi-pronged initiative includes a detailed blueprint for the next Republican president to usher in a sweeping overhaul of the executive branch. While many references are made to the U.S.’s top 4 foreign adversarial nations throughout Project 2025. Project 2025 show a clear focus on China and Chinese Nationals with almost 900 word counts while Iran, North Korea, and Russia have a combined word count of less than 200.On page 556 of the Project 2025 report, "Restart the China Initiative" is listed as a recommended mandate. Gene Wu compiled a comprehensive analysis of Project 2025 that have impacts on the Asian Pacific American community in such fields as Higher Education, Housing and Property Ownership, Immigration, and Employment. These are not just concepts, but are put into action with specific bills introduced in Texas, other states, and Congress.The contemporary resurgence of Anti-Alien Land Laws bears resemblance to historical antecedents of the eighteen, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They share a common origin in the xenophobia and nationalistic fear towards certain immigrant populations, most notably being those immigrating from China and Japan. California’s Anti-Alien Land Law of 1913 was justified as a result of the perceived threat from Japan and the (distorted) ascription of disloyalty of Japanese immigrants. In WWII, U.S. Army Lt.General John L. DeWitt , commanding general of the western theater of operation, famously said: “A Jap’s a Jap – it makes no difference whether he is an American citizen or not”. That is what they are saying today about Chinese Americans and those who fled the CCP to come to this country. As history appears to repeat itself, new Anti-Alien Land Laws continue to be rationalized on a similarly flawed assumption that all Chinese immigrants, whether citizen or not, are “foreign agents” who pose a risk to our communities and to our national security.All of the claims used to justify these proposals share a common theme: they focus on real issues affecting the United States and countries around the world, such as job loss, data privacy violations, IP theft, inflation, and cost of living increases. However, they often then assert, with little to no evidence, that China and Chinese immigrants are the main cause of these problems, scapegoating an entire community, as we have seen before with countless other ethnic groups in the past. The growth of Anti-Asian hate, driven by the political scapegoating of China and Chinese-born individuals by conservative politicians, has resulted in increased discriminatory policies becoming laws across the country. "THIS IS NOT THEORY. THIS IS NOT HYPERBOLE. THIS IS NOT A FAR-FETCHED, CONSERVATIVE WISHLIST," as Gene Wu concluded his presentation.Watch the video: https://youtu.be/QDEf4vvN_g4 (37:07). Read his comprehensive analysis about Project 2025: https://bit.ly/4cSHNNj The Rock Springs Massacre According to the Library of Congress, on September 2, 1885, a mob of white coal miners attacked their Chinese co-workers (both groups were employed by the Union Pacific Coal Company) in Rock Springs, Wyoming Territory, over a dispute on who had the right to work in a particularly lucrative area of the mine. The violence occurred after Chinese workers refused to participate in a strike for higher wages planned by the American miners. Twenty-eight Chinese were killed and fifteen were wounded; seventy-nine homes were set ablaze. The bodies of many of the dead and wounded were thrown into the flames. Several hundred Chinese workers were chased out of town and fled to the surrounding hills. Property damage was estimated at $150,000.A week later, federal troops escorted Chinese laborers back to the mines. After restoring order, the troops remained at Rock Springs until 1898. Although the federal government had refused responsibility for actions in a territory, President Grover Cleveland requested that Congress indemnify the Chinese for their loss of property and Congress complied.In the mid-1800s, large numbers of Chinese came to the U.S. to build the transcontinental railroad and to work in the gold fields. With completion of the railroad, the ebb of gold prospecting, and widespread economic depression, jobs became scarce and Chinese immigrants faced increasing exclusion, racism, and violence. These factors contributed to the events at Rocks Springs.The Rock Springs Massacre was followed by a similar situation in early November in Tacoma, Washington, where Chinese immigrants were ordered to leave the city. Several hundred Chinese immigrants left before the eviction deadline but another 200 were marched out of the city by force. Two Chinese settlements were burned down. Read the Library of Congress story: https://bit.ly/3TdPSFb White House Initiative Policy Summit in Washington DC WHAT: White House Initiative AA& NHPI Policy Summit WHEN: Thursday, September 26, 2024 | 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM ET WHERE: U.S. Department of Transportation Headquarters, 1200 New Jersey Avenue Southeast Washington, DC 20590 WHO: White House Initiative on AA & NHPIs DESCRIPTION: This day-long, in-person event will highlight the Biden-Harris Administration’s leadership, accomplishments, and continued commitment to advancing equity, justice, and opportunity for AA and NHPI communities. Speakers will include senior White House and federal agency officials, policy experts, and community leaders from across the country who will have the opportunity to network and dialogue on key AA and NHPI issues. Our program will begin promptly at 9:30 a.m., and doors will open for check-in starting at 8:00 a.m.During the event, the President's Advisory Commission on AA and NHPIs will host an in-person listening session as a breakout that participants can choose to attend. Individuals may submit a request to provide oral public comments at the Commission’s listening session. Request to give oral public comment must be emailed to AANHPICommission@hhs.gov no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on September 18, 2024. REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/4e4swtE News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events:2024/09/09 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2024/09/10-12 Chronicle Festival: The Road Ahead to 20352024/09/12 AA4D: Nobel Laureates and Scientists for Democracy 2024/09/18 1990 Teachers Workshop: Asian American Identity2024/09/19-20 AANHPI Unity Summit2024/09/25 C100: State of Chinese American Survey 2024 2024/09/26 White House Initiative Policy Summit2024/10/02 C100: Asian American Career Ceiling Initiative2024/10/06 Rep. Gene Wu Town Hall MeetingThe Community Calendar has moved. Visit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. Back View PDF September 3, 2024 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

The "China Initiative" A US government national-security program, created to address economic espionage, disproportionately targeted Asian Americans and academic communities for administrative errors and harmed academic freedom and open science. THE NUMBERS Known Cases 77 Known Impacted Individuals 162 Days Lasted 1,210 Explore the China Initiative What is it? Timeline of Events Impacted Persons Webinars What is the "China Initiative"? The "China Initiative" refers to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) effort that was launched under the Trump Administration in November 2018. Its original aim was to combat economic espionage and theft of intellectual property that the U.S. government believed was being conducted by Chinese entities, including individuals and organizations with ties to the Chinese government. However, the “China Initiative” resulted in four major concerns: 1. Racial Profiling: The initiative led to racial profiling and the unfair targeting of Asian Americans. Individuals of Asian descent, including Chinese Americans, faced increased scrutiny or suspicion based on their ethnicity rather than any evidence of wrongdoing. 2. Stigmatization: The initiative perpetuated stereotypes and stigmatization of Asian Americans, making them feel like they are under suspicion or not fully trusted solely because of their heritage. 3. Impact on Scientific Collaboration: The initiative created a chilling effect on scientific collaboration between U.S. and Chinese researchers, hindering legitimate collaborative efforts and harming US leadership in science and technology. 4. Government Overreach. The initiative was overly broad, allowed abuse and misuse of authority by some law enforcement agents, and caused severe damage to the career, finance, and reputation of innocent individuals and their families. The “China Initiative” ended officially in February 2022 under the Biden Administration, but the harms it inflicted on targeted individuals and the broader AAPI community remain. Timeline of Major Events Nov 1, 2018 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. 1. DOJ launched China Initiative Read more Dec 7, 2018 A month after the launch of the China Initiative, a group of community leaders met with a senior FBI official and representatives at the FBI headquarters in Washington DC to convey concerns raised within the Chinese American community about the role of bias in its investigations, among other issues, in a futile attempt to establish a continuing dialogue to address the concerns. 2. Attempted Dialogue with FBI Failed Read more Apr 19, 2019 Headlined by “How Not to Cure Cancer – The U.S. is purging Chinese scientists in a New Red Scare,” investigative reports emerged on FBI and NIH nationwide activities targeting individuals of Asian descent, especially biomedical researchers in the Houston area. 3. Media Reports on Purge by NIH and FBI Read more Aug 21, 2019 Kansas University Professor Feng “Franklin” Tao became the first academic and scientist of Chinese origin to be indicted in August 2019. He was followed by Professors Anming Hu and Gang Chen, Researcher Dr. Qing Wang, New York Police Department Officer Baimadajie Angwang, a group of five STEM researchers and students from China, and others. The year 2020 saw the injustice inflicted by the government shifting and intensifying its profiling of scientists, most of them of Chinese origin, for “research integrity” in the name of national security. 4. Shift to Profiling Scientists of Chinese Origin Read more Feb 27, 2020 From generation to generation, the Asian Pacific American communities have been resilient in fighting against discrimination and protecting their civil rights. It is a continuing effort that transcends the China Initiative, which again confirms the commitment and determination of the communities from elected officials to organizations and individuals. 5. Communities Respond with Resilience Read more Jan 5, 2021 On January 5, 2021, a coalition of organizations and individuals wrote to President-elect Joe Biden, requesting him to end the China Initiative and take steps to combat racial profiling. Two weeks later, the indictment of MIT Professor Gang Chen ignited the “We Are All Gang Chen” movement. Between September 2020 and June 2021, five organizations partnered to produce a series of five educational webinars to raise nationwide awareness about the China Initiative. 6. Letter to President-Elect Biden to End China Initiative Read more Jun 30, 2021 Following a public campaign led by Maryland State Senator Susan Lee and a coalition in February 2022, Reps. Jamie Raskin and Judy Chu hosted a Democratic Member Roundtable on “Researching while Chinese American: Ethnic Profiling, Chinese American Scientists and a New American Brain Drain” in June 2022. It was the first congressional hearing where the profiling of Chinese American scientists and the damage to American leadership in science and technology were heard. 7. Congressional Roundtable on Racial Profiling Read more Jul 22, 2021 The abrupt dismissal of visa fraud and other charges against five scientists from China in five separate “China Initiative” cases and the FBI reports from the discovery process exposed the weaknesses of the prosecutions, dissension in the FBI’s own ranks, and exaggerated claims of national security risks by the government. 8. Five Visa Fraud Cases Dismissed Read more Sep 8, 2021 A group of 177 Stanford University faculty members sent an open letter to US Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, requesting that he terminate the China Initiative. The campaign became national and continued until the end of the China Initiative. More than 3,100 faculty, researchers, and scientists representing over 230 institutions from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico co-signed the letters. 9. Stanford Faculty Starts Nationwide Campaign to End China Initiative Read more Sep 15, 2021 Multiple media reports the China Initiative as unraveling and out of control after cases that were sensationally publicized early on by the government began to be dismissed or acquitted in courts rapidly in a span of several months. 10. The China Initiative Unraveling and Out of Control Read more Dec 2, 2021 On December 2, 2021, MIT Technology Review published two investigative reports on the China Initiative as newly appointed Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen was conducting a review of the initiative. 11. MIT Technology Review Investigative Reports Read more Feb 23, 2022 Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen announced the end of the China Initiative. The 1,210 days of the Initiative were extremely damaging to individuals and their families, as well as the Asian American and scientific communities. The end of the China Initiative is a welcomed start to correct the harms it caused. APA Justice is committed to continue its work to address racial profiling and seek justice and fairness for the Asian Pacific American communities. 12. China Initiative Ends Read more BACKGROUND A pattern of racial profiling against Chinese American scientists began to emerge in 2015. In a relatively short time span, four naturalized American citizens in three separate situations were indicted for one of most serious crimes related to espionage and trade secrets that carried heavy penalties in prison terms and fines. These individuals worked in diverse fields - private industry, federal government, and academia respectively. All three cases were subsequently dismissed or dropped without apology or further explanation. This is highly unusual because the Department of Justice (DOJ) prides itself on its mission of prosecuting criminal cases. Conviction rate is a key measure of success and performance. Annual statistical reports show that the overall DOJ conviction rate in all criminal prosecutions has been over 90% every year since 2001. The rate for espionage-related charges is expected to be much higher than average due to its serious nature and impact on the accused. A combination of human mistakes, implicit bias, social stigmatism, explicit prejudice, and racial profiling may explain why some of these innocent individuals were wrongly prosecuted in the first place. However, the damages done to them and their families are undeniably devastating. The legal cost to defend oneself is high, easily run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and higher. Reputations and careers built on many years of accomplishments would be forever lost or stalled in an instant, deeming them to become unemployed and unemployable. The emotional shock and fear leave traumatic scars on the individuals and family members for the rest of their lives. In effect, an innocent person, once wrongly accused, can seldom be made whole again. There are other individual victims whose cases were also dismissed or found not guilty. Some agreed to much lesser infractions than the original charges to avoid financial ruins. Our nation loses their talents and contributions to the society when they are forced to leave the country. These cases are almost never reported by the government. This website dedicates one webpage each for impacted individuals, many of them are heroically speaking out and fighting back for justice and fairness. Sherry Chen and Professor Xiaoxing Xi are the raison d'être for APA Justice. If you know of similar cases, please contact us at contact@apajustice.org . Jumpstart your knowledge on The China Initiative A 7-minute video aimed to educate the general public on increasing discrimination faced by Chinese scientists under the Department of Justice's China Initiative and to highlight the many scientific accomplishments they have contributed to U.S. institutions of higher education and research. Watch Interview of Dr. David Ho, Columbia University’s Clyde and Helen Wu Professor of Medicine; Michael A. Szonyi, Director of the Harvard University Fairbank Center; Catherine X. Pan, head of Dorsey & Whitney’s U.S.-China practice; and Frank Wu, President of Queens College and a Serica Initiative board member, among others. Watch Impacted Persons According to the Department of Justice and two investigative reports by the MIT Technology Review, the “China Initiative” had 77 known cases involving 162 individuals (one of them an entity). Twenty three (23) cases are identified as “Research Integrity” involving academics, researchers, and scientists. Academic Cases Other/Non-China Initiative Cases Read More Item One Subtitle Goes Here Date File Date: This is a paragraph. Click to edit and add your own text. Add any information you want to share with users. Change the font, size or scale to get the look you want. Read More Item Two Subtitle Goes Here Date File Date: This is a paragraph. Click to edit and add your own text. Add any information you want to share with users. Change the font, size or scale to get the look you want. Read More Item Three Subtitle Goes Here Date File Date: This is a paragraph. Click to edit and add your own text. Add any information you want to share with users. Change the font, size or scale to get the look you want. Chili Onions Pepperoni Mushrooms Olives Cheese Sort by Read More Item One Subtitle Goes Here Date File Date: This is a paragraph. Click to edit and add your own text. Add any information you want to share with users. Change the font, size or scale to get the look you want. Read More Item Two Subtitle Goes Here Date File Date: This is a paragraph. Click to edit and add your own text. Add any information you want to share with users. Change the font, size or scale to get the look you want. Read More Item Three Subtitle Goes Here Date File Date: This is a paragraph. Click to edit and add your own text. Add any information you want to share with users. Change the font, size or scale to get the look you want. Chili Onions Pepperoni Mushrooms Olives Cheese Sort by On December 2, 2021, MIT Technology Review published The US crackdown on Chinese economic espionage is a mess. We have the data to show it . According to the report, the US government’s China Initiative sought to protect national security. In the most comprehensive analysis of cases to date, MIT Technology Review reveals how far it has strayed from its goals. Among its major findings are: The DOJ has neither officially defined the China Initiative nor explained what leads it to label a case as part of the initiative The initiative’s focus increasingly has moved away from economic espionage and hacking cases to “research integrity” issues, such as failures to fully disclose foreign affiliations on forms A significant number of research integrity cases have been dropped or dismissed Only about a quarter of people and institutions charged under the China Initiative have been convicted Many cases have little or no obvious connection to national security or the theft of trade secrets Nearly 90% of the defendants charged under the initiative are of Chinese heritage Although new activity appears to have slowed since Donald Trump lost the 2020 US presidential election, prosecutions and new cases continue under the Biden administration The Department of Justice does not list all cases believed to be part of the China Initiative on its webpage and has deleted others linked to the project. Two days after MIT Technology Review requested comment from the DOJ regarding the initiative, the department made significant changes to its own list of cases, adding some and deleting 39 defendants previously connected to the China Initiative from its website. This included several instances where the government had announced prosecutions with great fanfare, only for the cases to fail —including one that was dismissed by a judge after a mistrial. The MIT Technology Review database of 77 "China Initiative" cases is posted online and can be used for interactive analysis. It draws primarily on the press releases that have been added to the DOJ’s China Initiative webpage over the last three years, including those recently removed from its public pages. The MIT Technology Review supplemented this information with court records and interviews with defense attorneys, defendants’ family members, collaborating researchers, former US prosecutors, civil rights advocates, lawmakers, and outside scholars who have studied the initiative. APA Justice provided assistance to verify and validate the 77 "China Initiative" cases before the removal of some cases by DOJ. MIT Technology Review provides a second full report titled We built a database to understand the China Initiative. Then the government changed its records on how the database was built, what DOJ changed in its online report, and how the database is organized, including a statement on transparency and conflict-of-interest. 11/01/2018 - 02/23/2022 1,210 DAYS Endorsers of Stanford Letter Stanford University: 177 University of California Berkeley: 214 Temple University: 167 Princeton University: 198 University of Michigan: 430 Southern Illinois University Faculty Senate: 53 Yale University: 192 University of California Irvine: 92 University of Pennsylvania: 168 Baylor College of Medicine: 219 APA Justice nationwide campaign: 1,209 Total: 3,119 Number of institutions APA Justice nationwide campaign: 231 + Stanford University + University of California Berkeley + Temple University + Princeton University + University of Michigan + Southern Illinois University + Yale University + University of California Irvine + University of Pennsylvania + Baylor College of Medicine Number of states + territories States: 50 + District of Columbia + Puerto Rico Change.org supporters: 244 See University Responses to the China Initiative. On February 23, 2022, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Matthew G. Olsen, announced the end of the “China Initiative,” a program that was meant to address economic espionage but morphed into disproportionately targeting Asian Americans and academic communities for administrative errors and harming academic freedom and open science. While we disagree with Mr. Olsen’s self-assessment that the DOJ did not find racial bias in “China Initiative” cases, we welcome the end of the ill-conceived initiative and DOJ’s openness to listen and respond to community concerns. CHINA INITIATIVE ENDS On December 2, 2021, MIT Technology Review published The US crackdown on Chinese economic espionage is a mess. We have the data to show it . Read full report China Initiative Analysis MIT Technology Review Cases charged under the China Initiative by year Impacted Persons According to the Department of Justice and two investigative reports by the MIT Technology Review, the “China Initiative” had 77 known cases involving 162 individuals (one of them an entity). Twenty three (23) cases are identified as “Research Integrity” involving academics, researchers, and scientists. Find detailed information on Impacted Persons on this page .

Newsletter - #248 FISA Renewal Goes Down; C100 Conference; SB 264 Rally in Miami; Kurt Campbell; AAASE #248 FISA Renewal Goes Down; C100 Conference; SB 264 Rally in Miami; Kurt Campbell; AAASE In This Issue #248 • House Strikes Down FISA Renewal Measure • Update on Committee of 100 Conference • China Town Hall with Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell • Justice in Property Rights Rally in Miami • Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering • News and Activities for the Communities House Strikes Down FISA Renewal Measure According to multiple media reports, by a vote of 193 to 228, the House of Representatives voted against a procedural measure that would have begun debate to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The bill, titled the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), would reauthorize Section 702 of FISA for five years and aims to impose a series of reforms. The law as it stands allows the US intelligence community to collect the communications records of foreign persons based overseas, but it also allows the FBI to search the data it collects for Americans’ information in what critics have called a “backdoor” search. The current FISA tool allows the government to conduct targeted surveillance of foreign nationals, without needing to obtain a warrant, with a higher bar for targeted American citizens. The new House Republican bill calls for a number of reforms but does not go far enough in the eyes of privacy and civil liberties advocates, on both the right and left. The searches of US persons’ information are governed by a set of internal rules and procedures designed to protect Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, but critics say that loopholes allow the FBI to search the data it collects for Americans’ information — as opposed to from foreign adversaries — without proper justification. The complicated politics surrounding the law have united strange bedfellows: Some conservative Republicans have joined forces with progressive Democrats to push for reforms to the authority, while security-focused Democrats and Republicans have opposed major new restrictions. One major sticking point is whether the FBI should be required to obtain a warrant before querying the database for information on US citizens. Latest development may involve a shorter reauthorization period of 2 years instead of 5 years. Current authorization of Section 702 will expire on April 19, 2024. Read these media reports: AP News: https://bit.ly/3UeNFuh ; CNN: https://cnn.it/3JfQzc0 ; Voice of America: https://bit.ly/3TXNTV6 ; CBS News: https://cbsn.ws/4avJzDD ; Fox News: https://fxn.ws/4cQWAJF ; ABC News: https://bit.ly/3Udp4G9 ; NBC News: https://nbcnews.to/3Q1Bmil During the APA Justice monthly meeting on April 8, 2024, Nisha Ramachandran, Executive Director of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, reported a flurry of activities related to the reauthorization of Section 702 of FISA. Multiple bills and amendments were floated. There was not a lot of clarity. It has already happened twice that a bill to reform warrantless surveillance was pulled before it could pass the Rules Committee. Without knowing the specifics, CAPAC has not taken a position on RISAA at that time. A summary for the April 8 meeting is being prepared at this time. The virtual monthly meeting is by invitation only. It is closed to the press. If you wish to join, either one time or for future meetings, please contact one of the co-organizers of APA Justice - Steven Pei 白先慎, Vincent Wang 王文奎, and Jeremy Wu 胡善庆 - or send a message to contact@apajustice.org . According to ACLU, in May 2015, FBI agents came into Temple University Professor Xiaoxing Xi’s house with guns drawn and led him away in handcuffs in front of his wife and daughters. The government accused Xi of sharing information about a superconductor device known as a “pocket heater,” relying on email exchanges between Xi and scientific colleagues in China that the FBI had obtained. Professor Xi is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China. The intercepted emails, however, were not about the pocket heater, but concerned a different kind of superconductor technology that has been public for years. In September 2015, prosecutors were forced to drop the charges. But the damage to Xi and his family was already significant. As a result of the charges, Xi was placed on administrative leave, suspended from his position as the interim chair of the Temple Physics Department, denied access to his lab and the graduate students working under his supervision, and had to pay substantial legal fees to defend himself. The government spied on Xi using orders issued under FISA, which is intended for spying on foreign agents. As the complaint alleges, he was also spied on without any court order under Section 702 of FISA and Executive Order 12333, both of which are used by the government to conduct warrantless surveillance of international communications, including those of Americans. The government has reportedly engaged in extensive warrantless surveillance of Chinese universities and scientific research centers. It has siphoned communications off servers, computers, and major internet networks that connect many of China’s most prestigious academic institutions. The ACLU represents Professor Xi, who is suing the government over its dismissed prosecution. The lawsuit, filed in 2017, challenges the FBI’s baseless arrest of Xi and its surveillance methods as well as its discriminatory targeting of Chinese American scientists. Read the ACLU summary of Professor Xi's case: https://bit.ly/3GlCCqS Update on Committee of 100 Conference During the APA Justice monthly meeting on April 8, 2024, Cindy Tsai, Interim President of the Committee of 100 reported on the upcoming C100 annual conference to be held at Marriot Marquis in New York City on April 19. There will be a double track with over a dozen sessions on AAPI domestic issues and US-China relations. Cindy highlighted four sessions of the conference: 1. Bringing AAPI history and stories such as the alien land laws into K-12 education and classrooms, 2. Community response to rising anti-Asian hostility as a group and direct services since it is difficult to predict when to stand up for your rights, 3. U.S. national defense policies have impacted researchers and academics as well as technology such as AI. What does foreign influence really mean? What is appropriate response without discriminating certain groups? 4. Impact of US-China tension on Asian Americans in government. While we encourage Asian Americans to have representation, become politically engaged, and work for the government, there are glass ceiling, security clearance, lack of assignment, and similar deterrents. Visit the conference website at: https://bit.ly/4ccKQkj . Contact Cindy at ctsai@committee100.org if you have interest about the C100 conference, including any questions and topics that should be brought to these sessions. China Town Hall with Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell On April 9, 2024, the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations hosted the 18th annual China Town Hall from over 70 venues including Shanghai, China. The first part of this year's China Town Hall featured a live interview by NCUSCR President Stephen A. Orlins with U.S. Deputy Secretary of States Kurt Campbell, who was confirmed and sworn into office in February 2024. During the town hall, Dr. Hua Wang, Co-Chair of the New England Chinese American Alliance, raised a question, "as a community organization, we are concerned about increasing suspicion of the loyalty and integrity of Chinese Americans such as the China initiative. Such suspicions not only hurt the racial minority, we all know about the Japanese American internment, but also tear apart the fabric of American society such as during the McCarthy era. So how to protect the equal rights of the Chinese Americans and avoid stereotyping Chinese culture and people while managing the complex US-China relations?" Watch Deputy Secretary Campbell's response and the rest of the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypg6X4bC8MQ (1:10:05) Justice in Property Rights Rally in Miami WHAT: Justice in Property Rights Rally WHEN: April 19, 2024, 12:00 noon - 2:00 pm Eastern Time WHERE: In-person event, 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, 99 NE 4th ST, Miami, FL 33132 HOSTS: FAAJA, UCA, ACLU, AALDEF, Stop Asian Hate DESCRIPTION: April 19 will be a decisive day as we face a crucial appellate hearing aimed at challenging SB 264, which targets the Chinese community. This bill has sparked widespread concern and opposition as it unfairly targets the Chinese, threatening the rights and freedoms of our community members. This is a call for all who care about justice and equality to stand up and collectively oppose this discriminatory legislation. LINK: https://bit.ly/3VW6SlO Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering (AAASE) During the APA Justice monthly meeting on March 4, 2024, Columbia University Professor X. Edward Guo, introduced the Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering (AAASE) and described its mission and activities. AAASE is a relatively new organization. It is 2 years old. Princeton University Professor Yiguang Ju was the Founding President. Professor Guo is the second President. The mission of AAASE is to focus on the next generation of leaders in the STEM field, promote Asian American team leadership in STEM, and also work with the broad Asian American community. Professor Guo announced that AAASE will host two summer academies for high school students interested in science and engineering in 2024. One will be a day camp at Princeton University, and the other a resident camp at Stanford University. The summer camps are one-week long. The students will also promote Asian American leadership contributions in science and technology. The AAASE also plans to honor 100 top leaders as Academy Fellows. AAASE has selected 23 fellows in 2024. They are going to be inducted at the National Academy Science Conference in Irvine, California, on November 15-17. The AAASE has also engaged with the Committee of 100 on its upcoming conference on April 19 and will hold its annual Board of Directors retreat at Columbia University on April 21. Professor Guo is pleased and proud to work with this community. Contact AAASE at aaase.org@gmail.com for additional information. Visit the AAASE website at https://www.aaase.org/ . News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2024/04/17 Racially Profiled for Being A Scientist: A Discussion of the US DOJ's China Initiative 2024/04/18 Corky Lee's Asian America: Fifty Years of Photographic Justice 2024/04/19 Committee of 100 Annual Conference and Gala 2024/04/19 Appeals Court Hearing on Florida SB 264 2024/04/19 Justice in Property Rights Rally 2024/05/02 AAGEN 2024 Executive Leadership Workshop 2024/05/04 Corky Lee's Asian America: Fifty Years of Photographic Justice 2024/05/05 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting Visit https://bit.ly/45KGyga for event details. 2. White House Celebration of AANHPI: Lasting Legacies WHAT: White House Celebration of AANHPI: Lasting Legacies WHEN: May 13, 2024, 1:00 - 5:00 pm Eastern Time WHERE: In-person event, The Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. HOST: White House and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) DESCRIPTION: This landmark event in the heart of our nation’s capital will commemorate 25 years since the creation of the White House Initiative and the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. For the first time, current and former leaders spanning five presidential administrations will gather to honor this historic milestone and reflect on the progress AA and NHPI communities have achieved over the past 25 years. This event is open to the public. Individual registration is required to attend in-person. Please share this invitation with your networks. REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/3TX1IDg Back View PDF April 12, 2024 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

Newsletter - #315 3/3 Meeting; Fair Housing Webinars; VAST Report; Nation's Data at Risk; Firings Ruling #315 3/3 Meeting; Fair Housing Webinars; VAST Report; Nation's Data at Risk; Firings Ruling In This Issue #315 · 2025/03/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting · Webinars on Fair Housing Rights and Alien Land Laws · Science Editorial; AAAS VAST Report · The Nation’s Data at Risk · Mass Firings of Federal Probationary Workers Likely Unlawful · News and Activities for the Communities 2025/03/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, March 3, 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), confirmed speakers are: · Grace Meng 孟昭文 , Chair, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) via recorded video · Jessica Chen Weiss 白洁曦 , Founding Faculty Director of the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs (ACF), SAIS, Johns Hopkins University · Michelle Lee , President and Board Chair; Brian Pang , Chief Operating Officer and Head of Partnerships, Stand with Asian Americans · Clay Zhu 朱可亮 , Co-Founder, Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance (CALDA) 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 .Congresswoman Grace Meng was elected to serve as Chair of CAPAC at the beginning of the 119th Congress. She will speak via recorded video on the future of our community and nation and how we can collectively address the unprecedented challenges. ACF was launched on February 3, 2025, alongside the report "Getting China Right at Home," which examines domestic challenges amid rising U.S.-China competition. Jessica will introduce ACF, highlight key report findings, and share updates on ACF’s latest initiatives.SwAA was founded in response to the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings to combat anti-Asian hate and workplace discrimination. Michelle and Brian will introduce SwAA and its legal support, educational programs, and community-building efforts to protect and advance the rights of Asian Americans in professional settings.On February 11, 2025, CALDA announced that a temporary injunction against Florida's law SB 846, was imminent. This state law restricts public universities and colleges in Florida from employing Chinese students, scholars, and researchers under the pretext of national security concerns. Clay will provide updates on the lawsuit and its implications. Webinars on Fair Housing Rights and Alien Land Laws Founded in 2003, the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) is a national trade organization dedicated to improving the lives of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community through homeownership.On February 28, 2025, Manisha Munikar , Chair of AREAA Policy Committee, will host a webinar with Gene Wu , Texas State Representative, about the current state of Alien Land Laws. Are people from China inherently a geopolitical threat? Questions like this are at the crux of the current issue of Alien Land Laws, many of which are threatening to pass around the country. AREAA has fought multiple bills like this on the grounds that they violate the Fair Housing Act. With the federal government taking a hawkish stance on China, it is essential to learn how we can keep Asian Americans out of the crosshairs.Register for the February 28 webinar at https://bit.ly/4bisfDc . The event is free for AREAA members and has a $20 charge for non-members. *****On March 4, 2025, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm ET, the Committee of 100 and APA Justice will co-host a webinar titled "Fair Housing Rights & Alien Land Laws: Challenges and Advocacy for the Asian American Community."With new laws limiting property ownership based on nationality, real estate professionals and advocates are stepping up to challenge these discriminatory policies. This webinar will provide critical insights into how these restrictions are reshaping the housing landscape and what we can do to fight back. It will cover: · Your Rights Under the Fair Housing Act – Understand the legal protections in place to combat discrimination. · How These Laws Affect Asian Homebuyers & Real Estate Professionals – Hear real-world impacts from industry experts. · Community & Legal Advocacy in Action – Learn how grassroots efforts and legal challenges are pushing back and how you can get involved. Stay ahead of these evolving legal challenges by exploring Committee of 100’s interactive map , which tracks ongoing land ownership exclusion laws quarterly, and APA Justice’s Alien Land Bills webpage , where you will find the latest updates on lawsuits and policy developments. Register to attend the webinar at: https://bit.ly/4hEouum Science Editorial; AAAS VAST Report According to an editorial by Science on February 24, 2025, the chaos, conflicting information, firings, and hurtful rhetoric of the Trump administration’s approach to science over the past month are causing anxiety, grief, and concern for the scientific community in the United States. The dramatic events are reverberating around the globe.A diversity of thoughts from scientists in the US and around the world have appeared on the best approach to preserve science during this onslaught. However, there are principles around which all scientists unite—those of evidence, independence, process, and inclusion. These common values must now propel everyone in the scientific community to work together as never before to stand up for science.Leaders of the scientific enterprise in the US are a loosely associated group. Some organizations speak on behalf their constituencies and argue for support for science. University associations speak on behalf of their university members who carry out research. Leaders of the universities represent their own faculty scientists. Each of these entities has a different set of constraints around how it is funded and whom it represents. Their actions include: · Filing lawsuits · Working behind the scene in Washington DC · Speaking out by issuing statements and objecting to nominations Many university faculty feel that science leaders' actions are insufficient, but a full-scale resistance is unlikely given their broad responsibilities. The editorial urges trust in science leaders' judgment, emphasizing that timing is crucial and that most university presidents recognize this as an existential moment requiring careful, strategic action. While leaders may speak out more over time, their restraint is intentional, shaped by their responsibility to resources and people. Faculty and students must stay informed about shifting strategies, even if uncomfortable, as taking calculated risks in the name of unity is essential to preserving science’s mission. Those in the scientific community who enjoy the protections of academic and other freedoms afforded by the US Constitution’s First Amendment should do and say more. Some will march in the streets, some will send messages to Congress, and some will focus on their research, students, and trainees. The Science family of journals will continue to uphold the highest standards of scientific integrity while publishing groundbreaking research, provocative commentary, and news that is unencumbered by interference. The weeks ahead may be the greatest test that the US scientific community has ever faced. Words and actions of all members of the scientific community—universities, journals, societies, associations, activists, and scientists—form the collective voice of science, not any one statement. In time, the dust will settle, and the new challenges confronting the enterprise will be clear. It will then be time to take stock and learn how to prosper in a new era. To prepare for that, the editorial concludes, "we need unity and support for each other now." *****On February 25, 2025, 70+ bipartisan leaders across science, industry, academia, philanthropy, and government released the Vision for American Science & Technology (VAST) to maintain U.S. leadership in science, technology, national security, and economic prosperity. Chaired by Dr. Sudip Parikh (CEO of AAAS), the task force outlines key challenges and solutions. Key Challenges · Eroding Competitiveness – China and other nations are outpacing the U.S. in R&D investment. · Bureaucratic Barriers – Regulatory inefficiencies slow innovation. · Workforce Deficiencies – Weak STEM education and restrictive immigration policies hinder talent growth. · Underinvestment in Fundamental Research – Federal R&D funding has stagnated. · Fragmented Innovation Ecosystem – Siloed efforts across regions and industries reduce efficiency. Recommendations · Strengthen S&T Enterprise – Cut red tape, create regional innovation hubs, enhance tech transfer, and incentivize R&D. · Build a Skilled Workforce – Improve STEM education, support educators, reform immigration policies, and boost wages. Advance Key Technologies – Invest in AI, biotech, quantum computing, materials science, and energy, while balancing research security and global collaboration. Conclusion Without urgent action, the U.S. risks losing its scientific edge. VAST urges a cross-sector approach, investment in STEM talent, and reduced barriers to innovation to ensure economic growth, security, and global leadership. The time to act is now. The Nation’s Data at Risk The American Statistical Association (ASA) and George Mason University (GMU) launched a project to assess the health and effectiveness of U.S. federal statistical agencies in producing reliable data for policymaking.In July 2024, they released The Nation’s Data at Risk , highlighting challenges like resource constraints, workforce issues, and growing data demands across key areas such as public health, economic planning, and education.Now in its second year, the project’s "Ongoing Monitoring" phase tracks agency progress through regular data collection and analysis, ensuring they adapt to evolving societal needs. The ongoing monitoring efforts concentrate on several critical areas: · Resources and Funding · Workforce Development · Innovation and Technology · Autonomy and Independence · User Engagement Stay informed on the health of federal statistical agencies or contribute updates at https://bit.ly/4ih5Qsp . Contribute information and spread the word on this effort. Protecting credible, objective federal data is crucial for our economy, government, and society.In Trump’s second term, agencies removed critical environmental data, including climate change reports from the EPA and NOAA, prompting urgent preservation efforts. A Trump executive order granted Elon Musk’s DOGE control over federal agency payments, leading to the deletion of websites, policies, and DEI programs, creating widespread confusion. Mass Firings of Federal Probationary Workers Likely Unlawful As of February 27, 2025, the number of lawsuits against President Donald Trump's executive actions reported by the Just Security Litigation Tracker has grown to 94.According to AP News on February 27, 2025, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to inform certain federal agencies that it had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees, including the Department of Defense. The mass firings of probationary employees were likely unlawful, granting temporary relief to a coalition of labor unions and organizations that has sued to stop the Trump administration’s massive dismantling of the federal workforce. The case is American Federation Of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. United States Office of Personnel Management (3:25-cv-01780) , which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2025/03/02 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/03/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/03/04 Fair Housing Rights & Alien Land Laws: Challenges and Advocacy for the Asian American Community2025/03/12 MSU Webinar on China Initiative2025/03/16 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/03/30 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting 2025/04/07 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2025/04/13 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/04/24-26 Committee of 100 Annual Conference and Gala Visit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. 2. 03/12 MSU Webinar on China Initiative WHAT: The China Initiative WHEN: March 12, 2025, 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm ET WHERE: Webinar HOST: Asian Pacific American Studies Program, Michigan State University DESCRIPTION: A virtual discussion on the life and afterlife of the China Initiative, a Trump Administration program that has used racial profiling and fears of espionage to target Asian American scholars and researchers for investigation. REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/4hVaITO # # # 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 February 28, 2025 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter

June 12, 2020 On June 12, 2020, Science Magazine reported that fifty-four scientists have lost their jobs as a result of NIH probe into foreign ties . Six questions are raised from the report about the National Institute of Health (NIH) investigations 1. Due process? What rights do the scientists have in terms of defense and representation? How are they informed and explained about these rights? How consistent is the decision process from case to case and from institution to institution? Are the standards public and publicized? How well are the scientists informed about these standards? 2. Shift and transparency in policy? As recently as July 1, 2014, current NIH Director Francis Collins spoke in Fudan University in Shanghai to promote international collaboration . This and similar reports have apparently been removed from the NIH website with one exception of this report about NIH leaders celebrate 30 years of research with China in 2009. Why were these reports removed? When did the shift in policy take place and why? How were the scientists notified of the change in policy? 3. How did NIH start these investigations? According to Page 19 of The Cancer Letter on April 26, 2019, Michael Lauer, NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research, stated that there are three ways to identify potential problems: (a) FBI and other law enforcement agencies, (b) anonymous complaints, and (c) stewardship of NIH program staff. For the targeted 189 scientists at 87 institutions, what is the respective count by these three ways? How is their pattern and distribution similar or different from previous years? 4. Criminalizing science and scientists? If the NIH is under pressure from the FBI and law enforcement to conduct these investigations, does it undermine the standard NIH procedures to deal with scientific ethical and integrity issues that may not be intrinsically criminal? How many of the scientists under NIH investigations conduct open fundamental research and how many on sensitive research that threatens national or economic security? Does their punishment fit the alleged act? What was actually stolen? 5. How will the NIH investigations enhance U.S. leadership in science and technology? Dr. Xifeng Wu was among the first scientists forced to leave MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She is now recognized for her significant contributions to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in China. She is a U.S. citizen. Her family still lives in Houston. How did her departure help U.S. leadership in science and technology? Same question for the 54 scientists. What threats have we mitigated by their departures? 6. Oversight and accountability? Is NIH open to third-party independent audit and review about the standards, process, and decision about these investigations? If so, would NIH cooperate with Congress and scientific/community organizations to conduct such audit, review, and oversight? In the case of Dr. Charlie Lieber, he was not charged as a spy. On February 3, 2020, Science Magazine reported that “[w]hat worries Andrew Lelling, U.S. attorney for the Massachusetts district, is that Lieber was allegedly paid to carry out research in China, which, combined with his failure to disclose those relationships, makes him potentially vulnerable to pressure from the Chinese government to do its bidding at some future point.” Are we punishing a child because one day he may grow up to be a criminal? How far have we deviated from a justice system based on facts and evidence, rather than pretext, for individual prosecutions or investigations? When was the last time the U.S. government targeted a nation and a people for law enforcement? These issues about accountability, oversight, and transparency are at the heart of racial profiling (according to the definition in H.R. 7120 Justice in Policing Act of 2020 ), justice, and fairness concerns for the Asian American community that led to the formation of the APA Justice Task Force in 2015. Previous Next 54 scientists lose their jobs from NIH probe into foreign ties

Newsletter - #307 2/3 Meeting; Birthright Citizenship Campaigns; Section 702 of FISA Ruling; 1/6 Summary #307 2/3 Meeting; Birthright Citizenship Campaigns; Section 702 of FISA Ruling; 1/6 Summary In This Issue #307 · 2025/02/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting · Nationwide Mobilization to Defend Birthright Citizenship · Cato: Federal Court Rules FISA Section 702 “Back Door” Searches Unconstitutional · 2025/01/06 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Summary Posted · News and Activities for the Communities 2025/02/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting The next APA Justice monthly meeting will be held via Zoom on Monday, February 3, 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 Kai Li 李凯 , Vice President, Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), confirmed speakers are: · Gary Locke 骆家辉 , Chair, Committee of 100; former U.S. Ambassador to China; former U/S. Secretary of Commerce; former Governor of the State of Washington · Julia Chang Bloch 張之香 , Founder and Executive Chair, US-China Education Trust; former U.S. Ambassador · Bethany Li , Executive Director, Asian American Legal Defense Education Fund (AALDEF) · Scott Chang , Senior Counsel, National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) 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 . Nationwide Mobilization to Defend Birthright Citizenship ACLU and Stop AAPI Hate have launched campaigns calling on the public to urge Congress to protect birthright citizenship after President Donald Trump issued an executive order seeking to deny citizenship to countless children and babies born in the U.S. · Join the ACLU campaign: https://bit.ly/3PLukO7 · Join the Stop AAPI Hate campaign: https://bit.ly/3PMApKc The United States is a nation founded and built by immigrants. While some were brought here against their will, others arrived in pursuit of the American Dream or for various other reasons.Birthright citizenship is firmly rooted in the U.S. Constitution through the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to all individuals born on American soil, a principle upheld by Supreme Court rulings like United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898). It provides legal certainty and equality, ensuring that all children born in the U.S. have equal status regardless of their parents’ origins or immigration status, preventing statelessness and promoting fairness. It has been a cornerstone of American society since 1868, fostering national unity, social stability, and a clear, inclusive pathway to citizenship in a nation built by immigrants.On January 21, 2025, the case CASA v. Trump, docket number 8:25-cv-00201-DLB, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. The plaintiff, CASA, Inc., a nonprofit organization, challenges the Trump administration's executive order concerning birthright citizenship. Read the CASA announcement: https://bit.ly/4azYPQJ . This is the fourth known lawsuit on the executive order: · 2025/01/20 New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support v. Trump (1:25-cv-00038) https://bit.ly/40sjdhU · 2025/01/20 Doe v. Trump (1:25-cv-10136) https://bit.ly/40tjtNI · 2025/02/21 State of Washington et al v. Trump et al (2:25-cv-00127) https://bit.ly/3PPcee8 · 2025/02/21 CASA Inc. et al v. Trump et al (8:25-cv-00201) https://bit.ly/4aG6nBG According to AP , New York Times , Washington Post , and other media reports, on January 23, 2025, a federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order, dealing the president his first setback as he attempts to upend the nation’s immigration laws and reverse decades of precedent. In a hearing held three days after Trump issued his executive order, Federal District Court judge, John C. Coughenour , sided at least for the moment with four states in State of Washington et al v. Trump et al (2:25-cv-00127). “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” he said. “Frankly,” he continued, challenging Trump administration lawyers, “I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar would state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind.”The decision applies nationwide and prevents the Trump administration from taking steps to implement the executive order for 14 days. In the meantime, the parties will submit further arguments about the merits of Trump’s order. Judge Coughenour scheduled a hearing on February 6 to decide whether to block it long term as the case proceeds. On January 24, 2025, the Committee of 100 issued a public statement on President Trump’s executive order. “This Executive Order is a blatant attack on a fundamental constitutional right—a right upheld by the landmark case of a son of Chinese immigrants, United States v. Wong Kim Ark,” said Cindy Tsai , Interim President, Committee of 100. “For generations, the Chinese American community has faced exclusionary policies, systemic racism, and violence, despite generations of contributions to this nation. Revoking birthright citizenship represents a troubling return to discriminatory practices, disturbing settled law, and decades of progress toward inclusivity. Targeting this right is an assault on the core American values of liberty and equality. The Committee of 100 stands firmly in solidarity with all communities impacted by this unjust and divisive policy.”"President Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship is an affront to the core principles of equality and opportunity that have guided this nation for generations," said Stewart Kwoh , Co-Founder of The Asian American Education Project and Committee of 100 Member since 1999. "As educators, we know firsthand how the fear and uncertainty created by such policies harm our students and their families, particularly in immigrant communities. This order threatens to marginalize and disenfranchise children born on U.S. soil, many of whom belong to the AAPI community, and it risks undoing the progress we've made toward a more inclusive and equitable society." On January 24, 2025, San Francisco District Attorney David Chiu joined a dozen community leaders, local experts and historians at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) to reflect on the community’s history of fighting discriminatory immigration policies. CCBA, also known as the Chinese Six Companies, was founded in 1882 as a coalition of associations by immigrants with shared roots in southern China. It raised funds and hired prominent lawyers to bring Wong Kim Ark’s case to the Supreme Court. “Donald Trump has repeatedly and blatantly disregarded the rule of law and our Constitution,” said Chiu. “This is not a one-off case,” said community historian David Lei , adding that the community spearheaded some 10,000 civil rights lawsuits in the first 23 of the more than 60 years the Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect. “The real story was: We fought back,” Lei said. In their suit, Doe v. Trump (1:25-cv-10136), against the birthright citizenship order, plaintiffs including the city of San Francisco. “It’s not just a Chinese issue,” said Bill Ong Hing , a professor of law and migration studies at the University of San Francisco. Hing noted that the anti-Chinese sentiment from a century ago has resurfaced in new forms, now also targeting immigrants from Mexico and Central America. Norman Wong , the great-grandson of Wong Kim Ark, echoed Hing, saying that other family members who were not of Chinese descent were affected by past discriminatory policies. Wong’s mother, who is Japanese American, was forcibly taken to an incarceration camp with her family under Executive Order 9066 during World War II. “These are the consequences of these unequal laws,” Wong said. City Attorney David Chiu said he expects the lawsuits to prevail in appellate court, but that the Trump administration will likely appeal the appellate rulings all the way up to the Supreme Court. Read the San Francisco Public Press report: https://bit.ly/40zGRJo . Read the AP News report: https://bit.ly/3Wzps2l Cato: Federal Court Rules FISA Section 702 “Back Door” Searches Unconstitutional According to Cato Institute on January 22, 2025, a December 2, 2024, ruling by Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall of the Eastern District of New York marked a significant development in surveillance law, finding that the FBI’s use of warrantless "back door" searches under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) violated the Fourth Amendment. These searches allow the FBI to query communications collected without a warrant from non-U.S. persons abroad, but they often incidentally include Americans’ communications. The court’s decision underscores longstanding concerns over privacy and the scope of government surveillance powers. Despite acknowledging the constitutional violation, the court denied defendant Agron Hasbajrami ’s motion to suppress the evidence obtained through these searches, citing separate legal grounds. Hasbajrami, a lawful U.S. resident originally from Albania, was charged in 2011 with providing material support to a terrorist organization. While the evidence obtained through Section 702 queries played a key role in the investigation, the court determined that excluding the evidence was not warranted under the circumstances of the case.The ruling has drawn significant attention from civil liberties advocates. Patrick Toomey , an attorney with the ACLU, remarked, “While the new opinion holds that the FBI’s Section 702 queries violated the Fourth Amendment, the court ultimately denied the defendant’s motion to suppress the resulting evidence on separate grounds.” This decision highlights the ongoing debate over balancing national security interests with constitutional protections and could have implications for the upcoming reauthorization of Section 702, a key provision of U.S. intelligence law set to expire in December 2025. Xiaoxing Xi, a Chinese American physics professor at Temple University, and his family filed a lawsuit in 2017, challenges the FBI’s baseless arrest of him and its surveillance methods as well as its discriminatory targeting of Chinese American scientists. ACLU represents Professor Xi, who is suing the government over its dismissed prosecution of him for supposedly sharing sensitive technology with scientists in China. The dangers of giving the government sweeping surveillance powers are real and unmistakable. Professor Xi's case is a glaring example of an innocent American’s privacy rights being grossly violated, with disastrous consequences for him and his family.Read the Cato Institute report: https://bit.ly/3Q8Depn . Read the ACLU summary of Professor Xi's lawsuit: https://bit.ly/3GlCCqS 2025/01/06 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Summary Posted The January 2025 APA Justice monthly meeting summary has been posted at . We thank the following speakers for their reports and updates: · Judy Chu , Chair Emeritus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) with video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MNT61PApwQ (8:17) · Judith Teruya , Executive Director, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) · Joanna YangQing Derman , Director, Anti-Profiling, Civil Rights & National Security Program, Advancing Justice | AAJC · Kai Li , Vice President, Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF) · Sudip Parikh , Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Executive Publisher of the Science family of journals · Robert S. Chang , Executive Director, Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, University of California Irvine School of Law · Yawei Liu , Senior Advisor, China Focus, Carter Center Read the January 2025 APA Justice monthly meeting summary: https://bit.ly/40J9cOY . Read previous monthly meeting summaries: https://bit.ly/3kxkqxP News and Activities for the Communities 1. APA Justice Community Calendar Upcoming Events: 2025/01/30 USCET Women in China Policy: Tech and US-China Competition2025/01/30 ACLU Know Your Rights Training: Mass Deportation2025/02/02 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/02/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting2023/02/03 Getting China Right: Launch of ACF Institute at SAIS, Johns Hopkins University2025/02/13-15 2025 AAAS Annual Meeting2025/02/16 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting 2025/03/02 Rep. Gene Wu's Town Hall Meeting2025/03/03 APA Justice Monthly Meeting Visit https://bit.ly/3XD61qV for event details. 2. Get Help Today on LA Fires Californians can go to CA.gov/LAfires – a hub for information and resources from state, local and federal government. Individuals and business owners who sustained losses from wildfires in Los Angeles County can apply for disaster assistance: · Online at DisasterAssistance.gov · Calling 800-621-3362 · By using the FEMA smart phone application · Assistance is available in over 40 languages · If you use a relay service, such as video relay service (VRS), captioned telephone service or others, give FEMA the number for that service. Please share with your families, friends, and colleagues in the Los Angeles area. 3. 2025/01/30 USCET Women in China Policy: Tech and US-China Competition WHAT : Women in China Policy: Tech and US-China Competition WHEN: January 30, 2025, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm ET WHERE: Room 505, Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University HOST: US-China Education Trust, Women's Foreign Policy Group, and the American Mandarin Society PANELISTS : · Nina Palmer , Senior Principal Data Scientist for Strategic Economics, MITRE · Samantha Payne , Defense Fellow, Office of U.S. Representative Marc Veasey (D-TX). DESCRIPTION: This insightful discussion will explore the critical intersection of technology and U.S.-China competition, offering unique perspectives on this complex topic. REGISTRATION: https://bit.ly/3PNW0lI 4. 2025/01/30 ACLU Know Your Rights Training: Mass Deportation WHAT : ACLU Know Your Rights Training: Mass Deportation WHEN : January 30, 2025, 8:00 pm ET WHERE : Training via Zoom HOST : ACLU DESCRIPTION : The Trump administration has been gearing up for mass deportations since day one, threatening the safety of millions of families. Join the ACLU's People Power Immigration/Deportation Know Your Rights Training to learn how you can protect immigrant communities facing these escalating threats. REGISTRATION : https://bit.ly/3PLEvCl # # # 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 January 27, 2025 Previous Newsletter Next Newsletter