Letter urges US Congress to hold hearings on racial profiling of Asian-Americans
- A request for oversight hearings on perceived bias and excesses in the FBI’s China-influence investigations and National Institutes of Health vetting
- ‘Immigrants are not a threat. Rather they are a part of the solution to the United States’ global challenges,’ letter to US lawmaker says
The letter comes as Asian-Americans, emboldened by a change in the administration and the growing electoral power that helped put the new president and lawmakers there, become increasingly vocal about defending their interests and rights as US citizens.
“We cannot continue to be a leader in science and technology if we promote xenophobia and racial profiling within our own borders,” signatories wrote in the two-page letter, addressed to the chairman of a key civil rights committee in Congress. “Immigrants are not a threat. Rather they are a part of the solution to the United States’ global challenges.”
Congress has held numerous hearings on the espionage threat from China but none fully addressing the rights of Chinese-Americans who have been wrongly targeted, leading to overreach that jeopardises the nation’s cutting-edge research efforts, supporters of the initiative said.
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Monday’s letter called on Representative Jamie Raskin, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and a Democrat from Maryland, to hold oversight hearings on perceived bias and excesses behind FBI China-influence investigations and National Institutes of Health vetting.