The Big Story
LATE RECAP—DEMOCRATS TALK CLIMATE CHANGE, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AT AAPI FORUM: Three Democratic hopefuls vowed to bolster federal efforts to fight climate change at a groundbreaking Asian American presidential forum in California on Sunday, as Pacific Islander communities find themselves increasingly threatened by rising sea levels. Here’s the latest…
- “Our climate is changing irreversibly,” tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang said at the event hosted by the AAPI Victory Fund and Asian Americans Rising, demanding that the U.S. should focus its efforts on securing critical infrastructure. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) warned that the obstacles facing climate activists would only grow, while billionaire Tom Steyer pledged to declare a “climate emergency” on day one of his presidency.
- Education issues also took center stage, with candidates reaffirming support for affirmative action under questioning by MSNBC’s Richard Lui, Spectrum News’ Esther Lee, and author Viet Thanh Nguyen. Yang told the packed audience that he resented “how Asian Americans are often used as a lever” by conservative groups, while Steyer said that the U.S. needed to acknowledge that “there are communities that have been severely disadvantaged.” Yang tackled further queries on spiraling higher education costs, suggesting that he would tie federal grant funding and certain tax exemptions “to the ratio of administrators to students in universities.”
- Rep. Gabbard weighed in on the Mauna Kea telescope protests in Hawaii, calling on state authorities “to make things right” with the protectors and adding that “the desecration of this sacred place is an issue that has never been addressed with the Native Hawaiian community.” Gabbard also criticized the Trump administration for “unnecessarily” ratcheting up tensions with China “in a way that is dangerous for us and dangerous for the world.”
- Why this matters: Sunday’s event was likely the first and only Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) national forum for Democratic presidential candidates, and the no-shows from major contenders did not go unnoticed. In an op-ed for The Hill, Viet Thanh Nguyen and AAPI Progressive Action’s Tung Nguyen warned that “Democratic candidates still do not grasp that … AAPIs can be the margin of victory,” pointing to the fact that only three candidates were scheduled to attend.
On the Hill
U.S. LAWMAKERS SET TO PUSH AHEAD ON HONG KONG: Congress appears poised to act on the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act as it returns from August recess, despite Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s decision to withdraw the extradition bill at the center of the political crisis rocking the city.
- For weeks, demonstrators in Hong Kong have called on Congress to move quickly on the bipartisan proposal, which was reintroduced back in June by Senators Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Ben Cardin (D-Maryland). The act would impose various penalties on individuals found to be curtailing Hong Kong’s freedoms and require annual certification of Hong Kong’s autonomy to justify special trade privileges.
- In a letter sent to colleagues on last Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) wrote that the legislation would be among the top priorities pushed by Senate Democrats in the coming days, while Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said that Congress would move “swiftly” to advance the bill in the House.
- Other legislative options: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in August that he would support enhancing the Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 to “illuminate Beijing’s interference” and declared that “the Senate will do more.”The Daily Beast also reported last month that Republicans are drafting legislation that would “hit Chinese entities with sanctions that support the suppression of protests in Hong Kong.”
GUAM DELEGATE HIT WITH COMPLAINT OVER CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS: Del. Michael San Nicolas (D-Guam) allegedly used federal campaign funds to finance an extramarital affair and hired his mistress as part of his congressional staff, his former chief of staff John Paul Manuel said in a complaint filed with the Guam Election Commission. Del. San Nicolas denounced Manuel’s claims as “baseless” and submitted a complaint to the FBI, the Guam Daily Post reports. Read more.
On the Agenda
INCREASING AAPI OVERDOSE DEATHS WERE IGNORED BY NYC REPORT: The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene “suppressed” data showing a sharp increase in AAPI overdose deaths in a brief released last month, FILTER Magazine reports—with AAPI New Yorkers experiencing the largest spike in ODs of any racial demographic between 2017 and 2018. Read more.
- Related: Asian Americans are less likely to seek help for substance use disorders than other communities, the Huffington Post’s Anna Lucente Sterling writes, amounting to what advocates call an “invisible crisis” of addiction. Read more.
AAAJ-LA STAFF SEEK STAY ON LAYOFFS: Staff members at Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Los Angeles—one of the largest AAPI legal and civil rights organizations in the nation—remain locked in an unusually public labor dispute with the organization’s board of directors, alleging that management and the board engaged in unlawful retaliatory conduct earlier this year.
- A website and matching Twitter account called “Advancing Injustice-LA” circulated a petition calling for an end to “union-busting tactics” and a moratorium on layoffs that garnered more than 1,000 signatures in late August. The AAAJ-LA board said last week that it would continue with dialogue for now. Read more.
NCAPA UNVEILS FRAMEWORK FOR 2020 POLICY PLATFORM: Language access, immigration, affirmative action, and securing the upcoming census are likely to remain top policy priorities for major AAPI advocacy groups heading into 2020, according to a new document published by the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans. Read more.
LAOTIAN HISTORY BILL CLEARS FINAL HURDLE: California lawmakers have given final approval on a bill to “include Laotian history and the experience of Laotian American refugees in the state school curriculum,” LAist’s Josie Huang reports. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has about one month to sign the bill into law, which would serve as the culmination of hard-won activism among Laotian American communities. Read more.
VICTIM IN BROCK TURNER CASE REVEALS HER NAME: Emily Doe has revealed her identity, and her name is Chanel Miller. The woman assaulted by a former Stanford University swimmer in 2015 reclaims her story in her forthcoming memoir, “Know My Name.” Read more.
RACIAL PROFILING LED TO MASS PANIC AT NEWARK AIRPORT: Chaos at the Newark Liberty Airport on Labor Day began with the racial profiling of two Chinese-born men by an Alaska Airlines employee, BuzzFeed News reports. Read more.
THE LONG READ—WHERE DOES AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LEAVE ASIAN AMERICANS? The New York Times Magazine’s Jay Caspian Kang follows the complications of the Students for Fair Admissions’ lawsuit against Harvard—and how it’s dividing Asian-American students and their families. Read more.
2020 Watch
THREE AAPI HOPEFULS TO GET NRCC BOOST: Michelle Steel (CA-48), Young Kim (CA-39), and Peggy Huang (CA-45) are set to participate in the first level of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Young Guns” program as the GOP plots a comeback in California’s Orange County. Democrats won all seven of the congressional districts that touch the county in the 2018 midterms, which now has more registered Democrats than Republicans. Read more.
- One race to watch: NRCC Executive Director Parker Poling told GOP delegates that former congressman David Valadao “is on track to retake his congressional seat from Democratic Rep. T.J. Cox (D-California),” POLITICO notes. Read more.
SANTOS TAPPED FOR DNC’S AAPI OUTREACH: The Democratic National Committee says that John Santos has been promoted to AAPI political director, a role similar to the one held by Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-New Jersey) Nevada State Director Phil Kim. Santos had served as AAPI media director and is now tasked with developing and promoting the party’s outreach efforts ahead of the 2020 election. Read more.
APIAVOTE TOWN HALL SLATED FOR NEXT JUNE: APIAVote’s presidential town hall will be held on June 27, Executive Director Christine Chen tells Newsy’s Willie James Inman. Read more.
ICYMI—ASSESSING ANDREW YANG’S FREEDOM DIVIDEND: Plan A’s Christina Qiu breaks down the moving pieces of Andrew Yang’s central campaign promise. Read more.
The Trump Era
STATES ASK FEDERAL COURT TO BLOCK PUBLIC CHARGE RULE: A coalition of 14 states led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson asked a federal judge on Friday to block the Trump administration from implementing its controversial “public charge” rule, which experts and advocates say has already had a “chilling” effect in immigrant communities. Read more.
- Context: The motion represents the latest move in a widening legal battle over the regulation, with organizations such as the National Immigration Law Center and the Asian-American Federation joining multiple lawsuits to block its implementation before Oct. 15. Read more.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION WEIGHS SLASHING REFUGEE CAP—AGAIN: The White House is considering a further rollback of the nation’s refugee program, the New York Times reports, with administration officials set to meet as soon as Tuesday to determine the cap for the coming fiscal year. The program had previously been capped at 30,000 refugees for 2019, down from 45,000 in 2018. Read more.
U.S. BACKS OFF PLAN TO RESTRICT DRIVER’S LICENSES FOR MICRONESIANS: The Trump administration is reversing course on guidelines for federally approved driver’s licenses in three Pacific Island nations, the Honolulu Civil Beat reports, with thousands of citizens only needing a “valid foreign passport and Form I-94 to obtain REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses.” Read more.
ICYMI—UNIVERSITIES FACE FEDERAL INQUIRIES OVER FOREIGN FINANCIAL INFLUENCE: The U.S. Department of Education is investigating whether Georgetown, Cornell, Texas A&M, and Rutgers University are properly disclosing donations and contracts from foreign governments, the New York Times reports, as the government’s crackdown on Chinese funding and influence in higher education intensifies. Read more.
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