Criminalization of Asian Americans: Prosecutions and Surveillance of AMEMSA Communities, Chinese Americans and Immigrants

Please join us for the upcoming webinar, “Criminalization of Asian Americans: Prosecutions and Surveillance of AMEMSA Communities, Chinese Americans, and Immigrants”, organized by Arab American Institute and Advancing Justice | AAJC on Thursday, September 30 at 4pm ET / 3pm CT / 1pm PT.

This webinar seeks to connect the ongoing criminalization of Asian American and immigrant communities with a focus on the surveillance, targeting and profiling of AMEMSA communities post-9/11 and following the Trump-era “China Initiative,” of Asian American and immigrant scientists and researchers, particularly those of Chinese descent.

Asian Americans have been perceived as national security threats and “perpetual foreigners,” and treated differently from other Americans. In particular, AMEMSA communities, Chinese Americans, and immigrants have been subjected to heavy scrutiny, mass investigations and criminal prosecutions under the pretext of combatting terrorism and economic espionage. Many of these investigations are not based on reasonable suspicion or evidence of wrongdoing but rather on ethnicity or religion. Inseparable from these criminal prosecutions are the surveillance of our communities including at their homes, workplace, and points of entry where their electronic devices and social media are searched. The long term impact on our community is immeasurable as these prosecutions not only have immediate criminal consequences, but also lasting immigration consequences that can be immediate or may not be triggered till years later.

The webinar will lift up the experiences of AMEMSA communities post-9/11, explore best practices and lessons learned to combat racial profiling, and call attention to collaboration efforts across diverse groups to protect the civil rights of all communities.