We are concerned these and other examples may show a pattern of overzealous targeting of Chinese. Members of Congress and national Asian and Chinese American organizations have raised similar with you, but the Department of Justice’s response has been to dismiss these concerns without the underlying policies and practices that led to mistakes which precipitated these wrongful of American citizens.
This is not the first time a person of Chinese descent was arrested for spying with flimsy evidence and based on the suspect’s race. Dr. Wen Ho Lee was a federal nuclear scientist who was arrested for and held without bail in solitary confinement for over nine months. Unable to prove its accusations, the dropped its spying charges and charged him with one count of mishandling sensitive documents, did not require solitary confinement. Dr. Lee received an apology from a federal district court judge for denial of bail solitary confinement and for the government’s misconduct in investigating and prosecuting case.
While these Chinese Americans were able to eventually have their charges dropped, they—and their—suffered tremendously because of, at best, lack of diligence on the part of the investigators, and at, racial bias. Temple University demoted Dr. Xi as chair of its physics and the government recently informed Dr. Chen it plans on firing her for many of the same reasons which she was prosecuted. They watched their professional reputations get tarnished and incurred debt to their innocence. They endured months of being labeled traitors to their country, and were ostracized by, friends, and professional colleagues.
Not only is there personal loss, but the nation loses promising and productive scientists when improper foster anxiety in the Asian American scientific community over fears of treatment.
2015-11-18 UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS LettertoDOJreAsianAmericanProsecutions