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Congress passes Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Bill, Biden expected to sign

By immigrationprof

Congress has passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, new legislation aimed at strengthening federal efforts to address hate crimes that have spiked as Asian-Americans have taken blame for the coronavirus, as reported by StopAAPI Hate and LAAUNCH.

The key components of the bill would:

  • Designate a DOJ official to expedite the review of anti-Asian hate crimes, improve tracking, and help with potential prosecution
  • Direct the DOJ to offer grants and guidance for the creation of local and state law hate crime reporting platforms that expand channels for reporting
  • Offer training to state and local law enforcement on how and why to report hate crimes data to the federal government
  • Offer grants for public education campaigns about the importance of reporting and problem of anti-Asian bias
  • Urge judges assigning penalties for hate crimes to include community service and education about the targeted groups who have been impacted by a crime
  • Urge govenrment officials to remove discriminatory language in how agencies talk about the coronavirus pandemic (consistent with the W.H.O.)

The House legislation was led by Representative Grace Meng and the Senate legislation was led by Senator Mazie Hirono. The bills received bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, with the relatively little opposition during a time of little Congressional cooperation. It is the first legislative action that Congress has taken to respond to attacks on people of Asian descent, notwithstanding prior hearings and resolutions. President Biden is expected to sign it:

“For more than a year, far too many Asian Americans have woken up each morning increasingly fearful for their safety and the safety of their loved ones,” Mr. Biden said. “They have been scapegoated, harassed, and assaulted; some have even been killed.”

While the cooperation evidenced by passage of the bill is encouraging, community advocates point out that more than reporting needs to happen to stem hate and get to root causes.

UPDATE 5/20/21 Video from Biden’s signing here.

MHC

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