Politics Briefing 1/24/2023

COFA, a legal agreement between the United States, the Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Palau that has been in place since the 1980s, allows for free migration between the Pacific Island nations and the U.S. in exchange for American military rights over each South Pacific nation’s land. 

What’s on the docket: The agreements will be up for renewal in 2023 between the U.S. and the Marshall Islands and Micronesia, and in 2024 for Palau. Congress must approve any new terms.

Recovering from U.S. possession: Between 1946 and 1958, the U.S. tested and detonated 67 nuclear bombs on the Marshall Islands or in their waters. Decades later, Marshallese people are still battling the health and environmental impacts of these bomb tests, as are surrounding Pacific Island nations.

Acknowledging the U.S.’s nuclear legacy and climate change prevention are top priorities, the Marshall Islands’ ambassador to the U.S. Gerald Zackios said at a September summit. Many Marshallese see it as a nonnegotiable if COFA is to be renewed.

Where do AAPIs fit in? In one of the cases, the anti-affirmative action group Students for Fair Admissions—led by Edward Blum—is arguing that Harvard University discriminates against Asian American and white applicants, while favoring Black and Latino students. The lawsuit has largely divided the Asian American community.

Asian Americans have been positioned against Black and Latino communities in the battle for affirmative action, but data shows race-conscious admission policies benefit Asian Americans, too, NBC News’ Kimmy Yam reports—especially those from low-income and refugee backgrounds.

Notable: Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are especially underrepresented when colleges are barred from considering race. In the University of California system—which has not been allowed to use race-conscious admissions since California voted to ban affirmative action in 1996—NHPI students (62%) are admitted at a considerably lower rate than Asian Americans (78%), according to a 2022 study released by the Campaign for College Opportunity.

At the same time, some have said that discrimination against Asian American applicants is real but not inherently intertwined with affirmative action and must be addressed as a separate issue.

What to watch: The outcome of the high-profile cases could significantly alter the make-up, experience, and intellectual environment of colleges across the country. Justices will likely finalize their opinions this summer.

What this might mean for AAPI immigrants: Biden’s hope for more welcoming policies on immigration might make the pathway to entry easier for some. However, with officials announcing the increased use of pre-pandemic, expedited removal proceedings, his next move remains unclear.

Indian migration to the U.S.-Mexico border: Between October 2021 and September 2022, Indian migrants encountered border authorities roughly 18,300 times at the U.S. southern border, a record high compared to only 2,600 in the same period a year earlier.

The influx may have been caused by increasing persecution by the Bharatiya Janata Party and other Hindu nationalists in India on the basis of caste, race, and sexuality, immigration lawyer Deepak Ahluwalia told BBC’s Bernd Debusmann Jr.

On our radar: The Biden administration has also announced plans to restart the Task Force on New Americans, which was last active under President Barack Obama. The task force will look at improving programs for integration, Associated Press’ Colleen Long reports.

The attack, in a city that is two-thirds Asian American, is the deadliest mass killing in the nation since the Uvalde shooting last May. At least 10 others were injured as of Sunday.

The suspect, identified as 72-year-old Huu Can Tran, remained at large for most of Sunday before he shot and killed himself as police closed in on the van he used to flee. The shooting has prompted other cities across the U.S. to shore up security for local celebrations in anticipation of possible copycats.

“What should have been a festive night to welcome the first day of the Lunar New Year turned into a tragedy,” Star Ballroom Dance Studio, the site of the Monterey Park shooting, said in a statement Monday. “In this time of healing, we hope that all those who were affected have the space to grieve and process what transpired within the last 24 hours.”

Police have not identified a clear motive for the attack in Monterey Park but have not ruled out the possibility of a hate crime. Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have become familiar with feelings of apprehension and dread as hate crimes have spiked in the last two years, the New Yorker's Michael Luo reflects in a personal essay.

Asian American students have since expressed frustration with the response from the university and others outside the Asian community.

“There’s not really any advocacy group in the community that makes Asian issues very visible. I think the administration should make that more of a priority, just expanding their own diversity and inclusion efforts to the community,” Audrey Lee, a senior at the university, told Kimmy Yam of NBC News.

In his words: “I now have experienced seeing my daughter, my family and myself in the news,” writes Go. “Our family holiday photo is in newspapers and on the television newscasts. Our lives have been changed forever.”

GuiYing Ma, who moved to New York in 2017 with her husband, Zhanxin Gao, sustained repeated bashes to the head and died after spending three months in a hospital. She was 61.

“We can only hope that the long prison sentence will provide at least some measure of solace to the family of Ms. Ma,” said Queens’ district attorney Melinda Katz. 

“It’s really important for Pacific diasporic communities in the U.S. to take control of their own representation,” said Lana Lopesi, an assistant professor of Indigenous race and ethnic studies at the University of Oregon.

Opponents of the proposed Sixers stadium point to the D.C. Capital One arena, which has pushed out local Chinatown business owners and residents over the past two decades. “We saw what happened there. It’s a disaster,” Philly Chinatown restaurant owner Xu Lin told The Yappie’s Mary Yang. “There’s no Chinatown anymore, not really.”