Dozens of Asian American organizations sent a letter to Congress this week to protest the reauthorization of Section 702, a controversial surveillance statute that critics say could be used to racially profile communities of color.
A coalition of 63 organizations, led by several Asian American groups including the Asian American Scholar Forum and Stop AAPI Hate, urged lawmakers to reject a short-term extension of the statute, which gives U.S. intelligence agencies the authority, without a warrant, to acquire communications of non-Americans who use American communications platforms.
With the program slated to expire by the end of the year, lawmakers will have to decide on its future. But the organizations argue that the surveillance has previously been used against Asian Americans, including Chinese American professor Xiaoxing Xi, who was arrested in May 2015 and falsely accused of spying for China before his case was dropped months later.
“Part of the reason why his case inspires so much concern is … the fear that the methods that were used on Dr. Xiaoxing Xi are being used against the Asian American scholar community as a whole,” Gisela Perez Kusakawa, executive director of the Asian American Scholar Forum, told NBC News. “The existing surveillance authority that the government has needs appropriate checks and balances so that racial profiling does not take place.”
The groups instead called for Section 702 and its renewal to be examined through separate legislation so it is “subject to open debate and amendment.” They also advocated for a floor vote on the Government Surveillance Reform Act of 2023, a bipartisan bill introduced earlier this month that would require warrants for the government purchase of private data, among other major changes.
The coalition argued that the statute has been “misused” to spy on Americans in the past. A court order showed that the FBI improperly searched for information in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act…
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