President Joe Biden signed legislation Thursday designed to curtail a dramatic rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The House sent the bill to the White House after passing it by a vote of 364-62 on Tuesday. Senators had voted 94-1 in favor of the bill in April.
The legislation will expedite Justice Department reviews of hate crimes and make grants available to help local law enforcement agencies improve their investigation, identification and reporting of incidents driven by bias, which often go underreported.
Speaking at a ceremony in the White House East Room attended by lawmakers of both parties, Biden praised members of Congress for their bipartisanship on the issue, saying they proved "democracy can work and deliver for the American people."
Biden said for too long, all of this hate has been hiding "in plain sight." He said for centuries, Asian Americans "have helped build this nation only to be often stepped over, forgotten or ignored."
The president said "hate can be given no safe harbor in America," adding that "silence is complicity."
To many Asian Americans, the pandemic has invigorated deep-seated biases that in some cases date back to the Chinese Exclusion Act of more than a century ago.
And as cases of the illness began to rise in the U.S., so too did the attacks, with thousands of violent incidents reported in the past year.
Yet to some activists, including organizations representing gay and transgender Asian Americans, the legislation is misguided. More than 100 groups have signed onto a statement opposing the bill for relying too heavily on law enforcement while providing too little funding to address the underlying issues driving a rise in hate crimes.
The Pentagon has sent “prepare to deploy” orders to about 2,000 U.S. troops to be ready to respond to the Israel-Hamas war, two U.S. officials said on the condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that has not been announced yet.
The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service has taken responsibility for not warning of the bloody Oct. 7 Hamas rampage that killed over 1,400 Israelis.
Republicans rejected Rep. Jim Jordan for House speaker on a first ballot Tuesday, as an unexpectedly numerous 20 holdouts denied the hard-charging ally of Donald Trump the GOP majority needed to seize the gavel.
The federal judge overseeing the 2020 election subversion case against Donald Trump in Washington imposed a narrow gag order on him on Monday, barring the Republican former president from making statements targeting prosecutors, possible witnesses and the judge's staff.
A 71-year-old Illinois man accused of fatally stabbing a 6-year-old boy and seriously wounding a 32-year-old woman was charged with a hate crime Sunday.
Republicans chose Rep. Jim Jordan as their new nominee for House speaker on Friday during internal voting, putting the gavel within reach of the staunch ally of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
American citizens in Israel can start leaving the country on charter flights starting Friday after the State Department said flights will take Americans and immediate family members to either Athens, Greece or Frankfurt, Germany.
The Israeli military has ordered the 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza to evacuate to the south within 24 hours as U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel.
