During the Trump administration, the Department of Justice created the China Initiative, a program presented as safeguarding universities and businesses from economic espionage. In practice, it raised widespread concerns of racial profiling of Chinese American and immigrant academics and researchers, many of whom were accused of failing to disclose routine academic activities – but not of espionage or national security breaches. Although the program ended in 2022, there are ongoing efforts to revive it. The Asian American Scholar Forum (AASF), a new civil rights advocacy organization created in response to the China Initiative, reports that Asian American and Asian researchers and scholars continue to face bias and heightened scrutiny in their working and living environments. AASF Executive Director Gisela Perez Kusakawa discussed the current challenges faced by Asian American and Asian researchers, scholars, and students, the chilling effect this has, and the need for legal scholars to help develop innovative solutions to the tensions between national security and American values. Professor Xiaoxing Xi of Temple University shared his experience of being arrested by the FBI in 2015 on erroneous charges - later dropped - of providing China with sensitive technology. Jessica Bissett from the National Committee on US-China Relations described her organization's work to help government officials gain a more nuanced understanding of the Chinese students and scholars community. Learn more.