Justice Department and White House announce new policies to address anti-Asian attacks

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday ordered a review of how the Justice Department can best deploy its resources to combat hate crimes during a surge in incidents targeting Asian-Americans. 

Garland issued a department-wide memo announcing the 30-day review, citing the ‘recent rise in hate crimes and hate incidents, particularly the disturbing trend in reports of violence against members of the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community since the start of the pandemic.’

Garland’s order came the same day that the Biden administration announced a set of measures responding to anti-Asian violence, including deploying $49.5 million from COVID-19 relief funds for U.S. community programs that will help victims. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday ordered a review of how the Justice Department can best deploy its resources to combat hate crimes during a surge in incidents targeting Asian-Americans

At the same time, President Joe Biden’s administration will put $49.5 million in pandemic relief funds toward U.S. community programs that will help victims, including a new task force dedicated to countering xenophobia against Asians in healthcare

The Asian-American and Pacific Islander community was rattled after a trio of shootings at Georgia spas earlier this month, in which six of the eight victims were Asian-American women. The shootings happened at a time when violence against Asian-Americans is on the rise 

Biden’s new steps include $49.5 million of pandemic relief funds for ‘community based, culturally specific services and programs for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault’ as well as a new task force dedicated to countering xenophobia against Asians in healthcare. 

The measures come after a shooting in Atlanta earlier this month left eight people dead, six of them Asian-American women.

The shooting stoked fears among those in the Asian-American Pacific Islander community, which has reported a spike in hate crimes since March 2020 when then-President Donald Trump began referring to the novel coronavirus as the ‘China virus.’ 

Police departments across the U.S. are reporting an uptick in hate crimes and attacks on Asian-Americans and lawmakers and community leaders have been increasingly outspoken about the need for the federal government to do more to combat hate crimes.  

In July, about 150 members of Congress called on the Justice Department to take action against crimes targeting Asian Americans, and last week a bipartisan group of former U.S. attorneys penned an open letter expressing support for the Asian-American community and condemning acts of hatred against any group. 

For federal officials to combat the trend, federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials should place an emphasis on investigating and prosecuting hate crimes, while increasing community outreach, Garland said. 

They should also focus on improving the FBI’s collection of data on hate crimes, which is ‘critical to understanding the evolving nature and extent of hate crimes and hate incidents in all their forms,’ he wrote in the memo. 

A main criticism from lawmakers and civil rights groups has been that the U.S. government vastly undercounts hate crimes because the FBI’s reporting system is voluntary. 

In some states, just 5 per cent of police departments reported any hate crimes last year.  

‘We must recommit ourselves to this urgent task and ensure that the Department makes the best and most effective use of its resources to combat hate,’ Garland’s memo said.

The review is aimed at determining how the Justice Department can better prioritize investigations and prosecutions, increase and track reporting of hate crimes and other incidents that could violate federal law and use civil remedies to address bias incidents that don´t amount to federal hate crimes.

It will also seek to ensure each of the 94 U.S. attorney’s offices across the country has resources dedicated to identifying hate crimes and bias incidents and review how the department can better engage with communities, among other things.