shortly. elsewhere we are covering hearings this afternoon on the senate side on covid response, including dr. fauci testifying on that, 2:00 p.m. eastern. the senate is in at this hour this morning. and they will vote on the nomination of javier becerra to be health and human services secretary at noon today. the house itself not coming in this morning. there is some training that members and staff are going through. in morning hour this morning. they come in at noon. will take up two bills today on u.s. immigration policy. you're watching live coverage of this hearing about to get under way on c-span. i remind members we have established an email address and distributions dedicated to circulating exhibits, motions, or other written materials and members may want to offer as part of the hearing today. if you like to submit those materials, the cite is judiciary docx@mail.house.gov. i ask unanimous consent that our judiciary colleagues participating in today's hearing. hearing no objection i welcome into our subcommittee. they'll be able to question our witness it is they are yield the time by subcommittee members. finally i ask all members both those in person and remotely to mute your microphones when you are not speaking. this will help prevent feedback and unmute yourself when you are recognized. i will now recognize myself for an opening statement. chair cohen: while there are still being details to be learned about tuesday's horrific shootings in hasn't. left eight people did, six reportedly of asian descent, one thing is certain. for many asian americans tuesday's shocking events felt like the inevitable culmination of a year which there were nearly 3,800 reported incident of anti-asian hate incidents that grew increasingly more haven't over time as the pandemic worsened and some people wrongly blamed asian americans. one implied such by calling it the china virus. these incidents include cases of verbal harassment, being spat at. slapped in the face. lit on fire. slashed with a box cutter. or shoved violently to the ground. and that number of reported incidents is likely the tip of the iceberg. i want to make clear that all asian americans who are understandably feeling hurt and afraid right now and wondering whether anyone else in america cares, that congress sees you, we stand with you, we'll do everything in our power to protect you. also provide an excuse for some to act on those prejudices. there have been discrimination against lots of people in this country and all of that has been exaggerated. but the asian situation has been the most extreme. pandemic's worst fuel tensions and the fear of resentment these create have provided conditions for any asian racialism and xenophobia leading to traffic consequences for asian americans. social and economic resentment against chinese labors in the 1800's led to the enactment of chinese exclusion act of 1882 which barred nearly all immigration from china. in the 1924 immigration act effectively barred immigrants -- emgration from all asian countries. in 1942, the united states government committed a sweeping violation of civil liberties in american history. other than slavery itself. the forced internment of 120,000 japanese americans. many of them second and third generation americans. during the second world war. based not on any legitimate national security concerns but on the racist and zone phobic assumption that americans of japanese ancestry would be disloyal. in 1982, chinese american was beaten to death by two white auto workers because the attackers thought he was japanese and therefore responsible for the decline of u.s. automobile industry. on september 15, 2001, a sikh gas station owner in arizona was murdered by a man who blamed him for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. to this list we now add the most recent victims of anti-asian hate as asian americans are wrongfully blamed for the covid-19 pandemic. while many of the recent anti-asian incidents may not meet legal definition of hate crime, these attacks nonetheless create unacceptable environment of fear and terror in asian american communities. attacks like the one on 84-year-old on january 28 this year was on a walk in his neighborhood, he was walking in his neighborhood. violently slammed to the ground. he died a few days later from the brain trauma he sustained. i would like to play a video of that attack caught by a nearby surveillance camera. [video clip] sadly this is one example of recent ones where elderly asian americans were similarly knocked violently to the ground. it was stoked by racist rhetoric can have deadly consequences for people as we just witnessed in that sad clip. in such a fraught time as the ones we are living in it is incumbent on all public officials, elected or otherwise, and public figures to speak out against the irrational hatred and prejudice that is can overtake society in the face of a national emergency. in short, words matter. indeed, the wrong words can be very harmful. leaders who promote stereotypes to use rhetoric aimed at a particular ethnic or racial group can cause increases of levels of discrimination violence directed against that group. when politicians use terms like china virus or congress flu -- or con flu has the -- refer to covid-19, has the infect intentional or not of putting the target on the backs of all asian americans. use of words for our leaders can calm fears, reassure those feelings -- the feeling under threat and remind everyone we all share the same basic dignity as human beings and treat each other accordinglyly. thankful we have two panels of witnesses who can show our way forward. as best we can tell the last time it was specifically focused on any asian hate was in 1987 before this subcommittee. that hearing took place during another time when economic and social problems were inflamed -- were blamed on an asian company and unfair extension asian americans. we can't ever forget asian americans. not asians. asian americans. clearly more work needs to be done. let us use this hearing as a chance to do better. now i'd like to recognize the -- the ranking member's not here, mr. roy, are you taking his place? in lieu of mr. johnson, mr. chip roy of texas will give the statement for the minority as the ranking member. you're recognized for five minutes. mr. roy. mr. roy: thank you, chairman cohen. i appreciate our gathering here today. this obviously an important subject matter. to be clear all americans deserve protection and to live in a free and secure society. the fundamental nature of what we can expect out of government, right? secure the blessings of liberty as we say in the constitution of the united states. the victims of race-based violence and their families deserve justice. the case we are talking about here the tragedy we just saw occur in atlanta, georgia. i would also suggest that the victims of moving illegal aliens deserve just t. the american citizens in south texas, they are getting absolutely decimated by what's happening at the southern border. the victims of eluding -- rioting in the street last summer deserve justice. we believe in justice. there are oleation in texas about find all the rope in texas and get a tall oak tree. we take justice very seriously. and we ought to do that. round up the bad guys. that's what we believe. my concern about this hearing is that it seems to want to venture into the policing of rhetoric in a free society. free speech. and a way -- away from the rule of law and taking out bad guys. and as a former federal prosecutor, i'm predisposed and wired to want to take out bad guys. that's bad guys of all colors. that's bad guys of all persuasions. that's bad guys targeting people for all different reasons. and i think we need to be mindful of that. so now we are talking about whether talking about china, the chinese communist party, whatever phrasing we want to use, some people are saying, hey, we think those guys are the bad guys, for whatever reason, let me just state clearly, i do. i think the chinese communist party running the country china, they are the bad guys. and i think they are harming people, and i think they are engaging in modern day slavery. i think that what they are doing, the uighurs, what they are doing targeting our country, i think what they are doing to undermine our national security, and steal our intellectual property, and build up their military and rattle throughout the pacific i think it's patently evil and deserving of condemnation. i think what they did, to hide the reality of this virus is equally deserving of condemnation. there is hardly any getting around that, in fact, happened. we've got the world health organization, on twitter, saying, preliminary investigation conducted by the chinese authorities found no clear evidence of human to human transmission of the novel cruffers. w.h.o. had to go back and redo all of that. we know full well i have a bill introduced to award a gongal gold medal to dr. hwang for coming out and exposing what the chinese government had done to hide the cry russ. -- virus. he was a 34-year-old ophthalmologist in wuhan, china, who died from the 2019 coronavirus after he sought to draw attention to the spread of the virus. the first patient infected exhibited symptoms in early 2019. dr. hwang and seven ears were questioned by chinese officials, forced to sign a statement retracting his warnings and spreading illegal rumors. that's the reality. he ended up dying. he was beaten. they were targeted for engaging in free speech. trying to bring to light what was happening. that's the reality of what i tend to refer as the chi-coms. i'm not going to be ashamed of saying i oppose the chi-coms. the chinese communist party. when we say things like that and talking about that, we shouldn't be worried about having a committee of members of congress policing our rhetoric. because some evildoers go engage in some evil activity as occurred in atlanta, georgia. because when we start policing free speech, we are doing the very thing that we are condemning when we condemn what the chinese communist party does to their country. and that's exactly where this wants to go. this is the road this wants to head down. and nothing could be more dangerous that going down that road. who decides what is hate? who decides what is the kind of speech that deserves policing? a panel? panel of this body? a panel on the executive branch? a panel on the department of justice? what does that mean? who is deciding? when we get into making crimes out of speech, thought. as opposed to crimes out of the actions of evildoers. find those who perpetrated what happened in atlanta. find those who engage in hate of all forms. and punish the absolute hell out of them. but don't go around policing thought. another thing. i hope these hearings will exam discrimination against asian americans in educational settings, as the trump administration prioritized and acted on t in october, the department of justice sued yale for and national origin discrimination, when they determined they were not in compliance of the civil rights act. following a two-year investigation the department of justice included that asian american and white students have only .1 of african-american applicants with comparable credentials. yale discriminated against asian americans by favoring certain applicants based upon their race rather than looking for race neutral attorneys to achieve the university's goals. then assistant attorney general of the civil rights division explained all persons who apply for college should be judged by their carketerks talents, achievements, and not the color of their skin. to permit our institutions to foster stereotypes -- i couldn't agree. the biden administration suddenly reversed course and dropped the lawsuit against yale. mr. chairman, ail close but just say i hope this is the direction we'll go. i hope we'll look at this and look through the lens of clarity and objective truth trying to seek justice and not try to police speech and trying to achieve the objectives we want to achieve. i thank the chairman. chair cohen: before i recognize the chairman for his statement, i'd like to reiterate that while speech is important, and has meaning, the incidents i mentioned in my opening statement were being spat at, slapped in the face, lit on fire, slashed with a box cutter, and shoved violently to the ground as the video showed. that's not speech. mr. roy: i didn't suggest it was speech. mr. cohen: that's not speech, that's action. i'd like to recognize the chairman for his opening statement, mr. nadler. mr. nadler: thank you. mr. chairman, we are here today to address the horrific rise in violence, harassment, and discrimination against asian americans that are surging across the country. as we convene this hearing, our thoughts are with the victims, especially the asian american victims in georgia who were brutally murdered on tuesday night. although the mowive is still to be investigated, the effect on the asian american community has been profound. and it is certainly appropriate for us to address the fear gripping the asian american community. so i want to thank the chairman for convening this hearing. hate crimes and hate incidents against asian americans have been on the rise since 2017. last year alone, nearly 3,800 incidents were reported with about 68% of asian americans reporting that they have experienced racist slurs or verbal harassment since the pandemic began. distressingly one of the largest increases in the contry of hatred and violence against asian americans has occurred in my own congressional district in new york city. this short clip shows just some of the verbal and physical abuse many asian americans have faced in recent years. [video clip] >> a wave of violence unprovoked attacks against asian americans, consuming the city of new york, a 56-year-old man in manhattan this week, pummeled for no apparent reason. a man riding the subway sliced across his face from cheek to cheek. a woman vicious in queens, a 71-year-old woman, punched in her face in chinatown. a 36-year-old man stabbed in the back fighting to stay alive. mr. nadler: last february, a woman was hit in the face on the subway and called diseased. last march, a chinese american dad from queens and his 10-year-old son were harassed and attacked by an assailant screaming at him for aparing to be chinese. last april, an asian american woman in brooklyn suffered significant burns after a chemical attack. last july, an 89-year-old grand mother was attacked and set on fire by two men. just last month, a new yorker was slashed across the face with a box cutter. he needed more than 100 stitches. also last month, in separate incidents on the same day, two elderly women were punched in the face on the subway. a few weeks ago, a man was stabbed outside of the federal courthouse. just this tuesday, a woman in midtown had an unknown liquid poured on her neck as she was picking up packages. the demon denominator? all of the victims were asian american or asian descent. these are our neighbors, friends, family members, constituents, and fell americans. it is not -- fellow americans. it is not only severe violence asian americans in new york have had to fear, there has been a barrage of verbal attacks and discrimination against the community. new yorkist have had racially derogatory remarks written on the outside of their restaurants. and blaming asian americans for the virus. many of these attacks go unreported and official statistics represent only a fraction of hate crimes or hate incidents. these examples are certainly not exhaustive. and harassment, abuse, and violence extend to communities across the country. we have witnessed asian americans bloodied and beaten in stores, learned that asian american parents fear sending their children back to school because of racial violence. and observed harrowing videos of verbal attacks named at asian americans in our public spaces. perhaps even more heartbreaking, we have seen our asian american frontline workers battle not only the pandemic but also racism and disproportionately high death rates. it's important to recognize that this surge did not spontaneously rise only out of fears regarding the coronavirus pandemic. some of this blame lies squarely on political leaders who have demonized china because of both the virus and ongoing political tensions and in turn asian americans have fallen in harm's way. words have power. what we say matters. how we treat each other matters. the expectations and standards we set in how we address this pandemic matter. the conversation we are having today is long overdue and it is vital congress shine a light on this issue. the last congressional hearing held on violence against asian americans was in 1987 in this subcommittee. 34 years is too long for congress to leave this issue untouched. our government must thoroughly investigate and swiftly address growing tensions in violence against the asian american community, especially in light of the pandemic, because lives and livelihoods are truly at stake. last week we reached the one-year anniversary of the covid-19 pandemic in this country. a solemn and difficult moment for our nation as we reflected on all we have suffered and lost. but hardship cannot be used as an excuse or dismissing the pain of our fellow americans, enabling discrimination against them, or devaluing their sense of belonging and citizenship. today we are privileged to have our fellow members of congress from both sides of the aisle testifying about their personal experiences. in addition, we have an expert panel that will walk us through the rise in discrimination of violence and its impact on the community. as well as historical perspectives and challenges to inform our legislative efforts moving forward. i look forward to hearing how we can better ensure protection, justice, and healing to our asian american neighbors in this time of crisis and moving forward. thank you, i yield back. chair cohen: thank you, mr. nadler. we welcome our witnesses. thank them for participating in today's hearing. i will now introduce each of the witnesses and after each introduction will recognize that witness for his or her oral testimony. please note each of your witness statements will be entered into the record in its entirety. accordingly, ask you to summarize your testimony in five minutes. to help you stay within that five minutes while you are testifying, there is a timing light on your table. of course we don't have a table. is there a process -- on the screen they can see if it's green you're good. if it's yellow the last minute. if it's red, finish it. it means your five minutes are up. that's on your webx view. before proceeding with the testimony i would like to remind all the witnesses appearing on the panel you have a legal obligation to provide truthful testimony and answers. any false statement you make today could subject you to prosecution under section 1001 of title 18, united states code. today we have two witness panels. first panel will be members, first witness doris matsui, congresswoman matsui represents the sixth congressional district of california the represented that area of sacramento envie runs since 2005. you are recognized for five minutes. it apparently -- congresswoman matsui, you are recognized for five minutes. apparently there are technical problem with webx and not with my ipad. we are going to recess for as much as time as necessary to correct this error. technology is not perfect. >> doris, can you hear me? >> i'm experiencing the same thing. chairon: we can hear you. if you can hear us, wave your arms. they can't hear us. >> it's the judiciary subcommittee on the constitution, civil rights, and civil liberties chaired by steveon of tennessee. they are having some