Offenders and Defenders is a monthly roundup of the worst acts of anti-Asian scapegoating in U.S. politics — and the political leaders who call it out when it matters most. In the final weeks before Election Day, we saw a slew of disinformation, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and much more.
Keep reading to see some of the worst offenses of anti-Asian scapegoating and the strongest acts of defense against it.
Offense #1: Conflating Individuals & Foreign Governments
Offenders: Ahead of Election Day, we’ve continued to see elected officials and public figures resort to scapegoating people — particularly Asian Americans — for political gain. Here are some of the worst offenses we saw:
- Representative Michelle Steel is also using “Red Scare” tactics against her opponent Derek Tran’s Vietnamese identity ahead of Southern California’s 45th Congressional District Election. Steel is baselessly accusing Tran of supporting communism to manufacture a sense of fear and manipulate public opinion in one of the biggest Vietnamese communities in the country.
- The Make America Great Again PAC is referring to Governor Tim Walz as “Tianamen Tim” simply because he’s visited China in the past. In reality, Walz has no political affiliation with China. This is another classic “Red Scare” tactic often used to cast unwarranted suspicion on political opponents.
- New Jersey delegate Mike Crispi questioned NJ Congressman Andy Kim’s “allegiance” to America because of a tie he was wearing, which Crispi wrongfully identified as the North Korean flag. It was not a North Korean flag.
Impact: It is wrong to conflate someone with a foreign government simply because of their ethnicity or because they spent time in a country. This conflation perpetuates the “Perpetual Foreigner” myth — the harmful notion that Asian Americans don’t belong in the United States — and it undermines Asian American leaders who are too often wrongly accused of being “spies” or “disloyal.”
Public figures should focus on the issues and policies impacting Americans, rather than resorting to red-baiting tactics that harm our communities.
Defense: Fact checking disinformation
Defenders: Even as elected officials and public figures fan the flames of anti-Asian and anti-immigrant scapegoating, these defenders were on the frontlines fighting misinformation and disinformation targeting these communities.
- In the face of disinformation from elected officials about Chinese Americans, Representative Summer Lee spoke truth to power in a powerful condemnation on the difference between real concerns of national security and scapegoating an entire group of people.
- At a Committee on Oversight and Accountability meeting she said, “While our national security must be a priority, it must also not be bigoted, xenophobic, or racist, only focusing on China … poses a risk to the personal safety, civil rights, and civil liberties of Chinese Americans and Chinese immigrants living in the US.”
- In an exclusive interview with AsAm News, Hawaii’s Lt. Governor Sylvia Luke and Representative Judy Chu, spoke out against Vance’s harmful and false statements about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH.
- Chu said, “There is no evidence at all that undocumented persons are taking up housing slots in America and instead it’s another xenophobic attempt to say that so-called illegal aliens are the cause of everything.”
Offense #2: Dehumanizing Immigrants
Offenders: These last few weeks, we’ve seen public figures and elected officials fearmonger and dehumanize immigrants:
- In a radio interview, former President Donald Trump went on another anti-immigrant rampage — this time claiming that immigrants crossing the border have “bad genes” that make them “murderers.” This hate-fueled claim is racist and flat out false.
- Representative Clay Higgins took Trump and Vance’s false claim about Haitian immigrants eating pets to the next level, calling them “slapstick gangsters” who come from the “nastiest country in the western hemisphere.” He said this in response to a Haitian American nonprofit that filed charges against Trump and Vance for their debunked claims.
Impact: Fear-mongering rhetoric that dehumanizes immigrant communities leads to real world harm. We’ve seen this with South Asian communities, Chinese communities, and more recently with the Haitian community in Ohio.
We name both Donald Trump and Clay Higgins as one of our top offenders of this month for using dehumanizing rhetoric and fear-mongering tactics against immigrant communities.
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You can help hold elected officials and other public figures accountable for attempting to normalize racist and harmful rhetoric and policies. If you see or hear anti-Asian political rhetoric from your elected leaders — or news reports and online commentary that fuel anti-Asian hate — please take a few minutes to report it to our reporting center.
Disclaimer: Stop AAPI Hate does not endorse or oppose candidates for elected office. We recognize that the policies proposed by Project 2025 have immense implications for the future of our communities and our democracy.
The Disinformation Threat | Offenders & Defenders