Hirono pushes FBI to address high incidence of trafficking of Native Hawaiian women

A week after Hawaii's Senator Mazie Hirono urged FBI Director Christopher Wray to do more to protect human trafficking victims in Hawaii, especially Native Hawaiians, seven young human trafficking victims were rescued in Honolulu.

According to FBI Honolulu, as part of a cross-country operation at least seven girls were located and rescued on Oahu on Friday by FBI agents, the Honolulu Police Department, the Missing Child Center of Hawaii (MCCH),

The FBI noted that two traffickers in Hawaii were arrested in connection with the victims. The suspects face child sexual exploitation and human trafficking charges.

"Native Hawaiian women and girls represent 67% to 77% of sex trafficking victims in the state of Hawaii," said US Sen. Mazie Hirono . “Native Hawaiians also represent 37% of reported child sex trafficking cases,” she cited to Wray during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Hirono pressed  Wray on what the Bureau is doing to protect the Native Hawaiian community from sexual exploitation at a full Judiciary Committee hearing. During the hearing, Hirono highlighted how sexual exploitation disproportionately impacts Native Hawaiian women and children in the state of Hawaii.

Hirono also emphasized the need for the FBI to include the Native Hawaiian community in its efforts to address the missing and murdered Indigenous people crisis and violence against Native communities.

According to census data, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander groups make up 10.5% of today's Hawaii’s population. However, they constitute the majority of sex trafficking cases. When looking at child sex trafficking cases, Native Hawaiians represent 37% of victims statewide.

“The federal government owes the same trust responsibility to Native Hawaiians as it does to American Indians and Alaska Natives,” said Senator Hirono during the exchange. “Even if [the Violence Against Women Act] doesn’t specifically allow for protection of Hawaiian women and children, there’s nothing that stops the FBI from including Native Hawaiian women and children as part of your charge.”

“I will say that you put your finger on an important issue, and our Honolulu office has been working very hard to target and aggressively pursue federal charges on known and repeat human trafficking offenders,” Wray responded.

He said that office found are gangs and drug trafficking organizations "exploit vulnerable victims, and in particular, the lion’s share—as you say with the statistics that you were citing—the lion’s share of that is on displaced or marginalized sectors, especially Native Hawaiians." 

"And, in fact, I think it was just this past week, our Honolulu office recovered, I think, three minor females who were missing and at risk on the Big Island. And I know they’re very aggressively working that issue."

Hirono is a strong advocate for ensuring the federal government meets the trust responsibility owed to all Native Americans, including American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians, and is a longstanding supporter of programs and resources that uplift women and children. In May, she introduced a resolution designating May 5th as National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

The seven human trafficking victims rescued in Hawaii were part of a nationwide enforcement campaign dubbed "Operation Cross Country." The FBI, working with its state and local partners during the month of August, identified and located 84 minor victims of child sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation offenses and located 37 actively missing children.

Data from rescue groups found that while more than 20% of Indigenous people remain missing for 30 days or longer, only 11% of white people remain missing for the same time period. Another disparity was present in terms of media coverage: While 30% of Indigenous homicide victims made the news, more than 50% of white victims did.

"Human trafficking is among the most heinous crimes the FBI encounters,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “Unfortunately, such crimes—against both adults and children—are far more common than most people realize. As we did in this operation, the FBI and our partners will continue to find and arrest traffickers, identify and help victims, and raise awareness of the exploitation our most vulnerable populations.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter. 

Eight Individuals charged as Illegal PRC agents intimidating U.S. residents

FBI director Christopher Wray announced the arrests of PRC agents at a press conference.

Eight Chinese nationals were charged with conspiring against, harrassing and coercing expatriates who sought refuge in the United States with the goal of forcing them to return to the Peoples Republic of China (PRC).

The complaint and arrest warrants were unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn charging eight defendants with conspiring to act in the United States as illegal agents of the PRC.

Six defendants also face related charges of conspiring to commit interstate and international stalking. The defendants, allegedly acting at the direction and under the control of PRC government officials, conducted surveillance of and engaged in a campaign to harass, stalk, and coerce certain residents of the United States to return to the PRC as part of a global, concerted, and illegal repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.” 

Those arrested on Wednesday were: Hongru Jin, a 30-year-old naturalized citizen living in Queens; Zhu Yong a 64-year-old Chinese citizen living in Queens; Michael McMahon, 53, a New Jersey-based private detective; Rong Jing, a 34-year-old Chinese citizen living in California; and Zheng Congying, a 24-year-old Chinese citizen living in Brooklyn.

Three others remain at large and are believed to be in China: Hu Ji, 45; Li Minjun, 64; and Zhu Feng, 33.

“With today’s charges, we have turned the PRC’s Operation Fox Hunt on its head — the hunters became the hunted, the pursuers the pursued,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers in a Wednesday press conference. "Our message is clear: stay out. This behavior is not welcome here.”

According to the complaint, the defendants participated in an international campaign to threaten, harass, surveil and intimidate John Doe-1, a resident of New Jersey, and his family in order to force them to return to the PRC as part of an international effort by the PRC government known within the PRC as “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Skynet.” 

In furtherance of the operation, the PRC government targets Chinese individuals living in foreign countries that the PRC government alleges have committed crimes under PRC law and seeks to repatriate them to the PRC to face charges. 

Rather than rely upon proper forms of international law enforcement cooperation, such as Interpol “red notices” and requests for information through appropriate governmental channels, the defendants allegedly engaged in clandestine, unsanctioned, and illegal conduct within the U.S. and facilitated the travel of PRC government officials to U.S. soil in order to further carry out these illegal acts. Between 2016 and 2019, several PRC officials directed the defendants, and several others, to engage in efforts to coerce the victims to return to the PRC, which included the following:

Surveillance and Coercion

In April 2017, defendants Zhu Feng, Hu Ji, Li Minjun, Hongru Jin, Zhu Yong, and Michael McMahon, together with others, allegedly took part in a scheme to bring the elderly father of a former PRC official -- identified in the complaint as John Doe-1 -- from China to the U.S.  against the father’s will in order to use the surprise arrival of his elderly father to threaten and attempt to coerce John Doe-1’s return to the PRC. 

Zhu Feng, Hu Ji, and Zhu Yong worked with Michael McMahon, a private investigator, to gather intelligence about and locate John Doe-1 and his wife in the United States. PRC Officials coerced the father of John Doe-1 to travel from the PRC to the New York area in the company of Li Minjun, a doctor, who traveled with the elderly father from the PRC to the New York area. Hongru Jin assisted with logistics of the operation when Zhu Feng, Li Minjun, John Doe-1’s elderly father, and other PRC officials arrived in the U.S.

As charged in the complaint, during this phase of the scheme, McMahon, whose task was to surveil John Doe-1’s father in order to locate John Doe-1 and his wife, suggested to Zhu Feng that they could “harass [John Doe-1]. Park outside his home and let him know we are there.” Later, Zhu Feng told McMahon, “[t]hey definitely grant u a nice trip if they can get [John Doe-1] back to China haha.”

The conspirators also discussed the false statements John Doe-1’s father should make to U.S. immigration authorities about the purpose of his travel to the United States. The conspirators also made efforts to destroy evidence and delete their electronic communications to avoid detection by U.S. law enforcement.

Targeting, Harassing Victims’ Daughter

Between May 2017 and July 2018, Rong Jing and several co-conspirators allegedly targeted John Doe-1’s adult daughter for surveillance and online harassment. Specifically, Rong Jing attempted to hire a private investigator to locate John Doe-1’s adult daughter in order to photograph and video record the daughter as part of a campaign to exert pressure on John Doe-1. Around the same time, an unidentified co-conspirator sent harassing messages over social media to John Doe-1’s daughter and her 

In September 2018, Zheng Congying and another unidentified co-conspirator allegedly affixed a threatening note to the door of the John Doe-1’s residence stating, “If you are willing to go back to mainland and spend 10 years in prison, your wife and children will be all right. That’s the end of this matter!” 

 Between February 2019 and April 2019, other co-conspirators caused unsolicited packages to be sent to John Doe-1’s residence. These packages contained letters and a video with messages intended to coerce John Doe-1’s return to the PRC by threatening harm to family members still residing in the PRC.

Each of the eight defendants faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. Defendants Zhu Feng, Hu Ji, Li Minjun, Michael McMahon, Rong Jing, and Zheng Congying also face an additional charge of conspiracy to commit interstate and international stalking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

“The Chinese government’s brazen attempts to surveil, threaten, and harass our own citizens and lawful permanent residents, while on American soil, are part of China’s diverse campaign of theft and malign influence in our country and around the world,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. 

FBI Director: White nationalism a 'persistent, pervasive threat'

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

The 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was meant to mainstream white nationalism.

White nationalists, and/or white supremacists, have become bolder and more dangerous, and should no longer be ignored, said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Wray testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee Thursday (April 4) that these radical-right elements are a "persistent, pervasive threat" to U.S. security, contradicting Donald Trump who shrugged off questions about the danger of white nationalists.

“How would you define the danger to public safety that is posed by white supremacist extremism?” asked Committee Chair Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.).

Wray responded that the “danger ... of white supremacists, violent extremism or any other kind of extremism is, of course, significant.”

The Trump-appointed director added: “We assess that it is a persistent, pervasive threat. We tackle it both through our joint terrorism task forces on the domestic terrorism side as well as through our civil rights program on the civil side through hate-crime enforcement.”

As if to underscore Wray's statement, the DOJ announced last week that multiple members and associates of a white supremacist gang known as the 1488s, have been arrested and charged for their alleged roles in a racketeering enterprise involving narcotics distribution, firearms trafficking, and acts of violence including murder, assault, and kidnapping.

According to the indictment, the 1488s are a violent and “whites only” prison-based gang with approximately 50 to 100 members operating inside and outside of state prisons throughout Alaska and elsewhere. The 1488s allegedly offered protection to white inmates if they joined the gang, and all members were required to “be white, look white and act white.” 

Members allegedly often had tattoos incorporating Nazi-style symbols; however, the most coveted tattoo of 1488s members was the 1488s “patch” that could be worn only by “made” members who generally gained full membership by committing an act of violence on behalf of the gang.

In the wake of the mass shooting of Muslims in New Zealand, the House Judiciary Committee announced its plat to host a hearing Tuesday, April 9, addressing the rise of white nationalism in the U.S. and the hate crime and hate speech surrounding the movement, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the committee’s schedule, according to The Daily Beast.

The committee, which is chaired by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), will “examine the causes of racial and religious violence, assess the adequacy of federal hate crimes statutes, and scrutinize targeted domestic surveillance of specific groups,” Nadler wrote in a letter last November to the Homeland Security Department, Justice Department and FBI.

Nadler, who is Jewish, told Roll Call in an interview last year that, as part of his committee’s hearings on hate-fueled violence, he wants to examine “the extent to which [the rise in hate crimes] correlates with the president’s rhetoric and coddling of white supremacists.”
The number of hate-related incidents increased for a third straight year in 2017, according to an FBI report released In November.

For nearly two decades, counterterrorism forces in the U.S. largely ignored the rise of militant far-right extremism, The New York Times reported.

At the April 9 hearing, lawmakers will “examine hate crimes,” the “impact white nationalist groups have on American communities,” and the “spread of white identity ideology,” according to a tweet from the Judiciary Committee Democrats on Thursday.

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Sunday Read: Growing anti-China rhetoric and policies may spill over on all Asian Americans

China President Xi and Donald Trump met in early December to try calm trade war anxiety.

IF PAST HISTORY is any indication, Asian Americans could be victims of the growing anti-China sentiment emanating from the White House as the world powers play a game of chicken in the trade wars and tit-for-tat detentions of citizens of the other's countries.

The growing incidents of "go-back-to-your-country" verbal and physical attacks on Asian Americans riding subways, or going about their ordinary humdrum business could just be the beginning of renewed anti-Asian assaults 

Assaults while driving, buying groceries or simply purchasing a cup of coffee could just be the beginning of new anti-Asian sentiment hasn't been seen since the last time the U.S. felt its economic prominence was challenged in 1982 when two Detroit auto workers beat Chinese American Vincent Chin to death because they thought he was Japanese. 

The ongoing Trump-instigated trade wars between the U.S. and China is at the heart of the matter but China's alleged attempts to steal U.S. industrial secrets, alleged hacking into American business and government computer systems and it's aggressive PR campaign targeting U.S. Asians are adding fuel to the fire.

From China's perspective, the U.S. started the trade war and they would be right. Trump added a 25% tariff on $34 millions of Chinese goods last summer. In retaliation, China added a 25% tariff on U.S. products. The two countries went back and forth and to date, the U.S. has already put tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods, and could slap duties on an additional $267 billion in imports. Beijing has responded with tariffs on $110 billion in U.S. goods targeting politically important industries such as agriculture.

Then, when it looked like there might be some thawing on Dec. 1, the same day as President Trump and President Xi sat down at the G20 to work on easing the trade war, Canada arrested Sabrina Meng Wanzhou of Huawei Technologies CFO, China's equivalent to Apple. She now faces extradition to the U.S. over possible violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran by Huawei.

In apparent retaliation, China arrests three Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, Michael Spavor, a China-based business consultant, on December 10, along with teacher Sarah McIver. The latter was released Saturday (Dec. 28) but Spavor and Kovrig remain detained  on allegations of “engaging in activities that endanger the national security” of China.

Sabrina Meng Wanzhou is out on bail.

The U.S. and Canada have demanded the release of Spavor and Kovrig, callling their detention arbitrary and compared their arrests to Meng's whose arrest is transparent and who will retain the rights of a person who is innocent until proven guilty.

China spokeswoman Hua Chunying shot back, according to the South China Morning Post, blasting the involvement of the U.S. Britain and the EU weighing on behalf of Canada:

“I wonder how they are involved in this case? Where were their voices when the senior manager of the Chinese company was illegally detained by the Canadian side at the behest of the US?” asked Hua, in comments published in English on the ministry’s website.

“It is quite obvious that the human rights they are talking about have different standards when it comes to citizens of different countries.”

As the report's warnings are disseminated, the Department of Justice appears to have stepped up its surveillance and indictments against Chinese and Chinese American students, scientists and employees of American companies.

Disputes between China and the U.S. include market access, intellectual property, industrial policies and cybersecurity.

In the past month, U.S. authorities arrested or indicted several Chinese Americans allegedly stealing trade secrets and accusing Chinese hackers for breaking into the Marriott Hotel computers to gather information on 50 million guests.

Earlier this month, the U.S. indicted Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong with conspiracy to commit computer "intrusions, conspiracy to commit wire fraud" and identity theft. 

“The indictment alleges that the defendants were part of a group that hacked computers in at least a dozen countries and gave China’s intelligence service access to sensitive business information,” said Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein.

"More than 90 percent of the Department’s cases alleging economic espionage over the past seven years involve China," Rosenstein stated. "More than two-thirds of the Department’s cases involving thefts of trade secrets are connected to China."

It's not surprising that the Republican dominated Congress got into the act. Consider the Stop Higher Education Espionage and Theft Act, a bill introduced by Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., to help colleges protect against malicious foreign actors. The bill would ask the FBI to designate a list of “foreign intelligence threats to higher education,” which would be subject to heightened scrutiny and transparency.

In a statement, Rooney claimed the Confucius Institutes, a program funded by the Chinese government that partners with U.S. universities to promote Chinese language and culture was part of China's "Infiltration" strategy. Rooney labeled the institutes as “a front by the Chinese Communist Party to infiltrate American campuses to gather information and steal American technologies.”

Cruz and Rooney cite Chinese-government programs as a source of potential threats to the integrity of American colleges and universities,. Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, objects to their bill as an “irresponsible” attempt to “categorize an entire country of people en masse as spies.”

Civil rights advocates have said the bill is just an attempt to whip up fear and animosity towards Chinese and Chinese Americans. The suspicions and fear raised by that mindset  the bill perpetuates has led to several baseless and dismissed charges against Chinese academics and scientists.

Rooney was just repeating comments by FBI Director Christopher Wray’s remarks in a February hearing that drew a backlash from Asian-American civil rights organizations. Wray had labeled China a “whole-of-society threat” and accused Chinese individuals in academia of “taking advantage” of the American universities open environment.

In response, Wray noted that “in almost every field office” the FBI sees China’s “use of nontraditional collectors (of information), especially in the academic setting, whether it’s professors, scientists, students.”

Just a few days before Canada arrested Meng, a report was released that outlined China's propaganda campaign meant to gain support for the authoritarian government of the Peoples' Republic of China. The report titled “Chinese Influence & American Interests.” in which longtime China watchers warned of the Chinese Communist Party’s efforts to influence U.S. universities, media, think tanks and companies—but haven't included election-meddling—have become so pervasive that they are undermining democratic processes.

“The ambition of Chinese activity in terms of the breadth, depth of investment of financial resources, and intensity requires far greater scrutiny than it has been getting, because China is intervening more resourcefully and forcefully across a wider range of sectors than Russia,” said the report, published by the conservative think tank Hoover Institute out of Stanford University.

For example, WeChat, the immensely popular messaging app that connects Chinese Americans with each other and relatives in China, is owned by Ten-Cent, whose CEO, multi-billionaire Jack Ma, is a card-carrying member of China's Communisty Party. Relatively unknown outside of the Chinese American community, the app was successfully used to mobiliize Chinese Americans against the affirmative action programs at elite Ivy League collleges, which its users believe discriminate against qualified Chinese American applicants. 

WeChat was the megaphone and bulletin board for a small, but organized group of Chinese Americans to make it appear that it had widespread support among the Asian American community even though the AAPI community backs the goals of affirmative action. Eventually get their claims heard in a U.S. court that will most likely make its way up to the Supreme Court.

The Hoover report goes on to say that Beijing targets the Chinese American community, viewing them as members of a Chinese diaspora with an “allegiance to the so-called Motherland.”

China's media strategy creates the risk that Chinese Americans will be caught up in anti-China rhetoric considering the inability of most non-Asians to distinguish between Chinese Americans and citizens of China. Chinese Americans already suffer from being viewed as  perpetual foreigners no matter how many generations their families have been in the U.S.   

Chinese Americans have historically been viewed suspiciously within the U.S. even though few may accept Beijing’s directives, the report says. The report urges against demonizing any group of Americans or visitors to the U.S.

Susan Shirk, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, and the lone dissenter to the report's conclusions of her fellow academics, said she took no issue with the evidence gathered but felt the report’s conclusions overstated the threats.

“Especially during this moment in American political history, overstating the threat of subversion from China risks causing overreactions reminiscent of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, including an anti-Chinese version of the Red Scare that would put all ethnic Chinese under a cloud of suspicion,” she said.

CORRECTION: Earlier versions of this post misidentified FBI director Christopher Wray.
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