Chinese American researchers say they were questioned at the border
Advocates for Asian American academics are raising alarms about Chinese American researchers, and their families, being stopped and questioned when re-entering the United States.
The Asian American Scholar Forum said there have been “multiple incidents” in which scientists and professors have been “harassed or interrogated” at airports or other border crossings. The incidents, which have occurred over the last few months, have sparked fears that federal government scrutiny of researchers with ties to China is continuing, despite the end of the controversial China Initiative, the U.S. Department of Justice investigation of academic and economic espionage by China.
“Although the China Initiative has ended — and that was a very important and critical step — for many Chinese Americans, it is clear that they still live in a climate that’s less welcoming,” said Gisela Perez Kusakawa, the forum’s executive director.
The stops led to concerns about possible racial bias, Kusakawa said.
The incidents, in which travelers were subjected to additional questioning, a process known as secondary screening, have occurred when scholars were returning to the United States after going abroad for professional reasons, such as for conferences or to work with colleagues on joint research projects. The screenings have also happened following personal travel, and in some cases, academics’ family members have been pulled aside.
Kusakawa said many of those who contacted her have been scared to speak out publicly. But Zhigang Suo, a professor of mechanics and materials at Harvard University who helped start the Asian American Scholar Forum, posted a Twitter thread detailing several incidents.
In one case, Suo, a Chinese-born American citizen, said one of his graduate students was questioned by border officials about his lab’s research — which, Suo notes, is unrelated to national security. In another case, the young daughter of a Chinese American scholar traveling by herself was stopped for several hours and asked about her father’s work.
Not all those who have been subject to extra screening are of Chinese descent. Suo said a Harvard colleague with many research ties abroad and to China was also stopped. And one friend, whom Suo describes as an “extremely accomplished professor at a U.S. university,” has been questioned twice, he said.
“He was so traumatized and considered not returning to the job he loved,” Suo wrote. “I and others talked him out of it. But I’m no longer sure that I did him any favor.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the reported incidents.
Kusakawa said the Asian American Scholar Forum hopes to gather more data about the border stops. But the reports underscore concerns among researchers of Chinese and Asian descent that they continue to be under the microscope even though the Trump-era inquiry was ended a year ago.
Those fears could have a chilling effect on international scientific collaboration. A survey conducted last year of Chinese and Chinese American scientists at American colleges by the forum found that 72 percent do not feel safe as academic researchers. Two-thirds of respondents worried about continuing collaborative work with China.
Border officers should receive anti-bias training, Kusakawa said. In the meantime, the group has organized a virtual session with immigration, national-security, and criminal-law experts to give Chinese American researchers information about what to do if they are stopped for secondary screening. Among the advice offered: Carry the name and contact information of a lawyer, travel with a laptop and phone that contain only necessary work materials, and log out of all social-media and email accounts when crossing the border.
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