On February 20, Rep. Jamie Raskin and Rep. Judy Chu began an investigation into concerns that Chinese-American scientists are being unfairly targeted in espionage investigations. Raskin, who chairs the Subcommittee on Civil Right and Civil Liberties in the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Chu, who chairs the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, sent letters to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the FBI requesting documents and information related to a recent New York Times report that NIH had sent over 18,000 letters to grant administrators asking them to increase their scrutiny of scientists with foreign ties, especially to China. The agencies have been asked to respond by March 5.
In July 2019, CCS sent a letter to President Trump and Attorney General Barr expressing similar concerns and calling on the government to cease its “campaign of intimidation” against ethnic Chinese-American scientists.