The Chinese-American community expressed anger and concern on Thursday over the death in custody of a Chinese national by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] on US territory.
Wei Lianyong, 51, reportedly died in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) on August 23, although the scandal-plagued agency did not disclose the death until this week.
“Asian-Americans, Chinese-Americans, should be very concerned about this and very energised to stop what is essentially an attack on the existence of the community,” said Gabriel Chin, professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law.
“We should not accept the idea that Chinese immigration is a bad thing because it’s Chinese because that’s inevitably going to affect the position of US citizens of Chinese ancestry.”
Wei was arrested on August 21 by the Northern Mariana Islands Department of Public Safety on criminal charges following an alleged assault on a family of five at their home, according to ICE.