Congress approved legislation Tuesday that seeks to curb the growing hate attacks against Asian Americans, which increased during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Lower House gave the green light to the bill that had already received approval from the Senate at the end of April and now
the text awaits the signature of the president, Joe Biden, who can enact it as soon as this Thursday.
The law, passed in the House of Representatives with 364 votes in favor and 62 against, will allow the Department of Justice to expedite its investigations of hate crimes related to COVID-19 that have been reported by law enforcement agencies.
The bipartisan initiative was discussed in the Senate at the end of April and received the green light with 94 votes in favor and only one against, that of the Republican for Missouri, Josh Hawley.
Lower House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a press conference on Capitol Hill this Tuesday, May 18.
It will also establish channels for incidents to be reported online, and community awareness events will be held.
[
Attacks against older adults of Asian origin skyrocket: "Violence must stop"
]
Through this bill, presented in March by Senator from Hawaii, Mazie Hirono, and Democratic Representative from New York, Grace Meng, the attorney general and the Department of Health and Human Services must establish
guidelines to avoid the use of discriminatory language when talking about the pandemic.
Authorities do not rule out a possible hate crime in the shootings at three spas in Atlanta
March 18, 202101: 46
At a press conference, Meng noted that people of Asian descent have become the "scapegoat" for the pandemic, lamenting that they have been beaten, stabbed and even killed.
[
Republicans elect a Trump advocate to replace the leader in Congress who was removed from office for exposing his lies
]
Democrat Nancy Pelosi, president of the House of Representatives, stressed that the legislation
"will also strengthen the capacity to prevent events and combat violence
.
"
The Democratic Representative for Virginia, Don Beyer, who is also a co-author of the bill, said that crimes of this type have not been properly reported for years, and that the measure will help to better collect statistics.
"How many crimes are reported a year?" Beyer asked during a press conference.
“The truth is that we have no idea.
We know that many police agencies
do not report or deliver data to the FBI
. "
[
FBI Report Reveals Drastic Increase in Racial Hate Crimes in the US
]
According to the latest FBI report released in 2020, 56% of reported hate crimes were motivated by racial, ethnic or ancestry prejudice.
In 2019 there were 7,314 reports of hate crimes, up from 7,120 the previous year.
With information from NBC News and AP