PRI: “Millions of Americans celebrate Lunar New Year, but this episode of 'Fresh Off the Boat' will be a network TV 1st”

Although the Lunar New Year is celebrated by millions of Americans (not to mention millions around the globe), it is seldom depicted on American network television. That is, until this year. ABC’s Fresh off the Boat tackles this important holiday for Asian-American communities across the US, of which there are more than four million Chinese, nearly two million Korean, and two and a half million Southeast Asian Americans.

"I had a distinct moment when we were filming this episode and I was like, 'Wow, this is probably unprecedented,'" Randall Park, who stars as father Louis Huang, told the Los Angeles Times. “Of any show of the over 400 shows on TV, we’re one of the few shows that can do this. And I think that’s important. It’s another positive aspect of having more diversity of TV—you can explore these traditions that have always existed on the fringes of mainstream American culture.” While Park said that growing up, his exposure to the holiday was limited, “Doing this episode was really a great learning experience for me and I hope for our audience as well.”

While some immigrants attest to the difficulties in continuing to celebrate this holiday as they become more integrated into traditional American culture, the Lunar New Year has become more recognized in the US, and this was the first year that New York City public school students officially had the day off, an important milestone for the Asian-American community.

Grace Meng, a congresswomen from Queens who sponsored the legislation to create the NYC school holiday, said: “When I was growing-up in Queens, I often felt that my ethnicity was ignored or forgotten about when it came to school holidays. I always wondered why school was closed for my Jewish friends on their New Year – on Rosh Hashanah – but not for my New Year; and many kids and parents of Asian descent have continued to wonder why to this very day.” She goes on to say that she knew the difficulty of the bill passing but that “one day, with hard work, its time would finally come.”

Fresh off the Boat showrunner Nahnatchka Khan said that once they learned there would be a second season of the show, they started planning this episode, and show writer Sheng Wang hopes it leads to more awareness of this culturally important holiday. “It wasn’t something I had as a kid,” Wang said in the Los Angeles Times of the holiday’s depiction on television. “So for Asian kids to see something that they’re familiar with on TV, if that helps them feel validated, to feel less alone and less other, that’s a great thing to be a part of.”

While specific Lunar New Year traditions and customs of course vary form country to country, many typical Chinese customs and traditions include a thorough cleaning the house prior to the New Year, buying new clothes, hanging decorations with the color red as well as wearing red clothing, sharing large family feasts that include traditional foods like dumplings and sticky rice cake, presenting red envelopes with cash to kids, and firecrackers. Many also celebrate by going to temples and fairs to pray for good health and fortune. There are also sometimes dancing robots and drones.

In New York City the Chinese New Year celebrations, which began yesterday with traditional fireworks, will culminate in the annual parade featuring the Dragon Dance through the streets of Chinatown.

Little Penguins!

Photo courtesy of the Penguin Parade.

The Penguin Parade at Phillip Island is one of the most fun and unique experiences you can have. Only about ninety minutes from Melbourne, every evening at sunset under the cover of darkness (to avoid potential predators), the Little Penguins return to their penguin colony and their burrows, where they rest, nest, and moult. Phillip Island has only one remaining Little Penguin colony, part of which can be seen at the Penguin Parade. Be careful when you're walking on the paths, because in addition to Little Penguins you might also see kangaroos and wallabies hanging around!

BuzzFeed: “Welcome to America — Now Spy on Your Friends”

The FBI has been pressuring Muslim immigrants who face long delays when applying for permanent residency and US citizenship to become informants in order to expedite their cases, a BuzzFeed News investigation alleges.

The investigation, based on government and court documents, official complaints, interviews with immigrants, immigration and civil rights lawyers, and former special agents, finds that pressuring Muslim applicants to become informants in order to have their cases expedited—or, conversely, threatening to deport them if they do not comply—violates the FBI’s own rules regarding informants. These rules are detailed in the “Attorney General’s Guidelines Regarding the Use of FBI Confidential Human Sources” and forbid FBI agents from making any promises or commitments regarding the “alien status of any person or the right of any person to enter or remain in the United States.”   

Moreover, according to these guidelines, agents must explicitly warn potential informants that the FBI cannot assist with their immigration status in any way. BuzzFeed finds the opposite has happened:

Mandated to enforce the law, the bureau has assumed a powerful but unacknowledged role in a very different realm: decisions about the legal status of immigrants — in particular, Muslim immigrants. First the immigration agency ties up their green card applications for years, even a decade, without explanation, then FBI agents approach the applicants with a loaded offer: Want to get your papers? Start reporting to us about people you know.

BuzzFeed shares the story of one Pakistani software programmer named A.M. (he did not want his name used), who had spent seven years attempting to obtain a Green Card. After a series of interviews, three encounters with the FBI, and unexplained bureaucratic delays, with his work visa shortly expiring and no apparent end in site, he decided to file suit against the Department of Homeland Security, US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the FBI.  Afterwards at another meeting with the FBI he was asked to write down names of people he thought were terrorists. When he replied that he didn’t know any terrorists nor was he aware of any suspicious activity, he reported to BuzzFeed that one of the agents told him: “We know about your immigration problems…And we can help you with that.” The catch: he had to make secret reports on his community, friends, and family.

He refused, and shortly thereafter immigration authorities revoked A.M.’s existing work visa and FBI agents turned up unannounced at his home and workplace. Soon A.M. and his family sold their possessions and left the US, where he had lived for seventeen years. 

The goal for the FBI, BuzzFeed reports, is to take advantage of many immigrants’ desperation no matter how useful their supposed “terrorist” contacts would be or if they even have any reliable intelligence about terrorism. This wide-scale approach to intelligence gathering is not even effective according to Michael German, a former FBI agent who is now a national security expert at New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. He told BuzzFeed. “All of this investigative effort is against people who are not suspected,” he said, of “terrorism or any other criminal activity.” He added: “This becomes an obstacle to real security.”

Many delays for Muslim immigrants begin with the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP), a once secret USCIS program designed to identify security risks among applicants for visas, asylum, Green Cards, and naturalization. Established in 2008, CARRP targets a wide range of applicants, including not only suspected or known terrorists, but also for applicants based on a range of criteria, including geographical factors, knowledge of someone who is under surveillance, whether any money transfers have been made abroad, having worked for a foreign government, or even certain foreign language skills.

With CARRP, critics contend, the FBI can easily influence the immigration process. Indeed a 2013 report by the ACLU found that immigration authorities “are instructed to follow FBI direction as to whether to deny, approve, or hold in abeyance (potentially indefinitely) an application for an immigration benefit.”

Christopher Bentley, a USCIS spokesperson, told BuzzFeed that each applicant’s file is reviewed and decided by immigration officials alone (not law enforcement) on a “case-by-case” basis. The FBI’s National Press Office said they couldn’t comment to BuzzFeed on the specific strategies and tactics used to recruit informants.

While many have criticized the FBI’s use of informants within Muslim communities, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI believed recruiting informants within the Muslim community was crucial to preventing future terrorist attacks. The Heritage Foundation details at least eighty-one potential terrorist attacks they say have been thwarted since 9/11 and notes that the use of informants was key to preventing many of the attacks. The authors stated: “Both government outreach efforts and the vigilance of Muslim communities against terrorism have proven vital in protecting the US” while noting that “more must be done to enhance mutual trust and partnerships between government, intelligence, and law enforcement and Muslim communities.” And after the recent San Bernardino terror attacks, Edward Gernat, a supervisory special agent for the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego, explaining how the FBI operates in general, told the San Diego Union-Tribune: “Our No. 1 goal is to prevent acts of terrorism…We will use any law enforcement tool legally available to us to prevent an act.”

Bob Ross and the Blizzard

As the snowstorm that dumped over thirty inches on New York City raged outside, Joseph took inspiration from binge watching Bob Ross to improve the new DLG sign. Nice work, Joseph! Make that a happy sign!

US Implements Key Changes to the Visa Waiver Program for Certain Travelers

The US State Department last week implemented key changes to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), used by nationals of thirty-eight countries to travel to the US on a short-term basis. Under the Visa Waiver Program Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, travelers in certain categories are no longer eligible to travel or be admitted to the US under the VWP, also referred to as the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). These travelers include:  

• Nationals of VWP countries who have traveled to or been present in Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria on or after March 1, 2011 (with limited exceptions for travel for diplomatic or military purposes in the service of a VWP country).
• Nationals of VWP countries who are also nationals of Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria.

Effective January 21, 2016, the State Department has revoked ESTA for travelers who have previously indicated they hold dual nationality with one of the countries listed above on their ESTA applications. These individuals will still be able to apply for a visa using the regular nonimmigrant visa process at US Embassies and Consulates abroad, and applicants who need to travel for urgent business, medical, or humanitarian reasons can request that their applications be expedited. Applicants will be required to attend an in-person interview at the US Embassy/Consulate and obtain a visa in their passport before traveling to the US.

Under this new law, the Obama administration has included waivers for certain individuals who have traveled to Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria on behalf of international organizations, regional organizations, and sub-national governments on official duty, or on behalf of a humanitarian NGO on official duty, or as a journalist for reporting purposes. In addition, individuals who traveled to Iran for “legitimate business-related purposes” following the conclusion of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (July 14, 2015) and individuals who traveled to Iraq again for “legitimate business-related purposes” may also be eligible for the waiver, which is determined on a case-by-case basis. Republicans have condemned these additional waivers saying that the Obama administration abused a minor provision in the law to add them with the sole intent of placating Iran.

The State Department notes that the “new law does not ban travel to the United States, or admission into the United States, and the great majority of VWP travelers will not be affected by the legislation.”

The new law has many critics. "It is wrong and un-American to punish groups without reason solely based on their nationality, national origin, religion, gender, or other protected grounds," the ACLU wrote in a letter to Congress in December when the bill was passed. Journalist Ali Gharib in the Guardian says that the new restrictions for Iranians are “motivated by hatred” and are ineffective, nonsensical, and won’t make Americans any safer.

Current ESTA holders can check their ESTA status prior to travel on the Customs and Border Protection website, which is advisable before trips are booked and made to the US.

Happy Birthday, Lizzie B!

In a heroic act that typifies Lizzie B as a person, she thoughtfully held up the candle to avoid spreading her bad chest cold to everyone when she blew it out. That's just the kind of person she is. She then retreated to her office with a bottle of wine. It's okay, she was done with work for the day.