Page 8 - IAV Digital Magazine #433

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Chao Comes Under Fire After Trump’s Charlottesville Response
By Melanie Zanona
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is under fire after President Trump’s controver- sial response to the violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend.
A group of Asian- American organi- zations are criticiz- ing Chao in a new petition saying she “stood by President Trump as he blamed both sides for the racist acts that took place in Charlottesville.”
The petition, which was spearheaded by the National Korean American
Service and Education Consortium, urged Chao to be more vocally supportive of policies benefit- ing immigrant com- munities.
“As Asian Americans, we call on Secretary Elaine Chao, an immigrant from Taiwan and woman of color, to be silent no more and stand by us as we fight to protect the [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] and [Temporary Protected Status] programs,” reads the petition, refer- ring to programs that shield undocu- mented immigrants from deportation.
“We believe Secretary Chao should make a public statement supporting fellow immigrants who rely on DACA and TPS to work, study, and dream of a better future, or that she resign from office," it con- tinues.
Earlier in the week, the nonprofit Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect slammed Chao and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who were both on hand for an infrastructure announcement at Trump Tower on Tuesday.
Trump gave an impromptu, wild
press conference directly after his infrastructure remarks there. During the event, he defended his initial response to the events in Charlottesville and suggested that not all people attend- ing the white supremacist rally that turned violent were bad.
A group of Mnuchin’s former Yale classmates called on him to resign from the job following the con- troversy.
“How could you stand there and lis- ten to his hate?” the Anne Frank Center tweeted at Chao and
Mnuchin. “Have the humanity to quit.”
The group, which is not officially associated with Anne Frank's rela- tives, is critical of Trump and has called for multiple White House dis- missals.
But a number of other groups — including the International Leadership Foundation and Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs — have rushed to defend Chao’s record on immigra- tion issues and expressed their “complete and unequivocal sup- port” for the veter- an political player.
“Secretary Chao’s life and career are an inspiration to Asian-Americans throughout our country ... Secretary Chao has fought for all immigrants, ” the groups said in a statement. “We proudly support Secretary Chao because she has always supported us and, through the years, served as a role model to all communities of color both here
and throughout the world.”
And Chao herself explicitly con- demned the racial violence during a press conference with reporters that followed Trump’s remarks.
“We are a country of tolerance," she said. "It is hateful behavior and it is not who we are as Americans."
This isn’t the first White House con- troversy to put Chao in a poten- tially uncomfortable position.
Last week, Trump publicly bashed her husband, Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and even suggest- ed that the senator should step down if he doesn’t pass major legislative agenda items.
But Chao has so far remained sup- portive of both Trump and McConnell amid the ongoing feud.
"I stand by my man — both of them,” Chao told reporters in New York City on Tuesday
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