Texas GOP congressional candidate Sery Kim is facing backlash from Democrats and fellow Republicans over comments she made during a forum this week, where she purportedly said of Chinese immigrants: “I don’t want them here at all.”
What are the details?
According to The Dallas Morning News, after Kim said that does not want Chinese nationals immigrating to the United States, she explained her reasoning, saying, “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.”
She added, “And quite frankly, I can say that because I’m Korean.”
But other Korean American Republicans disagree, including two GOP congresswomen who revoked their endorsement of Kim’s candidacy over her remarks.
“As the first Korean American Republican women to serve in Congress, we want to empower and lift up fellow members of the (Asian American and Pacific Islander) community who want to serve their communities,” California Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel told CNN in a joint statement. “We talked with Sery Kim yesterday about her hurtful and untrue comments about Chinese immigrants, and made clear that her comments were unacceptable.”
“However, she has not publicly shown remorse, and her words were contrary to what we stand for,” they continued. “We cannot in good conscience continue to support her candidacy. We will continue to speak out in support of our AAPI community.”
In reaction to losing the endorsements, Kim issued a statement saying, “I am shocked that in an effort to counter Asian-American hate the liberal media is targeting me, an Asian and an immigrant, in an effort to paint me as anti-Asian and anti-immigrant just for speaking against the oppressive Chinese Communist Party.”
Kim told CNN Thursday that her remarks at the candidate forum “were directed at the Communist Party of China, and were not directed at Asian Americans, especially Chinese immigrants fleeing this oppressive regime.”
While a clip of Kim’s opening remarks from the forum was released by her campaign, the video did not show Kim’s comments that the Dallas Morning News said were aimed at immigrants. TheBlaze has reached out to the campaign for further footage.
Meanwhile, Kim stands by the comments she made at the event, where she also dismissed claims that violence against Asian Americans is on the rise.
“The biggest difference right now is people are filming it, and the media chose to report it,” Kim told The Dallas Morning News, adding, “Asians have always faced violence. It’s not worse than before.”
A study from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University last month found anti-Asian hate crimes spiked 145% in major U.S. cities last year.