The New York Times is reporting that the government is moving to fire a Chinese American hydrologists who was recently cleared of espionage charges.
The case against Sherry Chen is the latest that has prompted a coalition of Asian American groups as well as 22 Congresspeople to call for investigation into racially-motivated prosecutions of Asian Americans.
Chen worked as an hydrologist with the National Weather Service. She received a letter over Labor Day from the government informing her it planned to fire her. The letter listed many of the same reasons it tried to prosecute her.
The Justice Department eventually dropped the charges. She has been on paid administrative leave ever since.
Authorities became suspicious of Chen when she began communicating with a former classmate who is now China’s vice water minister. Her classmate had asked how reservoir projects are funded in the U.S. Chen shared information from public websites. The government is upset because Chen used a colleague’s password to access government websites.
You can read reaction to the latest government action against Chen and the case against her in the New York Times
