From an email sent by the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium (NAPALC):

NAPALC urges you to call upon Members of Congress to support two hate crime bills. They bring much needed uniformity to federal hate crime laws and reflects the growing support for stronger hate crime legislation on the state level. State and federal governments should not tolerate any form of bias-motivated violence.

On May 26, 2005, the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act of 2005 (S. 1145, LLEEA) was introduced in the Senate by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA). A companion bill known as the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005 (H.R. 2662) was introduced by Representative John Conyers (D-MI).

The Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act (LLEEA) and the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act are both intended to strengthen the ability of the federal, state, and local governments to investigate and prosecute hate crimes based on race, ethnic background, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. The two bills help state and local anti-bias efforts by enabling the Justice Department to assist them in the investigation and prosecution of all hate crimes, not just those that prevent the victim from exercising a federally protected right.

Every year, Asian Americans find themselves victims of hate crimes. Over the years, NAPALC has documented hundreds upon hundreds of bias-motivated crimes. It is important to our communities that the federal government be able to address cases that state and local authorities either cannot or will not investigate or prosecute properly. All hate crimes need to be taken seriously because they have a crippling effect not only on the victim, but on whole communities.