SF DA Chesa Boudin defends his record on anti-Asian hate crimes

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin defended his record on standing up to anti-Asian violence in a live primetime interview with KRON4.

“The rise in anti-Asian crime in San Francisco and across the country has been outrageous,” Boudin said. “We know it was promoted and encouraged by racist rhetoric coming out of the White House during the beginning of the pandemic.”

Boudin has raced criticism from recall advocates for his record prosecuting the perpetrators of crimes against the Asian American community, which comprises about one-third of the City by the Bay’s population. Just today, the Safer SF Without Boudin Committee stated in a press release that “Since Boudin was elected, hate crimes against AAPI communities have risen more than 500%. … Our AAPI [Asian American Pacific Islander] communities can’t wait one more day to feel safe in their own neighborhoods, and Boudin hasn’t prioritized this.”

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Boudin told KRON4’s Catherine Heenan that “I’m proud of my record dramatically expanding the number of Chinese and Asian staff in my office, increasing language access with a first-in-the-state policy, to require court-certified interpreters be requested for any victim who wants to watch their case move through the court system, and I’m proud of my record prosecuting and holding people accountable who victimize Asian elders.”

Boudin said he has “personally gone to the hospital to visit victim of violent crime. I’ve also personally gone to court to argue to the judges that the people committing these crimes should be held in custody pending trial.”