News Information and Media Site: A deep dive on growth of the U.S. Asian population … and Tom Reed apologizes, won’t run in 2022

From NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Carrie Dann and Ben Kamisar

FIRST READ: Here are the 10 U.S. counties that have had the biggest increase in Asian residents

With calls growing to shine a light on harassment and violence against Asian Americans, particularly in the wake of the Georgia spa killings last week, it's worth looking at the communities where the Asian population has grown the most in the last decade.

An NBC News analysis of data from the American Community Survey finds that the counties with the greatest growth in Asians as a share of the population include largely suburban areas outside of Atlanta, San Francisco, Washington/Baltimore, New York City, Dallas and Houston.

Photo by RINGO CHIU/AFP via Getty Images

Forsyth, which neighbors Cherokee County — the site of the first Atlanta-area spa shooting — has seen its Asian population grow from about 5.5 percent to nearly 13 percent since 2010, the largest jump in the country.

Forsyth, like many of the other counties with growing Asian communities, has a fast rate of overall growth, high rates of college education, and high median incomes.

With one exception (Middlesex), these are also counties where Democrats have improved their presidential vote share since 2008. That Democratic boost is particularly notable in Forsyth, Collin and Howard counties, where Democrats did between 10-12 percentage points better in 2020 than in 2008.

But while these counties may have key political and demographic traits in common overall, the Asian population in each is uniquely diverse.

In the Bay Area, the largest segment of the Asian population is Chinese, with all three counties also home to some of the country's largest Filipino populations. In most of the other top counties, including Forsyth, the largest subgroup is Indian. Howard County, Maryland has a large Korean population; both Texas counties have robust Vietnamese and Pakistani populations, in addition to Indian and Chinese ones.

'The border is closed' — with one big exception

On "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the Biden administration's border policies, saying that the border is closed.

But he also made a significant exception to that statement.

MAYORKAS: Chuck, our, our message has been straightforward and simple. And it's true. The border is closed. We are expelling families. We are expelling single adults. And we've made a decision that we will not expel young, vulnerable children…

TODD: How can you say the border is closed if there is this -- what some would look at as a loophole? And I understand on humanitarian grounds…

MAYORKAS: So, Chuck, we have a short-term plan, a medium-term plan and a long-term plan, and the president and I have spoken to this repeatedly. Please remember something, that President Trump dismantled the orderly, humane and efficient way of allowing children to make their claims under United States law in their home countries. He dismantled the Central American Minors program. So we are rebuilding those orderly and safe processes as quickly as possible. But in the meantime -- in the meantime we will not expel into the Mexican desert, for example, three orphan children whom I saw over the last two weeks. We just won't do that. That's not who we are.

TWEET OF THE DAY: Tom Reed apologizes, won't run in 2022

Data Download: The numbers you need to know today

79 percent: The efficacy rate of the AstraZeneca vaccine, per a new U.S. trial

29,943,585: The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States, per the most recent data from NBC News and health officials. (That's 150,260 more than Friday morning.)

544,848: The number of deaths in the United States from the virus so far, per the most recent data from NBC News. (That's 3,145 more than Friday morning.)

124,481,412: Number of vaccine doses administered in the U.S.

12.6 percent: The share of Americans who are fully vaccinated

38: The number of days left for Biden to reach his 100-day vaccination goal.

The first congressional specials of 2021

Julia Letlow, the widow of Rep.-elect Luke Letlow, R-La., who died from Covid complications in November, won the special election Saturday to fill her late husband's congressional seat.

"Endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Letlow had been favored to win Louisiana's heavily Republican 5th Congressional District, and she managed to avoid a runoff by surpassing the 50 percent threshold," NBC's Alex Seitz-Wald writes.

Meanwhile, the special election in LA-2 to replace former Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La. (who joined the Biden administration) heads to an April 24 runoff between Democratic state Sens. Troy Carter and Karen Carter Peterson.

In a field of 15 candidates, Troy Carter got 36 percent of the vote and Carter Peterson got 23 percent; the two candidates aren't related.

ICYMI: What ELSE is happening in the world?

There's not much hope for bipartisanship on any issue in Washington these days. But China might be an exception.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is well into positioning himself for 2024.

A top Trump adviser says the former president is planning a return to social media with his own platform. (Trump is also expected to weigh in on a race to take down Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.)

A key prosecutor says the evidence in the Jan. 6 riot may meet the bar for sedition charges against some suspects.

Don't miss the New York Times' look at Sen. Ron Johnson from over the weekend.

And keep an eye on today's Capitol Hill hearing on D.C. statehood.