Who is Mazie Hirono?
Mazie Hirono is the first Asian-America, immigrant woman, and Buddhist to serve in the U.S. Senate. She represents Hawaii as one of its two senators, being elected originally in 2013, and is a dependable advocate for civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and immigration reforms. She was born in Japan, immigrating to the U.S. with her brother and mother, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1959. Sen. Hirono earned her doctoral degree at Georgetown University and previously served Hawaii’s 2nd District in the House of Representatives (2007-2013. She serves on multiple Senate Committees such as the Veteran Affairs Committee, Armed Services Committee, Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the Judiciary Committee.
Major Achievements
One of Senator Hirono’s biggest achievements are the guarantees in protections for minority groups that she helped pass. A few examples of this are the COVID-19 Hate Crime Acts and introducing the Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act. The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act (S.937) was a law signed by former President Biden in May 2021. It served to push back against the rising violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities due to the pandemic. It expanded campaigns that raised awareness to AAPI hate crimes, forced the DOJ to create a state and federally driven bilingual online presence to allow for easier reporting, and much more (NPR, 2021). The Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act is a 2017 proposed act, recently brought back in 2025 by Sen. Hirono, Sen. Duckworth (D-IL), and Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA-39), that aims to permanently prevent detaining or imprisoning solely due to race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, or national origin. It aims to ensure the failures of the Japanese-American internment camps and Korematsu V. The United States are not repeated. The name honors the works of Fred Korematsu, a Japanese-American Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who fought the injustices of Japanese internment during WWII, and U.S. Congressman Mark Takai, a former U.S. Representative of Hawaii and Iraqi Veteran who fought for Japanese-American civil rights and passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2016.
Bibliography
Sprunt, Barbara. “Here’s What the New Hate Crimes Law Aims to Do as Attacks on Asian Americans Rise.” NPR, May 20, 2021.
U.S. Congress. “S.634 — Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act of 2025.” Congress.gov, 119th Congress, introduced Feb. 19, 2025.
“Mazie Hirono.” Wikipedia, last modified Apr. 2026.
National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. “Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act.” NAPABA, accessed Apr. 22, 2026.
