Trump Administration Urged to Investigate Wave of Attacks as Hate Crimes

Responding to a recent wave of violence and threats against minority communities, more than two dozen senators on Thursday urged the Trump administration to take a stand and reaffirm the federal government’s role in prosecuting hate crimes.

Addressed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the letter highlights the “alarming increase in bias-motivated violence” and notes that “many members of racial, ethnic and religious minority communities, as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, live in very real fear for their safety.”

The senators reportedly pointed to the recent killing of Indian aviation engineer Srinivas Kuchibhotla, who was shot in Olathe, Kansas by a white navy veteran who reportedly yelled “get out of my country,” which many said was a reflection of the anti-immigrant rhetoric of President Donald Trump. The FBI is currently investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

In recent weeks, there have also been more than 160 bomb threats made to over 60 Jewish community centers, as Common Dreams has reported, as well as the desecration of two Jewish cemeteries. In addition, there have been reports of fires at four mosques in the U.S. since the beginning of the year on top of the deadly shooting last month at a Quebec City mosque.

[block:block=30]

Trump has been repeatedly criticized for his absent or lackluster condemnation of these attacks. Meanwhile, there has been no movement on the part of Sessions or the Department of Justice (DOJ), which he oversees.