Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday sent a letter to Department of Justice (DOJ) acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray, notifying them of his expectation that they address unanswered requests made by Democratic Members of Congress concerning the increasing number of hate crimes, the targeted surveillance of minority communities, and the growing threat of white supremacy and right-wing extremism.
To date, the Administration has provided little or no substantive response to these requests, according to a Nadler press release.
In his letter, Nadler wrote, “In the next Congress, this Committee will likely examine the causes of racial and religious violence, assess the adequacy of federal hate crimes statutes, and scrutinize targeted domestic surveillance of specific groups.
“We need to work together to study the disturbingly increasing number of hate crimes, the growing threat of far right and right-wing extremism, and the disparate treatment of minority communities in terrorism investigations. The horrific massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, the murder of an African-American couple in a Kentucky grocery store and Indian engineers in a Kansas bar, and the package bombs sent to Trump opposition figures are only the most recent reminders of the ever-present threat of extremism in our country.”