Marking the first day of Jewish American Heritage Month, the Justice Department convened an interagency meeting with Jewish community stakeholders. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland spoke with those at the meeting and underscored the Department’s commitment to addressing antisemitic hate crimes. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division outlined the enforcement efforts across the Department and highlighted actions to prevent and combat hate crimes.
Department leadership, including representatives from the Civil Rights Division, FBI, Community Relations Service, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties, and Community Oriented Policing Service heard from attending organizations on antisemitic hate crimes and reporting, safety on campuses and in schools, the intersection of antisemitism and democracy and discrimination in employment. Representatives from other federal government agencies were also in attendance, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Departments of Education, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, and Homeland Security.
This convening occurred alongside a precipitous increase in the volume and frequency of threats against Jewish communities across the country, and many Jewish communities expressing fear for their peace and safety.
Combating hate crimes and incidents is among the Department’s top priorities. Today’s meeting represents the Department’s latest efforts to engage with organizations and stakeholders on issues affecting the Jewish community. In March, the Department hosted a community safety briefing for Jewish community stakeholders, during which the Department released resource documents designed to help the public better understand federal civil rights laws, including laws that prohibit violence and discrimination on the basis of religion and national origin, and protections afforded by Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLIUPA) local land use decisions.
The Department has also continued to prosecute antisemitic hate crimes, including recent cases involving a former Cornell University student who issued threats to kill or injure Jewish students on campus; a California man who firebombed a Planned Parenthood clinic in Southern California and had planned home invasions of Jewish homes in Los Angeles; a California rideshare driver charged with a federal hate crime for an assault on a passenger who he perceived to be Jewish or Israeli; and an Oregon man charged with hate crimes for defacing a synagogue in Eugene.
If you believe that you or someone else experienced religious or national origin discrimination, report a civil rights violation online at civilrights.justice.gov. If you believe you are a victim or a witness of a hate crime, report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitting a tip at tips.fbi.gov. Learn more about the Department’s work on hate crimes here.