Tom Malinowski: “Last week in my New Jersey district I hosted a briefing with over 80 faith leaders: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu…”

“Last week in my New Jersey district I hosted a briefing with over 80 faith leaders: Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh. We didn't discuss how to build a better world. We just talked about how to protect their houses of worship from violence. Whether a synagogue in Pittsburgh, a mosque in New Zealand, a shopping mall in Texas, or a Jewish deli in New Jersey, people are being targeted for who they are, for what they believe. Last year, Congress did something to help. We restored funding to the Department of Homeland Security to prevent domestic extremism-- including violent acts of anti-Semitism--which the Trump administration cut in 2017. This has allowed DHS to substantially increase the number of staff working with State and local governments to stop these attacks. This year, there is more to be done, from stepping up investigations and prosecutions of domestic terrorists, to designating transnational neo-Nazi groups as terrorist organizations, to confronting social media companies over algorithms that amplify hate. Let's make this a priority in 2020 until no one need be afraid anymore. ____________________”