In the aftermath of fatal stabbings in Portland, Oregon, in an apparent anti-Muslim incident, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) renewed his call on Thursday for the House Homeland Security Committee to take action against domestic terrorism, The Hill reports.
Thompson, the ranking Democrat on the committee, sent a letter to the committee’s chairman, Michael McCaul (R-Texas), saying that “these types of terrorist acts can no longer be ignored” by the committee.
There has been an increase in hate crimes targeting racial and religious minorities since President Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election.
On May 26, Jeremy Christian allegedly stabbed to death two men on a Portland train when they tried to stop him from harassing two teenage girls, one of them wearing a hijab.
Thompson sent a similar letter to the committee chairman in March. In that letter, Thompson noted that he requested a hearing into race-based domestic terrorism in the aftermath of the Emanuel AME Church massacre in Charleston, South Carolina, which was ignored.
Thompson said Thursday he still hadn’t received a response to his March request.
SOURCE: The Hill
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