105 Representatives Demand DOJ Fully Enforce Hate Crime Laws
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Rep. Mark Takano (CA-39), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06), House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Rep. Yvette Clark (NY-09) led 105 Members of Congress in sending an oversight letter to Department of Justice regarding its work to prevent hate crimes and enforce hate crime laws.
Members begin their letter:
“We write to express our significant concerns that the Department of Justice is refusing to properly enforce federal hate crime statutes and to urge you to prioritize the Department’s work to prevent, respond to, and prosecute hate crimes against all marginalized communities.”
They continue:
“Congress’ intent that the Department of Justice prevent and respond to hate crimes could not be clearer. Despite this, the Department appears to be walking away from its statutory responsibilities. In April, the Department cancelled over 370 grants from the Office of Justice Programs, totaling an estimated $500 million. These grants supported local law enforcement agencies, victims’ services organizations, substance use and mental health treatment, research and evaluation, public safety initiatives and more. In addition, the Administration’s FY26 budget calls for cutting all grants authorized under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act, and other Bureau of Justice Assistance programs that would combat and prevent hate crimes.”
The letter continues:
“Since January 20 of this year, the Community Relations Service (CRS) website has been revised to remove numerous references to its work to address hate crimes based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, or disability and the CRS training video on “Engaging and Building Relationships with Transgender Communities” has been removed. This latter act may have been in response to President Trump’s anti-transgender Executive Order No. 14168, which directs agencies to refuse to acknowledge the existence of transgender people. This Executive Order, which cannot override federal law, is incompatible with the Department of Justice’s statutory obligations to address and collect data on hate crimes against the transgender community, pursuant to the Matthew Shepard Act.
CRS is also statutorily mandated. It was established under Title X of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and its mandate was expanded by the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996 and the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 to include addressing community tensions and hate crimes. Reports indicate that you have decided to eliminate CRS as a component, placing it within another component with a single employee, and sent out the Reduction in Force notice to all remaining employees on September 29. With these changes, CRS would be unable to perform its statutorily required functions with just one staff member. The dismantling of CRS is not only unlawful, it is also particularly concerning given the rise in community unrest, where CRS’s peacebuilding and mediation services would play a vital role.”
The Members continue:
“We understand the Civil Rights Division is continuing to pursue some hate crime cases, including those on the basis of religion. While it is critical that the Department address hate crimes based on religion, especially given their prevalence, we are concerned that the Department may be prioritizing certain classes of hate crimes over others. Federal efforts to investigate, prosecute, and resolve hate crimes and civil rights violations must encompass the entirety of the protected classes and cannot focus nearly exclusively on one protected class.”
Members end their letter by requesting Attorney General Bondi return answers within 60 days to their questions regarding the DOJ’s work to prevent and respond to hate crimes and enforce federal hate crime statutes.
The full letter can be read here.