As FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized in an address before the ADL’s “Never is Now” summit last week, “antisemitism remains a pervasive and present fact. And we at the FBI see—up close, day in and day out—the actions that hatred drives. Jewish people continue to face repeated violence and very real threats, from all kinds of actors, simply for being who they are. ”
From Poway, California, to Colleyville, Texas, to communities big and small across this country, we know the violence that hate can drive.
As Director Wray stated: we are “laser-focused” on the threats. On the criminal side, we’ve designated civil rights, specifically including hate crimes, as a national threat priority. That means we’ve surged more agents and analysts to work those cases across the country. And on the counterterrorism front, with the Joint Terrorism Task Forces we run out of all 56 of our field offices, we have nearly 4,500 agents and state and local law enforcement partners working counterterrorism.
While the FBI cannot police hate speech protected by the 1st Amendment, we can use the full force of the laws of this country to address threats or acts of violence.
If you believe you are victim or a witness of a hate crime, we encourage you to report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitting a tip at tips.fbi.gov. You may remain anonymous.