Rising US Hate Crimes During Trump Admin. Reflects Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric - Report

A toxic environment created by Trump administration policies characterized by President Donald Trump's vilification of immigrants, led to a spike in killings linked to hate crimes, the Soufan Group said in a report on Tuesday

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2020) A toxic environment created by Trump administration policies characterized by President Donald Trump's vilification of immigrants, led to a spike in killings linked to hate crimes, the Soufan Group said in a report on Tuesday.

"The FBI Hate Crime Statistics for 2019 showed at least 51 hate-crime killings last year, the most ever since the data has been tracked. A significant rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes was also prevalent in 2019, up 14% over 2018, as part of a rising tide of overt violent extremism," the report said.

The report cited "racist and ugly rhetoric" espoused by President Donald Trump and reinforced and often championed by some of his supporters, in which immigrants were compared to invaders, criminals and parasites, for creating a dystopian environment of intimidation and fear.

"Within this toxic environment, hate crimes have spiked. Such crimes have always been an ugly part of American society, but now there is a public embrace of incitement and demonization, beginning with the current political leadership and seeping down into local communities," the report added.

While the 2019 FBI report reflects the latest available tally, reliance on voluntary reports from more than 15,000 local police departments that face no legal requirement to report hate crimes, indicates that the threat is widely underreported, according to the report.