Urge Congress to enact the Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer NO HATE Act of 2019 (S. 2043/ H.R. 3545)

The FBI released its annual Hate Crime Statistics Act (HCSA) 2018 report on November 12, 2019. For 2018, the FBI reported that hate crime murders totaled 24, the highest since the FBI began tracking and reporting on hate crimes in 1991. The increase is attributable to 2018 having seen the deadliest anti-Semitic hate crime in American history, when 11 worshippers were murdered in the three congregations meeting at the Tree of Life Synagogue building in Pittsburgh. The FBI’s findings complement ADL’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents for 2018.

While the annual FBI HCSA report provides the best national snapshot of bias-motivated criminal activity in America, it is clearly incomplete. In 2018, for example, 85 cities with populations over 100,000 either affirmatively reported zero (0) hate crimes to the FBI or did not report to the FBI at all. The Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer NO HATE Act of 2019 would authorize incentive grants to spark improved local and state hate crime training, prevention, best practices, and data collection initiatives and make grants available for state hate crime reporting hotlines to direct individuals to local law enforcement and support services. Data drives policy. We cannot address what we do not measure.  More comprehensive, complete hate crime reporting can deter hate violence and advance police-community relations. Urge your Members to support the NO HATE Act of 2019.

Defending DACA and TPS recipients

On November 12, 2019, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s termination of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). ADL helped lead an amicus brief of civil rights groups opposed to terminating DACA, along with the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights Under Law and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. ADL representatives joined the rally outside the Supreme Court when the oral arguments were heard.
 
ADL, along with leading interfaith organizations, signed on to letters urging the administration to extend TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for holders from Yemen and Somalia, ahead of the administration’s decisions in January. TPS allows foreign nationals to remain in the U.S., if returning to their home country is unsafe and would put them at risk of violence, disease, or death.  As Yemen and Somalia remain among the world’s worst humanitarian crises, ADL and others believe that the maximum TPS protection — an 18-month extension and redesignation — is warranted for both countries.
 
The American Dream and Promise Act of 2019, H.R. 6, which passed the House in June would provide permanent protections to Dreamers and TPS holders. The Senate has not taken up the DREAM Act of 2019, S. 874, which would protect Dreamers, or the Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and Emergency Act (SECURE) Act, S. 879, which would provide protections to TPS holders.

Launch of final report for Communities Overcoming Extremism: The After Charlottesville Project

Following the violent extremist rallies in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August of 2017, ADL joined a coalition of civil society organizations on a year-long initiative: Communities Overcoming Extremism: The After Charlottesville Project (COE). COE’s coalition of partners convened two national summits, where hundreds of leaders grappled with challenging questions about how to best overcome extremism. The Project culminated in a final report released on October 28, 2019, containing a broad survey of ideas, experiences, and lessons from the public sector and the private sector summits. COE also released a podcast series titled "Overcoming Extremism" featuring in-depth conversations with leaders who have been on the front lines with extremism about their experiences and lessons.

Legislation on Anti-Semitism in Saudi Textbooks

ADL Washington Director for International Affairs David Weinberg published an op-ed in The Forward with ADL findings on anti-Semitism in new Saudi state textbooks for the Fall 2019 semester. We are encouraging Members of Congress to co-sponsor the ADL-endorsed Saudi Educational Transparency and Reform Act (H.R. 554 / S. 357).  With ADL support, the House Foreign Affairs Committee approved the measure this past month by unanimous consent.

On November 4th, the Washington, D.C. Regional Office held the 25th Anniversary ADL In Concert Against Hate at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. This was a powerful and inspirational event that honored heroes in the fight against intolerance, extremism and terrorism. Hundreds of supporters, activists, students, educators and community leaders came together in a show of strength and resolve to keep advancing ADL's mission - to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all. ADL in Concert Against Hate is an annual reminder that we all have the capacity to fight hate for good in our communities. This year, ADL honored four individuals who have demonstrated courage and conviction in the face of bias, bigotry and discrimination with the Kay Family Award (pictured from left to right): Taylor Dumpson, Mia Yamamoto, Judge Thomas Buergenthal, and Claire Sarnowski. ADL also presented the Levenson Family Defender of Democracy Award to Rick Hutzell, Editor of The Capital Gazette (on behalf of the whole staff and newsroom of the paper) and the late Representative Elijah Cummings (received by Dr. Maya Rockeymoore Cummings).