17 suspects arrested for violent clashes in Sikh American community

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, left, Sutter County DA Jennifer Depre, (center) and Sacramento DA Thien Ho at the
press conference announcing the arrests of 17 gang members.

Arrests of 17 individuals will stem the violence including sword fights, fisticuffs and shootings that have been ruining recent celebrations of the northern California Sikh community.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Yuba City Police Chief Brian Baker, and Sutter County District Attorney Jennifer Dupré announced Sunday, April 16 that law enforcement made 17 felony arrests as a result of a months-long, multi-agency investigation of rival criminal syndicates operating throughout Northern California.

These warring gangs, known as the Minta and the AK-47 Group, are suspected of committing numerous violent clashes including five attempted murders, in Sutter, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Yolo, and Merced counties.

“No family should ever have to worry about drive-by shootings or other forms of gun violence in the neighborhoods where their children live and play. As a result of this joint law enforcement effort, we’re taking guns off the street and putting suspected gang members and their associates behind bars," said Bonta during the press conference in Yuba City.

“This started out as one group, and one faction broke off, and since then they have been rivals trying to outdo each other," Sutter County District Attorney General Jennifer Dupré.

"Mainly they show up places and try to shoot each other,” she said, comparing it to the US Civil War “where brothers were fighting against brothers.”

The violence started as fistfights and sword fights at a 2018 Sikh parade in Yuba City where one suspect’s attack with a sword was violent that the sword broke, Dupré said. That’s where the name of the police investigation, "Operation Broken Sword." originated.

Authorities believe the continuing violence between these groups resulted in a mass shooting at a Stockton Sikh temple during a wedding on August 27, 2022, followed by a shooting at a Sacramento Sikh temple on March 23, 2023.

The joint law enforcement effort reached a climax on April 15 in a large-scale operation with agents executing search warrants at 20 locations, also resulted in the seizure of 41 firearms.

Arrested were: Karandeep Singh, Pardeep Singh, Pavittar Singh, Husandeep Singh, Sahajpreet Singh, Harkirat Singh, Tirath Ram, Dharamvir Singh, Jobanjit Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Nitish Kaushal, Gurminder Singh Kang, Devender Singh, Karambir Gill, Rajeev Ranjan, Jobanpreet Singh and Singh Dhesi, according NBC News.

Five others, Amandeep Singh, Harmandeep Singh, Gursharn Singh, Grucharan Singh and Jaskaran Singh, remain at-large.

Dupré said the investigation was “ramped up” at last month’s parade in Vineyard, where investigators intercepted two vehicles near the parade route. The prosecutor said authorities arrested seven people found with four handguns and two assault weapons with high-capacity ammunition magazines in those vehicles near the parade route. The suspects’ intent was to take up position along the parade route and shoot at rivals.

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Thousands of Sikhs are attended last month's parade where violence broke out.

Dupre said investigators were at last month’s Sacramento County parade with the goal of keeping the event “violence-free,” and she’s convinced law enforcement prevented what could’ve been a mass casualty incident. “If those weapons had gotten into the parade it could have been a blood bath,” Dupre said.

But despite the arrests, violence did breakout. The Vineyard shooting occurred about 2:30 p.m. after a fight broke out among a group of men, all in their 20s, who were not part of the parade, she said.

More than 20,000 Sikh reside in and around Yuba City and Sacramento, the largest Sikh community in the United States. 

The individuals arrested in connection with the violence do not in any way reflect or represent the vibrant Sikh community in the region, said Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho. Leaders of the Sikh community in Northern California have condemned this violence again and again, he emphasized.

The massive investigation and arrests involved 500 officers and multiple law enforcement agencies.

“Today, California is safer thanks to collaboration, determination, and swift action by DOJ agents and our law enforcement partners in Sutter County,” said Bonta. "Together, we’re putting public safety first. Thank you to our law enforcement partners across the state for working with us day-in and day-out to protect the people of California.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

Young reporter killed in moped accident

Nina Kapur died when she was riding on the back of a moped when she was thrown from the vehicle.

ASAM NEWS

Friends, family and colleagues are mourning the death of a reporter who during her short career touched many lives.

Nina Kapur of CBS New York died in a moped accident that occurred Sunday (July 20).

MSN reports the 26-year old died shortly after the driver of the moped she was riding in the back on “swerved for an unknown reason,” according to police. The driver suffered minor injuries.

“I’m heartbroken to learn about the passing of my friend and colleague @ninakapur1. Her smile lit up the room. Her tenacity and determination were remarkable. She always strove to be better, work harder and love those around her,” co-worker Jessica Moore tweeted, according to Heavy.

Kapur began her career at WDVM TV in Maryland in 2016 after graduating from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication and Whitman School of Management. A year and a half later she would go on to report for News12 Connecticut before being hired at CBS NY in 2019.

“This is devastating. Nina was such a wonderful person and always a pleasure to interact with. This is one of the many times I had the pleasure of working with her,” said retired Fairfield, Connecticut Police Chief Gary MacNamara.

In a short statement, CBS2 said Kapur “was known for her contagious smile and love for storytelling.”

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Nina’s family.

“She will be missed.”

Covid-19 takes life of Indian American leader

ASAM NEWS

A longtime community leader in the Indian American community has died of COVID-19, reports The Tribune, a publication serving the Indian American community in the Northeast U.S.

“Very sad to learn about the passing away of Ramesh Patel, the Founder Member and Chairperson of Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), after a 2-month long fight against COVID-19. A highly respected Indian American community leader, we will miss him very much. RIP!” India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu tweeted.

Taranjit Singh Sandhu

✔@SandhuTaranjitS

Very sad to learn about the passing away of Ramesh Patel, the Founder Member and Chairperson of Federation of Indian Associations ( FIA) after 2 month long fight against Covid 19. A highly respected Indian American Community leader, we will miss him very much. RIP!

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6:46 PM - Jun 6, 2020

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According to India West, Patel is also the former president of the National Federation of Indian American Associations which called him “a courageous man who fought many battles but the battle with Covid-19 he could not win.”

Patel won the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2013 and worked in the forensic investigation division of the New York Police Department, reported News18. His friends fondly refer to him as “Kaka.”

He is survived by his wife Sucheta, son Suvas and daughters Manisha and Kunjal. He was 78.

Over 400 religious, civil rights organizations call for police reformSCREEN

SCREEN CAPTURE

Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and over 400 other civil rights organizations Monday called on congressional leadership to swiftly rectify the legacy of white supremacy and anti-black racism that has led to police violence against Black people across the United States.

“People in Minnesota and around the country are rightfully angered and devastated by the police killing of George Floyd. The problem of state violence against communities of color, particularly Black people, has a long history in this country that we have not fully confronted or addressed," said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

In the Obama administration, Gupta headed up civil rights enforcement for the Department of Justice.

The list of supporting groups included almost two dozen AAPI organization: the Japanese American Citizens League, the oldest AAPI civil rights group,Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO, OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT) and the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

"Federal statutory reforms are urgently needed on a range of policing issues, including use of force, police accountability, racial profiling, militarization, data collection, and training," said the letter's signers.

“Now is the time for Congress to pass meaningful police reform legislation. While we appreciate hearings and resolutions, we need comprehensive measures to happen. We need Congress to truly step up to the plate and protect Black communities from the systemic perils of over policing, police brutality, misconduct, and harassment, and end the impunity in which officers operate in taking the lives of Black people. It is your moral and ethical duty to ensure Black people and communities are free from the harm and threats from law enforcement and to curtail state sanctioned police violence and militarized police responses,” the groups said in the letter.

The signers requested a meeting with congressional leadership to discuss urgently needed reforms that ensure police officers live up to their oath to protect and serve all people in the United States.

The federal reforms addressed in the letter include: 

• Require a federal standard that use of force be reserved for only when necessary as a last resort after exhausting reasonable options, and incentivize states to implement this standard; require the use of de-escalation techniques, and the duty to intervene; ban the use of force as a punitive measure or means of retaliation against individuals who only verbally confront officers, or against individuals who pose a danger only to themselves; and require all officers to accurately report all uses of force;
• Prohibit all maneuvers that restrict the flow of blood or oxygen to the brain, including neck holds, chokeholds, and similar excessive force, deeming the use of such force a federal civil rights violation;
• Prohibit racial profiling with robust data collection on police-community encounters and law enforcement activities. Data should capture all demographic categories and be disaggregated;
• Eliminate federal programs that provide military equipment to law enforcement;
• Prohibit the use of no-knock warrants, especially for drug searches;
• Change the 18 U.S.C. Sec. 242 mens rea requirement from willfulness to recklessness, permitting prosecutors to successfully hold law enforcement accountable for the deprivation of civil rights and civil liberties;
• Develop a national public database that would cover all police agencies in the United States and its territories; and,
• End the qualified immunity doctrine that prevents police from being held legally accountable when they break the law.

The complete letter and list of signatories are available here.

Asian Americans denounce expansion of the Muslim ban

SAALT

ASAM NEWS

Both South Asian American and Japanese American groups are condemning Donald Trump’s decision Jan. 31 to expand his Muslim travel ban to six more countries.

“Like each previous version of the Muslim ban, this new ban is rooted in the Trump administration’s bigotry and xenophobia, including the president’s well-known belief that Black immigrants come from “sh*thole countries,” said Mike Ishii, Co-Director of Tsuru for Solidarity, a group of Japanese Americans dedicated to ending detention of refugees and immigrants at detention centers.

The ban now includes Myanmar, Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Eritrea, Sudan and Tanzania.

“One thing is clear, the Muslim Ban was this administration’s first family separation policy just days after the presidential inauguration in 2017, and it has served as the foundational policy for targeting communities of color ever since,” said Lakshmi Sridaran, South Asian Americans Leading Together’s Interim Executive Director. “Since then, we have seen attacks on DACA, TPS, diversity lottery, green cards, public benefits, refugees, asylum seekers, pregnant women, and more to institutionalize a white supremacist agenda.”

The issue is one close to the heart of many Japanese Americans.

“We recognize this kind of bigotry; it is what politicians used during World War II to justify rounding up our families and throwing us into American concentration camps,” Ishii explained.

It is apparent that in including Myanmar, formerly Burma, the Trump administration is targeting the Rohingya Muslims fleeing government-approved persecution.

“For decades, the minority Rohingya Muslims of Burma have been exposed to human rights violations. Now, those who reside in the United States are living in fear of being seperateded from their family due to Trump’s expansion of the Muslim ban. Anything that tears apart our families threatens our nation," said Henny Ohr, executive director at Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resource Center in Iowa in a statement.

"That’s why today, immigrant families in Iowa and throughout our nation affirm our belief that having family values means keeping families together no matter their creed or where they were born.” 

SAALT is calling for the passage of the No Ban Act. The Act calls for the immediately rescission of the Muslim Ban and would limit the president’s power to exercise such authority.

"From scapegoating Muslims with the Muslim Ban to now expanding the same restrictions to other immigrant communities of color, the Trump administration continues to weaponize immigration law in order to advance its xenophobic agenda," said Javeria Jamil, a lawyer at the National Security & Civil Rights of Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus.

'Trump’s extended un-American travel ban undermines our nation’s core values. It is clearly driven by hate, not security," tweeted California Sen. Kamala Harris.

Views From the Edge contributed to this report.

Day 80 in South Asians' hunger strike in ICE detention

Five South Asians at La Salle Detention Facility have been on hunger strike.

ASAM NEWS

Five male Indian asylum seekers have reached the 90th day of a hunger strike at the La Salle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana.
According to American Bazaar, each of the men have formal sponsors in the US who have committed to housing and supporting them while they fight their asylum case. A petition to release the detainees while their asylum cases are processed states that the men have been force-fed and force-hydrated. The petition has garnered over 26,000 signatures.

“I have been visiting them for the past three months and have watched them slowly disappear as the days carry on,” Freedom for Immigrants volunteer Michelle Grafeo said. “ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is prepared to let them die. I, however, am not.”

Grafeo told American Bazaar that she met with two hunger strikers on Sunday and learned that three of the men are being held in isolation as punishment for not drinking Boost. She added that all five men are wheelchair bound and unable to get out of bed without assistance.

Freedom for Immigrants has filed complaints with the Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on behalf of the detainees, demanding that systemic civil rights violations the men have faced in ICE custody be addressed.

One complaint is that ICE is violating its own policy of giving people in detention the right to independent medical evaluation. According to licensed New Orleans physician Catherine Jones, staff at the LaSalle Detention Facility have denied repeated requests for accurate and updated medical records.

“This makes it impossible for us to have a clear understanding of the hunger strikers’ current medical conditions,” Jones said in a statement, “and completely negates their access to independent evaluations, which is especially crucial as they enter the critical time in their hunger strike when vital organ functioning begins to shut down.”

According to American Bazaar, medical professionals say vital organs may begin to fail after 75 days without adequate nutrition. Many asylum seekers from South Asia have previously resorted to hunger strikes to protest against the inhumane conditions in detention facilities.

A 2019 factsheet from civil rights organization SAALT states that patterns of abuse towards South Asians in American detention facilities include inadequate or non-existent language access, denial of religious accommodations, retaliatory solitary confinement, gross medical neglect, and high bond amounts.

WION reports that the five hunger strikers include four Hindus and one Sikh. According to American Bazaar, the detainees are seeking asylum for a variety of reasons and have differing legal situations.

Day 82: The hunger strike is a protest of last resort for South Asian asylum seekers

Five South Asian men on the 82nd day of their hunger strike are on the precipice of death as their organs begin to shut down in the LaSalle Detention Facility in Jena, Louisiana.
“The men in Jena-LaSalle are on the brink of death," said Lakshmi Sridaran, Interim Executive Director of South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT).

"No one should have to go to such great lengths simply to have their cases heard and to gain their freedom. They should not be in detention in the first place and the only legitimate alternative is release.“ said  Sridaran.

Freedom for Immigrants (FFI) has filed two complaints with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) on behalf of the five men, demanding DHS address the systemic civil rights violations the men have faced under ICE custody.

The first CRCL complaint calls on ICE to use its prosecutorial discretion to release all five men. Each of them have formal sponsors in the United States committed to supporting and housing them while they fight their asylum case.

The second complaint, submitted in collaboration with Physicians for Human Rights, addresses the significant delays in receiving critical medical records from ICE. Beginning in November, an FFI affiliated volunteer submitted multiple requests to ICE for these records, with the consent of the men engaging in hunger strikes. However, ICE has refused to release these records. Without this critical information, independent physicians cannot conduct an assessment of the medical treatment these men are receiving while in detention.

“Under ICE’s own policies, people in detention have the right to independent medical evaluation. However, staff at the LaSalle Detention Facility have denied our repeated requests, which were made in line with their policies, for accurate and updated medical records," said Dr. Catherine Jones, MD, a physician in New Orleans.

"This makes it impossible for us to have a clear understanding of the hunger strikers’ current medical conditions and completely negates their access to independent evaluations, which is especially crucial as they enter the critical time in their hunger strike when vital organ functioning begins to shut down,” saud Hibes,

Medical review of individuals on hunger strikes by medical experts not connected with the government is critical because of ICE’s history of systemic medical neglect of individuals -- from children separated from their parents to the hunger strikers -- in their custody. 

In October last year, Dr. Parveen Parmar reviewed the medical records of a man who had been on hunger strike for approximately three months while detained at the El Paso ICE Processing Center. Upon review of the medical documents Dr. Parmar stated that it was “the worst medical care I have seen in my 10 years of practice.”

The hunger strike has long been the only way to resist, the weapon of last resort, by the powerless and disenfranchised. It can involve either a time-limited symbolic refusal of food, or – in more extreme cases like the one at the LaSalle detention facility – a prolonged fast that eventually leads to loss of cognition, organ damage and even death.

Mahatma Gandhi used political fasting to great effect against the British in India and to pressure Hindus and Muslims to halt sectarian violence. He came to regard the hunger strike as one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal of non-violent resistance.

Gandhi's longest hunger strike was only 21 days but it was long enough to embarass the British government eventually leading to colonizers to grant independence to India.

From their strict enforcement of questionable immigration policies including the detention of asylum seekers who have not committed any crimes, the US government under Donald Trump appears to be a more stubborn animal than the British colonizers.

“The growing number of hunger strikes in ICE prisons across the country are no coincidence. It is indicative of complete disbelief in a fair legal process and the lengths ICE is willing to go to indefinitely detain them. Some of these men have been locked up for nearly 2 years," said Sofia Casini, FFI's southern regional coordinator. 

"We are deeply concerned that ICE appears willing to let these men die in detention to make an example of them rather than be released to community, where each man has family or close friends willing to provide housing and support.” she said. 

With Gandhi's example, the detained men know that the refusal of food can shame the authorities who bear ultimate responsibility for the lives of those in their custody. In this way, it can be understood as a form of “moral jiu jitsu” that uses the overwhelming power of the government rationalization against it.

By their action, hunger strikers also exert some measure of control against a system that strips them of their humanity. They demonstrate that they are sovereign over their own bodies and that the most serious decision of all – over life and death – is still in their hands.

Sunday Read: After 78 days, South Asian hunger strikers in ICE custody are on the brink of death

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article was first published in Truthout.org on Jan. 9. It has now been 78 days since the South Asian men have been on their hunger strike. A petition drive has been launched by MoveOn.org asking for their release.

By MIKE LUDWIG
TRUTHOUT

Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission 

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — 
With hunger strikes sweeping immigration jails across the country, two Indian asylum seekers protesting their incarceration at a remote Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) jail in Louisiana are reportedly on the brink of death after refusing to eat or drink for 68 days, according to a volunteer who regularly visits the two men.

The hunger strikers have a clear demand: to be released so they can pursue their asylum cases outside of jail.

Medical staff at the LaSalle ICE Processing Center are force-hydrating both men, a painful and disturbing process that involves restraining the striker and forcing fluid through nasal passages with tubes, according to Michelle Graffeo, a volunteer with Freedom for Immigrants. Mr. Singh, whose name has been changed to protect his identify, described the forced-hydration process as terrifying and confusing because jail staff do not speak his native language, and videotaped the procedure.

“It’s a really scary process,” Graffeo said in an interview.

Both men fear they will face violence if they are deported to India and asked volunteers to keep their names out of the press. One is 37 years old and the other is 22, and both filed asylum claims after crossing at a legal port of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border before being shuffled through the nation’s vast immigration detention system.

Graffeo said the two men can no longer walk and are in wheelchairs. They could suffer organ damage or even death within a week, as many hunger strikers do not make it past 75 days.

“It’s a rapid decline at this point,” Graffeo said.

Three other men at the facility are also on strike but recently began drinking some fluids, and all five have been subjected to forced hydration over the past month after refusing to eat and drink, according to Freedom for Immigrants.

Hunger strikes have erupted at immigration jails nationwide as the Trump administration responded to an influx of migrants and asylum seekers at the southern border with policies that prioritize incarceration, with many adults held indefinitely as they wait to see a judge. Last year, immigrant rights groups documented 14 hunger strikes at immigration jails across the country. Strikers typically protest poor conditions and medical treatment and demand their right to freedom and due process. Freedom for Immigrants has identified 1,600 hunger strikers in immigration jails since 2015.

“The reason for me sitting on hunger strike is because I want freedom,” Mr. Singh wrote in a statement and said he began his hunger strike on November 1. “Since January 21, 2019, I have been locked inside four walls. For about a year I have been living my life inside suffocating. In my whole life I have not lived inside four walls like this.”

In 2016 — the last year of the Obama administration — immigration judges in Louisiana approved the release of nearly 60 percent of jailed immigration defendants on bond, but that number has steadily decreased, and dropped to 27 percent in 2019, according to data obtained from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) named LaSalle, where the two men have been on hunger strike for 68 days, in a class-action lawsuit against ICE and the Trump administration. SPLC alleged that immigrants at isolated, privately run jails were systematically denied proper access to legal representation. Immigration defendants with legal representation are more likely to be released on bond and are 10.5 times more likely to win their cases than those without a lawyer, the group argued in its complaint.

The United States’s system for incarcerating immigrants has grown steadily over the past three decades and is now the largest in the world. Comprehensive immigration reform remains elusive in Congress, and the number of migrants and asylum seekers held in immigration jails and border holding pens has swelled under the Trump administration’s brutal immigration crackdown. The Trump administration has forced other asylum seekers to wait in Mexico, where they live in squalid camps and face frequent harassment from gangs and the police.

At the ICE field office in New Orleans, the agency’s regional headquarters, the number of people released after being arrested by ICE agents dropped from nearly 76 percent in 2016 — the last year of the Obama administration — to 1.5 percent in 2018, according to the SPLC. Meanwhile, a number of local and privately run jails in Louisiana have signed lucrative contracts with ICE to incarcerate people awaiting immigration hearings as detention has rapidly expanded under the Trump administration. Many asylum seekers jailed in Louisiana were detained at the southern border and transferred from others states.

TWITTER

The entrance to the LaSalle ICE Processing Center in Louisiana.

“People need to remember these are people who came in from legal ports of entry,” said Graffeo, who regularly drives three hours to visit the hunger strikers at the remote jail. “They claimed asylum, their claims are legal, but during this administration nothing has been consistent. I mean, policy changes by tweet.”

Graffeo said both men in deteriorating condition at LaSalle appear to have legitimate asylum claims, with documentation to back them up. One was violently attacked after converting to Christianity. The other was attacked and beaten by members of a rival political party. He told Graffeo that he would be a “dead man” if he was deported to India, so he might as well take his chances at LaSalle, even if the hunger strike kills him.

Advocates say forced medical treatment of hunger strikers has become more common in ICE jails, particularly at the El Paso Processing Center in El Paso, Texas. Last year, 16 men on prolonged hunger strike were force-fed at the El Paso facility, according to the local chapter of Advocate Visitors with Immigrants in Detention (AVID).The latest round of strikes began in October, with five men refusing to eat by mid-November, including two men transferred from a privately run jail in Louisiana for forced medical treatment.

By now, three of the five strikers at the El Paso facility have been deported, an AVID volunteer said in an email. One man reached 65 days on hunger strike and was force-fed for a month before being granted bond by an immigration judge and released. The fifth man remains on hunger strike and is in poor condition. He is currently being force-fed and receiving “subpar” medical treatment, the group said.

ICE has set protocols for responding to a hunger strike and jail officials typically obtain a court order before force-feeding a prisoner. A number of medical and human rights groups consider force-feeding to be a form of torture.

“Force-feeding, especially when carried out by medical professionals, is ethically unacceptable,” said Ranit Mishori, the senior medical adviser at Physicians for Human Rights, in a recent statement. “This practice is condemned by national and international medical organizations and experts and violates a detainee’s right to refuse treatment and to use a hunger strike as a form of political dissent.”

An ICE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment about the hunger strikers in Louisiana.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Read the original Truthout article here.

FBI report: Hate crimes growing more deadly

Family and friends remember Parmjit Singh, a Sikh who was wearing his turban when he was fatally stabbed
 in Tracey, Calif. last August.

After three years of rising hate crime statistics, the FBI's annual report shows a leveling off of those crimes. That's the good news. The bad news is that the attacks of hate have grown more violent and deadly.

The data gathered from 2018 shows that the year was the deadliest and most violent year for hate since 2001. There were 24 hate crime related deaths and 3,099 violent crime offenses in 2018.

Race continues to be the major factor for the commitment of hate crimes, says the FBI in their  report, Hate Crime Statistics, 2018, which was released Nov. 12. The agency also found that white people committed most of the crimes against people of color.

“We’re seeing a leaner and meaner type of hate crime going on,”Brian Levin, co-author of the FBI report and director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino, told NPR. ”Homicides were up and crimes against persons were up and that’s an important thing to look at.”

For additional information about the hate crimes statistics released today, visit the DOJ Hate Crimes Facts and Statistics page.

The majority of the reported hate crimes were motivated by race, ethnicity, or ancestry bias (59.6 percent). Additional biases included religion (18.7C), sexual orientation (16.7%), gender identity (2.2%), disability (2.1%t), and gender (0.7%).

“We’re seeing a shift from the more casual offender with more shallow prejudices to a bit more of an older assailant who acts alone,” Levin says in an independent analysis of the report. “There’s a diversifying base of groups that are being targeted. We’re getting back to more violence.”

In plain language, that means acts of vandalism, such as spraypainting a racist message on a house of worship, has gone down, but physical attacks such as shootings or beatings against individuals have risen.

In 2018, law enforcement agencies reported that 4,954 single-bias hate crime offenses were motivated by race/ethnicity/ancestry. Of these offenses:

• 46.9 percent were motivated by anti-Black or African American bias.
• 20.2 percent stemmed from anti-White bias.
• 13.0 percent were classified as anti-Hispanic or Latino bias.
• 4.1 percent were motivated by anti-American Indian or Alaska Native bias.
• 3.5 percent resulted from anti-Asian bias.
• 3.4 percent were a result of bias against groups of individuals consisting of more than one race (anti-multiple races, group).
• 2.0 percent were classified as anti-Arab bias.
• 0.5 percent (26 offenses) were motivated by bias of anti-Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.
• 6.4 percent were the result of an anti-Other Race/Ethnicity/Ancestry bias.

Other highlights of the report:

• In hate crimes fueled by racism, African Americans continue to be the most frequently targeted, though anti-Black incidents overall fell to a record low share of all hate crime in 2018.
• Latinos continued to experience an increase in racially motivated incidents. Levin, the researcher, said such incidents rose 13 percent over one year and 48 percent over five years.
• The LGBTQ community also faced bias-motivated attacks in 2018. Incidents targeting gay males increased by nearly 7 perfect, and anti-transgender hate crimes rose nearly 34 percent.
• Anti-Latino, anti-gay, anti-Asian, anti-disability, anti-transgender, anti-Sikh and anti-White hate crimes increased in 2018.
• Hate crimes towards Sikhs in the U.S. TRIPLED from 20 incidents in 2017 to 60 incidents in 2018.
• There were 82 Anti-Arab hate crimes recorded in 2018 –  the second-highest total since the FBI added an anti-Arab category in 2015.
• There were 188 anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded, down slightly from last year but the fifth-highest total on record.
• There were 14 anti-Hindu hate crimes recorded in 2018 – down from 15 in 2017.
• Of the known offenders, 53% were identified as white​ 

Critics say the FBI report is flawed in that it undercounts the number of hate incidents because not all law enforcement jurisdictions provide the data. "Only 13% of the over 16,000 participating law enforcement agencies reported any hate crimes in their jurisdictions," said the South Asian Americans Leading Together in a statement.

Also, the definition of what constitutes a hate crime varies from agency to agency. However, the report does provide a barometer of the state of race relations year-to-year and whether race relations is getting better or worse.

“At the end of the day, this data simply isn’t giving us the accurate information we need to effectively counteract hate against targeted communities,” said Sim Singh, Sikh Coalition senior manager of Policy and Advocacy. “It’s past time for action. Congress must pass the next generation of common-sense legislation that equips law enforcement to better identify and track hate incidents.

Donald Trump's hateful rhetoric and policies is being blamed for the rise in hate crimes since he began campaigning. "White supremacist violence, fanned by the flames of racist rhetoric and policies at the federal level like the Muslim Ban and family separation, continues to devastate Black and brown communities," said South Asian Americans Together Leading Together in a prepared statement.

"The current Administration continues to promote rather than address the root causes of this violence. Comprehensive data collection is a critical component of documenting the problem, but acknowledging and actively combating white supremacy is the most important step to ensuring this violence doesn’t continue to wreak havoc on people’s lives," the statement concluded.

______________________________________________________________________

• 
  

Major findings of the report:

• 2018 was the deadliest and most violent year for hate since 2001. There were 24 hate crime related deaths and 3,099 violent crime offenses in 2018.
• Hate crimes towards Sikhs in the U.S. TRIPLED from 20 incidents in 2017 to 60 incidents in 2018.
• There were 82 Anti-Arab hate crimes recorded in 2018 –  the second-highest total since the FBI added an anti-Arab category in 2015.
• There were 188 anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded, down slightly from last year but the fifth-highest total on record.
• There were 14 anti-Hindu hate crimes recorded in 2018 – down from 15 in 2017.
• Of the known offenders, over 50% identified as white​ 

Data collection and underreporting of hate violence remains a significant problem. The Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics reports an average of 250,000 hate crimes every year in the U.S. That’s 35 times more than what the FBI documented in 2018. Only 13% of the over 16,000 participating law enforcement agencies reported any hate crimes in their jurisdictions. Disturbingly, the murders of Khalid Jabara, Srinivas Kuchibhotla, and Heather Heyer in 2016 and 2017, like so many other hate crimes, have not been included in official FBI statistics. The vast majority of crimes are going unreported.

And as we saw in 2017, white supremacy continues to be a primary motivation behind hate violence in the US. In both 2017 and 2018, over 50% of known offenders of reported hate crimes identified as white.

Of the over 500 incidents of hate violence targeting South Asians, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Middle Eastern, and Arab Americans thatSAALT has documented since November 2016, at least 80% have been motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment. In SAALT’s 2018 report “Communities on Fire,” one in every five perpetrators of hate violence referenced President Trump, a Trump administration policy, or Trump campaign slogan.

White supremacist violence, fanned by the flames of racist rhetoric and policies at the federal level like the Muslim Ban and family separation, continues to devastate Black and brown communities. Anti-Black hate crimes accounted for more than 25% of violent hate crimes reported in 2018 and the majority of incidents motivated by race.

The current Administration continues to promote rather than address the root causes of this violence. Comprehensive data collection is a critical component of documenting the problem, but acknowledging and actively combating white supremacy is the most important step to ensuring this violence doesn’t continue to wreak havoc on people’s lives.

The report indicated an increase in “crimes against persons,” according to NPR. Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University San Bernardino, spoke to the news outlet about the conclusions that can be made from the data. “We’re seeing a leaner and meaner type of hate crime going on,” he said. ”Homicides were up and crimes against persons were up and that’s an important thing to look at.”

Levin, who also co-authored a law enforcement data report that was released on Tuesday, told NPR that hate crimes in 2018 maintained a typical pattern:

Levin said the increase in assaults was almost evenly distributed across demographic groups, with African-Americans, Jews, Whites, gays and Latinos targeted the most. As in previous years, the majority of hate crimes reported in 2018 were motivated by bias against race and ethnicity, religion and sexual orientation.

On Nov. 12 The FBI released Hate Crime Statistics, 2018, the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s latest compilation about bias-motivated incidents throughout the nation. The 2018 data, submitted by 16,039 law enforcement agencies, provide information about the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of hate crimes.

Law enforcement agencies submitted incident reports involving 7,120 criminal incidents and 8,496 related offenses as being motivated by bias toward race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity. Please note the UCR Program does not estimate offenses for the jurisdictions of agencies that do not submit reports. Highlights of Hate Crime Statistics, 2018 follow. (Due to rounding, percentage breakdowns may not add to 100.0 percent.)

Victims of Hate Crime Incidents
There were 7,036 single-bias incidents involving 8,646 victims. A percent distribution of victims by bias type shows that 59.6 percent of victims were targeted because of the offenders’ race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 18.7 percent were targeted because of the offenders’ religious bias; 16.7 percent were victimized because of the offenders’ sexual-orientation bias; 2.2 percent were targeted because of the offenders’ gender identity bias; 2.1 percent were victimized because of the offenders’ disability bias; and 0.7 percent were victimized because of the offenders’ gender bias.
There were 84 multiple-bias hate crime incidents, which involved 173 victims.

Offenses by Crime Category
Of the 5,566 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against persons in 2018, 46.0 percent were for intimidation, 34.0 percent were for simple assault, and 18.4 percent were for aggravated assault. Twenty-four (24) murders and 22 rapes were reported as hate crimes. The remaining 39 hate crime offenses were reported in the category of other.
There were 2,641 hate crime offenses classified as crimes against property. The majority of these (71.0 percent) were acts of destruction/damage/vandalism. Robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson, and other offenses accounted for the remaining 29.0 percent of crimes against property.
Two hundred eighty-nine (289) additional offenses were classified as crimes against society. This crime category represents society’s prohibition against engaging in certain types of activity such as gambling, prostitution, and drug violations. These are typically victimless crimes in which property is not the object.

Known Offenders
In the UCR Program, the term known offender does not imply that the suspect’s identity is known; rather, the term indicates that some aspect of the suspect was identified, thus distinguishing the suspect from an unknown offender. Law enforcement agencies specify the number of offenders and, when possible, the race of the offender or offenders as a group. Beginning in 2013, law enforcement began reporting whether suspects were juveniles or adults, as well as the suspect’s ethnicity when possible.

Of the 6,266 known offenders, 53.6 percent were white, and 24.0 percent were black or African American. Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders: 1.3 percent were Asian; 1.0 percent were American Indian or Alaska Native; 0.3 percent were Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; and 6.9 percent were of a group of multiple races. The race was unknown for 12.9 percent.

Of the 5,349 known offenders for whom ethnicity was reported, 29.9 percent were not Hispanic or Latino, 8.9 percent were Hispanic or Latino, and 1.6 percent were in a group of multiple ethnicities. Ethnicity was unknown for 59.5 percent of these offenders.
Of the 5,589 known offenders for whom ages were known, 84.7 percent were 18 years of age or older.

Locations of Hate Crimes

Law enforcement agencies may specify the location of an offense within a hate crime incident as 1 of 46 location designations. In 2018, most hate crime incidents (25.7 percent) occurred in or near residences/homes. More than 18 percent (18.7) occurred on highways/roads/alleys/streets/sidewalks; 9.2 percent occurred at schools/colleges; 5.3 percent happened at parking/drop lots/garages; and 3.7 percent took place in churches/synagogues/temples/mosques. The location was reported as other/unknown for 11.2 percent of hate crime incidents. The remaining 26.1 percent of hate crime incidents took place at other or multiple locations.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is dedicated to preventing and combating hate crimes. To learn more about this work and to find events, news, and resources related to hate crimes, please visit the DOJ Hate Crimes website. For additional information about the hate crimes statistics released today, visit the DOJ Hate Crimes Facts and Statistics page.










The number of hate crime incidents reported to the FBI decreased slightly from 2017 to 2018, according to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program’s annual Hate Crime Statistics report, released today.

Law enforcement reported 7,120 hate crimes to the FBI’s UCR Program last year, down slightly from the 7,175 incidents reported the previous year.

There were 7,036 single-bias hate crimes reported to UCR in 2018. From those incidents, there were 8,646 victims.

The majority of the reported hate crimes were motivated by race, ethnicity, or ancestry bias (59.6 percent). Additional biases included religion (18.7 percent), sexual orientation (16.7 percent), gender identity (2.2 percent), disability (2.1 percent), and gender (0.7 percent).

The report, Hate Crime Statistics, 2018, includes hate crime information for last year. The data is broken down by location, offenders, bias types, and victims.

More than 16,000 law enforcement agencies reported their hate crime statistics to the FBI last year. The FBI has been working with law enforcement across the country to encourage reporting of hate crime statistics. Reporting hate crime data to the UCR Program helps the public and researchers gain a more accurate picture of hate crimes. It also allows law enforcement to develop data-focused approaches to combating hate crimes.

Hate crimes are the highest investigative priority of the FBI’s civil rights program.

Full report: Hate Crime Statistics, 2018







Resources
FBI Releases 2018 Hate Crime Statistics
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program
Hate Crime
Civil Rights