releases: https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-demands-noem-rescind-heinous-policy-on-hate-symbols
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| url | title | date | year | month | party | chamber | state | member_name | bioguide_id | domain | scraper | source | date_source | text | has_text | collected_at | updated_at |
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| https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/blumenthal-demands-noem-rescind-heinous-policy-on-hate-symbols | Blumenthal Demands Noem Rescind "Heinous Policy" on Hate Symbols | 2025-12-16 | 2025 | 2025-12 | Democrat | Senate | CT | Richard Blumenthal | B001277 | www.blumenthal.senate.gov | blumenthal | https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/newsroom/press | scraper | [WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, following reporting that the U.S. Coast Guard has allowed a new policy to take effect that no longer prohibits nor classifies swastikas and nooses as hate symbols, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem demanding that she “revoke this policy and make it clear to the brave men and women serving in the Coast Guard that hate has no place in the service.” In a letter sent this evening following the Washington Post’s reporting that the Coast Guard has newly defined swastikas and nooses as just “potentially divisive,” Blumenthal wrote to Noem: “Granting hate symbols like swastikas and nooses even an ounce of respectability is absolutely an anathema. This edict besmirches the Coast Guard’s honor, and DHS should be ashamed. At a time when antisemitic and racist violence are at unconscionable levels, it is absolutely appalling that DHS is doubling down on such a hateful, destructive policy.” The text of today’s letter to Noem is available here and copied below. Dear Secretary Noem, I am outraged by the Coast Guard’s new policy tolerating hate symbols and demand that you rescind it immediately. On November 20, 2025, reporting revealed that the Coast Guard would no longer classify swastikas and nooses as hate symbols.[1] Instead, those symbols would be treated as “potentially divisive” under the new policy, potentially allowing for their display. After widespread outrage and condemnation – and only after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) dismissed the reporting as “fake crap”– the Coast Guard claimed to rescind this heinous policy the next day.[2] It is now clear that the Coast Guard had no intention of backing down, and today they quietly allowed this abhorrent policy to go into effect.[3] Granting hate symbols like swastikas and nooses even an ounce of respectability is absolutely an anathema. This edict besmirches the Coast Guard’s honor, and DHS should be ashamed. At a time when antisemitic and racist violence are at unconscionable levels, it is absolutely appalling that DHS is doubling down on such a hateful, destructive policy. I urge you in unequivocal terms to revoke this policy and make it clear to the brave men and women serving in the Coast Guard that hate has no place in the service. -30- | 1 | 2026-03-30T01:40:41Z | 2026-04-06T20:09:11Z |