FBI investigates offensive messages targeting Hispanic, LGBTQ people
Officials shared that high school Hispanic and LGBTQIA students are receiving offensive messages saying they’ve been selected for deportation or re-education camps.
“Although we have not received reports of violent acts stemming from these offensive messages, we are evaluating all reported incidents and engaging with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division,” the FBI wrote in a release. “We are also sharing information with our law enforcement partners and community, academia, and faith leaders.”
Law enforcement said the communications have expanded to emails.
The announcement comes days after African American students received similar messages stating they’d been selected to "pick cotton."
The FBI is currently investigating the messages while encouraging recipients to report the details to the agency.
The messages come after the conclusion of an election season that was, in some instances, marked by racial rhetoric. President-elect Trump was frequently critiqued for comments made by himself or his surrogates.
A speaker at his highly publicized Madison Square Garden rally referred to Puerto Rico as a "floating island of garbage" while Trump previously compared himself to Black voters after receiving a mug shot.
"I got indicted for nothing, for something that is nothing,” Trump said at the Black Conservative Federation (BCF) annual gala in South Carolina in February. “And a lot of people said that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against. It’s been pretty amazing, but possibly, maybe, there’s something there.”
NAACP President Derrick Johnson condemned his statements earlier this year and blamed Trump for the racist text messages circulating after his successful White House bid.
"The unfortunate reality of electing a President who, historically has embraced, and at times encouraged hate, is unfolding before our eyes," Johnson released in a statement.
"These messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday's election results."
He added that the organization would refuse to allow the actions to become "normalized."
Trump insiders have denounced claims that the president-elect has promoted racially charged rhetoric, including his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, who previously said, “You have to look at somebody and what they actually have done, and Donald Trump really was very beneficial to the Black community when he was in the White House. I will say I’ve never seen this man say a racist thing.”