PATERSON, NJ – Today, Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr., co-chair of the Congressional Law Enforcement Caucus, and a longtime former member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, issued a statement in response to reports that explosive devices had been sent to former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to CNN studios, to philanthropist George Soros, and to Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

“Thank you to law enforcement organizations and first responders throughout the nation for their work to protect the targets of these uncovered threats. I also express my deep appreciation to Capitol Police for keeping members of Congress and their staffs safe.

“For years now, Donald Trump has been calling for the jailing of his critics and has lauded violence against journalists. The revolting ‘Lock Her Up’ chants have stoked the flames of hate. The slurs against George Soros that Republicans continue to invoke are dredged up from centuries of nauseating anti-Semitism. They have helped create an environment that has fostered all this. They must stop trying to divide America and help us lower the national temperature. As I have long been concerned about, the danger of right-wing extremism cannot be ignored and more attention must be paid to it before even worse violence occurs.”

Rep. Pascrell has long called for greater scrutiny of right-wing extremist groups. In 2017, Pascrell highlighted how Donald Trump’s rhetoric was emboldening white supremacist terror groups. In office, Pascrell has repeatedly condemned terror attempts against minority groups and called for increased awareness of domestic terror groups. Pascrell is also a longtime supporter of the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program which provides financial support for the security of community centers and places of worship for all religious groups.