US authorities searching for author of anti-Muslim letters

US authorities say they are aggressively pursuing those behind a series of threatening letters sent to mosques in the state of California, but said the letters do not rise to the level of a hate crime.  

Speaking at the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles on Monday, law enforcement leaders said they are searching for the letter-writer or writers to ensure they don’t pose a larger threat.

“We know that incidents routinely evolve into crimes,” said Horace Frank, commander of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).  

“We don’t want to wait until this evolves,” said Frank, who was surrounded by faith leaders and police commanders.

He said the LAPD was making “significant headway” in tracking the source of one of the letters

Stephen Woolery, the head of the counter terrorism division at the FBI’s field office in Los Angeles, said the messages are too vague to constitute a hate crime.

“The letters don’t specifically contain a threat. The letters don’t speak directly about a threat of violence, and that’s what the FBI looks for when we investigate,” he said.

Investigators said the letters, which were all signed by “Americans for a Better Way,” appear similar and were probably all sent by the same person.

The letters, which were sent to three mosques in California and one in Georgia, threatened the Muslim community with death and destruction.

The letters also praised US President-elect Donald Trump and pledged that he was “going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews [sic].”

“Your day of reckoning has arrived,” the letters read, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Greater Los Angeles chapter. “There’s a new sheriff in town — President Donald Trump.

The cabinet appointments of Trump have signaled his intention to deliver on his hard-line campaign promises and have deepened concerns among Muslim Americans about an anti-Islamic White House. 

Civil rights groups have warned of a growing number of attacks against minorities, including Muslims, since Trump was elected to the White House on November 8.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, civil rights organization that tracks hate crimes, has reported over 700 incidents of racially motivated violence since Trump’s election.

According to the FBI, hate crimes overall grew by 6.8 percent in 2015 to a total of 5,850 incidents reported throughout the year, compared with the 5,479 incidents reported in 2014.

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