NJ lawmakers to Noem: Denouce swastika found at Cape May USCG center

🔴A swastika was discovered in a restroom at the USCG Training Center in Cape May

🔴NJ's congressional Democrats are demanding Noem condemn the act

🔴They also want strict language banning hate symbols restored

CAPE MAY — New Jersey’s congressional Democrats want U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to denounce the discovery of a swastika in the bathroom of the Coast Guard training facility in Cape May.

A swastika was found Feb. 19 on a restroom wall at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center by an instructor, according to The Washington Post. The incident was referred to the Coast Guard Investigative Service for investigation, and the hate symbol was removed.

Admiral Kevin Lunday, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, went to the center and called a mandatory "all hands" meeting with about 900 recruits and staff members and explained in no uncertain terms that hate symbols are unacceptable.

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NJ Democrats demand Kristi Noem condemn hate symbol

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, D-NJ 6th District, is leading the effort to get Noem to condemn the find and to "restore explicit language classifying swastikas as prohibited hate incidents and condemn the use of this heinous symbol at a military facility." The Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

"We demand that you immediately restore explicit language classifying swastikas as prohibited hate incidents and condemn the use of this heinous symbol at a military facility. And we demand that you take significant steps to reverse the culture of hate that is developing in the Trump Administration," reads the letter.

The representatives in the letter wrote that when the Trump Administration rewrote the Coast Guard’s handbook to "go easier" on hate symbols such as swastikas, nooses, Confederate flags, supremacist symbols, and antisemitic imagery by calling them “potentially divisive," it changed behavior.

"Despite insisting that this would have no impact on the service, the swastika at Cape May is proof of the culture change, the representatives said in the letter.

Pallone's office said Noem has not yet responded to the letter. The letter was signed by all nine House Democrats representing New Jersey.

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