Maryland Senators respond to Jewish Community Center threats

Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen have signed a bipartisan letter to the homeland security department urging Secretary John Kelly to increase federal funds programmed to the nonprofit security grant program for fiscal year 2018.

The money would help cover costs to support efforts to build and sustain core capabilities across prevention, protection and response to meet growing threats.

The senators cited recent threats to Jewish community centers and religious institutions nationwide for the need for increased funds.

In Maryland, the most recent wave of threats included Jewish day schools in Rockville and Annapolis, and a Jewish Community Center in Owings Mills. Since November, additional incidents have been reported in Montgomery, Prince George's and Howard County, as well as Baltimore City.

"At a time when children are being evacuated from daycare centers in response to repeated bomb threats and Mosques are deliberately being set on fire, we must ensure that all organizations that face these threats have the support they need.  It is simply unacceptable to not act," the Senators wrote in their joint letter. "Since the beginning of 2017 there have been over 100 threats made against Jewish centers and schools. The recent increase in religiously motivated threats and attacks have shown the importance of providing institutions with the tools to meet these threats."

To see the full letter, people can go here.