At least three mosques in California have received threatening letters last week that also praise President-elect Donald Trump. A civil rights group, Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR, has now sought greater protection for mosques in the state, which had voted for the democrats in the US presidential elections.
"There's a new sheriff in town — President Donald Trump. He's going to cleanse America and make it shine again. And, he's going to start with you Muslims," the letter states, CAIR reported. "And, he's going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the jews (sic)."
The letter was sent to the Islamic Center of Long Beach, the Islamic Center of Claremont and the Evergreen Islamic Center in San Jose. It was addressed to "the children of Satan" and signed by "American for A Better Way."
The San Jose Police Department has launched investigation in to the matter.
CAIR-LA's executive director Hussam Ayloush said the "irresponsible, hateful rhetoric" of the Trump campaign has fuelled "a level of vulgarity, vile hatred and anger among many self-proclaimed Trump supporters."
"I'm not saying (Trump) created racist people," Ayloush said. "He normalized it. While he might say he's not responsible, and I respect that, I remind President-elect Trump that he has a responsibility to act as a president for all Americans," he said.
Muslims in California were also threatened after the 2015 terror attack by a Muslim couple at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California.
Trump during his campaigning had talked of limiting the number of people who can enter America from radical countries. He also proposed restarting a registry for Muslims, which is a Bush-era programme.
Recently, the FBI said that hate crimes against Muslims increased to 67 percent, a level which was only seen after 9/11. There were 257 incidents where Muslims were targeted in 2015 compared to 154 in 2014.
