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Rights groups decry federal role in 'crackdown' on public safety training center activists

A joint letter was sent Thursday to Senate and House leaders from groups including the ACLU, Brennan Center and NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

ATLANTA — Several rights groups this week sent a letter to Senate and House leaders decrying what they called the "politicized targeting" of activists in Atlanta opposed to the future police and fire training center they call "Cop City."

The groups - among them the ACLU, Brennan Center, NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Center for Constitutional Rights - allege that the federal Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis has aided in intelligence gathering against the activists in a "crackdown."

More than 60 people allegedly tied to the movement against the future Atlanta Public Safety Training Center were charged this year in a RICO indictment brought by the Georgia Attorney General's Office. The joint letter criticizes DHS' characterization of protesters and activists tied to the movement as "domestic violent extremists."

"(The Office of Intelligence and Analysis)  has focused its efforts on journalists, racial justice demonstrators in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, people simply reacting online to hot-button social issues, and other social media monitoring that bases inquiries on commonly held political views," a release from the Brennan Center stated. "Without urgently needed and serious change, I&A will likely continue to abuse its authorities."

Among the lawmakers addressed in the letter are Georgia's two Democratic senators, Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

"Concern about DHS intelligence abuse is broadly bipartisan," the letter states. "We ask your offices to call on DHS to publicly release relevant records, demand that it cease disseminating information treating opposition to the training facility as an indicator of 'domestic violent extremism,' probe its use of intelligence authorities, and adopt robust legislation to ensure that it does not investigate or surveil people in the United States on the basis of their political or ideological beliefs."

You can read the full letter here.

   

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