The lawmakers said that, while the policy was reversed, ‘this kind of reversal … raises urgent questions about how and why this policy was allowed to advance’
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Rep.-elect Laura Friedman (D-CA) arrives along with other congressional freshmen of the 119th Congress for a group photograph on the steps of the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol Building in November 2024. Friedman led the letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on the swastika policy.
The 21 members of the House Jewish Caucus — every Jewish Democrat in the chamber — wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to express “extreme alarm and concern” about recent reporting that the Coast Guard would no longer classify the swastika as a hate symbol, and demanded answers about the policy.
Amid backlash, the policy was walked back, according to the Washington Post, and the swastika will remain a prohibited hate symbol rather than be classified as “potentially divisive.”
“While we are pleased that the Coast Guard quickly reversed course and reaffirmed that these are hate symbols, we remain deeply troubled that such a change was ever considered in the first place,” the lawmakers, led by Rep. Laura Friedman (D-CA), said. “This kind of reversal, only made after media attention and public outrage, raises urgent questions about how and why this policy was allowed to advance.”
They requested the administration provide, by Nov. 26, an explanation of how the policy was initiated including who authorized, discussed and approved it from DHS, the White House and the Pentagon.
The lawmakers said that “lowering America’s moral standards” will hurt both service members and recruiting efforts, as well as “sends a dangerous and unmistakable message that this administration is willing to tolerate, or worse, excuse, the display of symbols rooted in hate.”
The Jewish Caucus members said that the change and its intent in the leaked policy memo was clear, pushing back on claims from the administration that reporting on the policy had been misleading or inaccurate.
“Your department made an intentional change to downgrade these symbols from being classified as hate symbols to merely ‘potentially divisive,’” the letter reads.


































































