Today, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries released the following statement:

Kristi Noem is a corrupt disgrace who is doing grave damage to the integrity and reputation of the Department of Homeland Security and the United States Coast Guard. 

The recent reporting that the Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas, nooses and Confederate flags as hate symbols is shameful. Unfortunately, it is not surprising given that the Trump administration peddles hate and intolerance with malign consistency.  

The swastika is a symbol of hate associated with the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust. The Confederate flag is part of a painful history of racial oppression in America that enslaved Africans in this country for hundreds of years. The noose is directly tied to the thousands of horrifying lynching deaths of African Americans during the Jim Crow era. These are unquestionably hateful symbols that have no place in civilized society. 

The Coast Guard must reverse course immediately and Kristi Noem should resign. 

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