The conservative education policy group Moms for Liberty was tracked by the Department of Justice's unit tasked with responding to "hate crimes" through alerts triggered by signals such as the Confederate flag, a noose, or a swastika, according to internal emails.
The documents show the group being tracked by the DOJ's Community Research Service (CRS) in a manner only used to track two other groups (the Ku Klux Klan and the Oath Keepers) reported The Daily Wire, which obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act filed by America First Legal on its behalf.
Targets like Moms for Liberty were tracked through alerts from Google or LexisNexis based on certain keywords.
The DOJ has not commented on why it was tracking the Florida-based group, which advocates against school curricula mentioning LGBTQ rights, critical race theory, and discrimination.
Emails were obtained from DOJ-CRS Conciliation Specialist Hannah Levine suggesting that she tracked "hate" through setting up keyword searches.
For example, a July 20, 2023 alert set for the terms "'moms for liberty' virginia" brought up an article saying that the Virginia Department of Education had released new policies for transgender students.
Levine then wrote to board members in Roanoke County, was to "offer our services in conflict resolution," the emails show.
"I'd like to connect to see if we might be able to offer support and services as you work to manage conflict within the community related to this," she said in an email.
The DOJ until used other words, tracking the phrase "moms for liberty" along with searches that included "bias," "bigot," "confederate flag," and more.
However, there was no evidence that the Moms for Liberty group or Roanoke officials had committed hate crimes, but the DOJ appeared to be operating under the premise that Virginia's government was operating under a "hate agenda" or that activists were creating "tensions," opening the door for intervention, The Daily Wire reported.
The emails also show that CRS was pressuring local officials, through emails with doj.gov accounts, to accept arbitration services.
The findings represent a "new low" for the DOJ, said Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice.
"We reject the notion that advocating for parental rights and the well-being of children is an act of hate and we call on the Department of Justice to clarify its position on this matter," she said. "The actions of the federal government should never infringe upon the rights of parents to engage in the democratic process."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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