Representative Ritchie Torres speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, U.S., September 30, 2021. Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS

JNS.org – New York Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) sent a letter on Friday to the US Department of Justice asking it to investigate what he called New York City’s failure to prosecute antisemitic hate crimes.

“I am respectfully asking the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department to consider investigating New York’s systematic failure to police and prosecute hate crimes and to issue recommendations for reform,” Torres wrote to US Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“The federal government can no longer stand by passively as antisemitic violence goes unchecked and unpunished in America’s largest city,” the congressman continued.

In his letter, the Bronx native addressed the rising number of antisemitic hate crimes in New York City, saying, “Just as alarming as the violence itself has been the government’s deafening inaction.”

The letter referenced a report highlighting that 118 adults have been arrested for antisemitic hate crimes in New York City since 2018, but only one perpetrator has been convicted and imprisoned.