Missouri Senator Josh Hawley tore into Merrick Garland after he directed the FBI to crack down on identifying and prosecuting alleged threats of violence and intimidation of school officials across the country. Garland’s memo comes after more and more instances of contentious shool meetings between administrators and concerned parents were brought to the forefront of the media.

In multiple school districts, concerned parents have rightfully voiced outrage over schools implementing mask mandates that have been proven to have little effect in the fight against Covid-19 and the racist Critical Race Theory (CRT). Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a memo after the National School Boards Association (NSBA) asked the Biden administration for assistance, likening the alleged threats from parents as domestic terrorism.

Fox News reports:

“All around the country, Americans are speaking out against the radical racist ideology sometimes called ‘critical race theory.'” Hawley wrote in a letter to Garland. “Americans have responded to this radical ideology by winning elections for local school boards and protesting peacefully at school board meetings. Yet your memo yesterday to the FBI and local U.S. Attorneys ignored all of this and warned of an insurgence of ‘threats of violence’ and ‘efforts to intimidate individuals based on their views.’”

“I certainly share your view that threats of violence have no place in this country, but the backdrop of your memo strongly suggests that your concern is not violence, but democratic pushback against critical race theory,” the senator continued.

Hawley said Garland and the DOJ should stay out of “regular democratic activity” and that it “provided no evidence of actual, genuine threats of violence.” Instead, Hawley alleged, the DOJ is simply aiming to paint opponents of critical race theory as “enemies of the republic.”

Hawley’s letter asks Garland’s office to provide him with any materials the DOJ plans to disseminate in connection with the attorney general’s memo, and a list of who was consulted as the memo was prepared.