New Mexico mosque attacked four times in less than 2 week, rights advocates urge for hate crime probe

A mosque in the small New Mexico town of Portales has seen four attacks in the span of a week and a half.

The Portales Islamic Center, with a small congregation of around 20 that mainly serves local university students, was hit with four instances of vandalism in less than two weeks, in one of the latest examples of mosque attacks in different parts of the United States.

Local authorities are reportedly investigating the matter, though not explicitly as a hate crime as of Monday, as Muslim rights advocates are urging, despite indications of a biased motive.

Damage to the mosque includes broken furniture, punctures to a wall, a ripped Quran with beer poured on it, as well as KKK painted on the wall, a clear reference to the notorious Ku Klux Klan white supremacist group, shown on a video clip of a local news report.

"All too often, when there's vandalism of a mosque, local law enforcement brushes it off," Ibrahim Hooper national communications director and spokesman with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has publicly called for a hate crime investigation, told The New Arab.

"When you have KKK spray painted on the interior, it's not like there's no indication of a bias motive. I don't know if they're looking at the same thing I'm looking at," he said. 

Christopher Williams, police chief of Portales, issued a statement to local media, saying that these incidents were not likely a hate crime.

“Our investigators are continuing to investigate this incident regardless of if it is or is not a hate crime," he told KRQE, noting that if a hate crime was determined, in New Mexico there would be a sentencing enhancement and not a separate criminal charge.

"At this time the damage is extremely similar to that on other vacant buildings in the area, which leads us to believe that this is more than likely not a hate crime however, possible leads are being followed up on and the area is being monitored by officers," he said.

The current response, though not what advocates are hoping, is still something for attacks on a house of worship, which some say are often disregarded by authorities.

"They didn't really take it seriously until we pressed them on it," said Hooper.