UPDATE (6:55 PM ET) to include second office evacuated
The Santa Clara, California officer of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was evacuated Thursday afternoon after a suspicious substance was found in a letter mailed to the office. It was the second CAIR office to be evacuated for such a threat on Thursday.
Breaking: CAIR office in Santa Clara evacuated after a letter w suspicious powder found inside. pic.twitter.com/yibNfglSYg— Michelle Roberts (@Michelle_NBC) December 10, 2015
Executive director Zahra Billoo said the office was evacuated around 2:30 p.m. local time.
Update: Substance still undetermined. Area being decontaminated. @CAIRSFBA staff taken to hospital for assessment as a precaution.— CAIR-SFBA (@CAIRSFBA) December 11, 2015
Earlier, the headquarters of the best-known Muslim civil liberties organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in the U.S. was evacuated on Thursday, after a piece of mail containing a suspicious white powder was sent to the Washington office
The Capitol Hill office was evacuated by dozens of police and emergency responders, some wearing hazmat suits, who eventually determined the substance was not harmful. But the FBI has launched an investigation into the incident and CAIR officials say they have handed over the letter.
Spokesman Ibrahim Hooper told reporters that a white powdery substance was received inside a letter and several staff members were initially quarantined in the office.
The office has been the target of anti-Muslim hate messages in the past.
"We receive hate messages daily because of our advocacy on behalf of the American Muslim community," said Maha Sayed, a staff attorney for the group in a statement. "It's frightening to experience the hate manifest itself to such a real level."
CAIR spox says initial test of substance is negative and it came with a hate message. FBI is taking over the investigation @rollcall @CQnow— Bridget Bowman (@bridgetbhc) December 10, 2015
Sayed, however, said that fear would not impact the group's work.
"This will not deter us from continuing to protect the civil rights and liberties of all Americans," Sayed said.
CAIR Capitol Hill office was evacuated by police after "foreign substance" received in the mail. A photo posted by @cair_national on Dec 10, 2015 at 11:44am PST
In the wake of the deadly San Bernardino shootings and Paris attacks, anti-Muslim hate crimes are increasingly being reported in the U.S.
Hateful rhetoric has also been directed at Muslims after Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner for the 2016 election, called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" earlier this week. Another Republican presidential candidate, Ted Cruz, said that the U.S. should only accept Christians from Syria and bar Muslim refugees because "there is no meaningful risk of Christians committing acts of terror.”
"Even before the recent attacks, hate crimes and threats against Muslim, Arab, and South Asian Americans were at the highest they had been since 9/11. Now, we are seeing an even more significant rise in reports of discrimination and violence against American Muslims or those who appear to be Muslim," American Civil Liberties Union attorney Hina Shamsi said in a statement.