(The Center Square) – Nearly half a billion dollars is being requested to respond to an increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic threats and violence nationally and in North Carolina.

Addressed to the Appropriations Committee leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives, four congressmen asked for $454.5 million for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program. The embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency, a part of the Department of Homeland Security led by Secretary Kristi Noem, is the administrator.