The sheriff in Broward County, Florida, is under fire from an anti-Islam group and Tea Party members for hiring and refusing to fire a Muslim deputy who also serves as director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Florida.
Sheriff Scott Israel hired Deputy Nezar Hamze last year, but the verbal attacks on both law enforcers only came last October.
"I hate Islam. Islam is evil," anti-Islam activist David Rosenthal said, according to WPLG and Raw Story. "Ideally, I would ban Islam in the United States. I am against Sharia-compliant Muslims having any position in government, law enforcement or the schools."
WFTL radio host Joyce Kaufman also wrote an online post to criticise the hiring of Hamze.
Last October, the activists and Florida Tea Party members rallied, calling for the resignation of Israel and Hamze.
The anti-Islam protesters said Hamze should not be in law enforcement because he refused to renounce Islamic law.
At the rally, Tom Trento of the anti-Islam group The United West said, "What the hell is going on with Scott Israel that he hires a terrorist!"
Wilfredo Ruiz, a local attorney who works with Hamze at CAIR, said it's another example of hate speech towards Muslims.
"We don't want to make the same errors like putting people in the camps, like we did to the Japanese [during World War II], or segregating schools like in the '50s here in Florida. We are far past that," he said.
Ruiz is cooperating with the FBI in a case about recruitment by ISIS locally.
"These ISIS clowns murder more Muslim men and rape more Muslim women than anyone else," Ruiz said.
He said Hamze is a dedicated officer and does not deserve to be maligned.
"Like him, thousands of other Muslims in America today are wearing the uniform. ... I was, myself, a naval officer. Nobody from a desk can tell me what patriotism is when I have worn my uniform," he said.
Rosenthal maintained though that "the Islamisation of Broward County has begun."
