Texas police receive training from anti-Islam ex-FBI agent

Earlier this month, ex-FBI John Guandolo agent held a training seminar entitled "Understanding the Jihadi Threat to America" in San Angelo, a central Texas town with some 100,000 residents. Guandolo has a well-documented past of anti-Muslim views.

See racist, controversial moments of Texas in the past year. less Earlier this month, ex-FBI John Guandolo agent held a training seminar entitled "Understanding the Jihadi Threat to America" in San Angelo, a central Texas town with some 100,000 residents. Guandolo has a ... more Photo: Understanding The Threat Photo: Understanding The Threat Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Texas police receive training from anti-Islam ex-FBI agent 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

It's unclear how many Texas police officers received training from John Guandolo, an ex-FBI agent with extreme anti-Islam views.

Earlier this month, Guandolo held a training seminar titled "Understanding the Jihadi Threat to America" in San Angelo, a central Texas town with roughly 100,000 residents.

Two days before the seminar, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights advocacy group, published an article warning that "Guandolo's training seminars are steeped in anti-Muslim rhetoric and conspiracy theories, and have prompted other law enforcement agencies across the country to either distance themselves from previous ... events or offer no credit to officers attending them."

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More than 30 law enforcement officers signed up to attend, claimed the Christian Reporter News, a media outlet that helped organize the event. The SPLC describes Christian Reporter News as anti-Muslim organization.

A quick Google search reveals that Guandolo's anti-Muslim beliefs are not hard to come across.

Several days after the seminar he accused Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress, of being a "jihadi."

In January, he tweeted that Islam "evil & barbaric."

In 2017, Guandolo's anti-Muslim hate group, Understanding the Threat (UTT), tweeted a photo showing a fictional bombing of the headquarters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, calling the Muslim advocacy organization a "terrorist group."

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According to the Texas Observer, the Southern Poverty Law Center and other civil rights groups emailed the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement after the event, urging them to reject credit hours to any officers or officials who attended the ex-FBI agent's training.

The state agency said accreditation for the course is "pending review."

While no video exists of Guandolo's seminar in Texas, footage by an undercover Al Jazeera reporter shows Guandolo telling Arizona police claims described as "ridiculous" by a former FBI counterterrorism agent.

Fernando Ramirez is a reporter for Chron.com and the Houston Chronicle. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93.