The'service' said on Monday that a drawing of a swastika, which appeared at the U.S. Coast Guard’s?primary recruiting training center in New Jersey, was removed and that the incident had been referred to a forensic investigator for further investigation.

In a press release, a U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Coast Guard had immediately referred a matter to the Coast 'Guard Investigative Services (CGIS) in order to investigate the matter. This was in line with the Coast Guard's long-standing policy. This hate symbol was removed immediately.

The Washington Post reported?on Monday? that a Coast Guard Instructor discovered the swastika on Thursday night on a wall in a men's restroom at the Cape May Training Center in southern New Jersey.

The'swastika' was adopted by Germany’s?Nazi Party as a symbol for white supremacy and far-right hatred.

Admiral Kevin Lunday spoke with about 900 recruits, staff and other members of the Coast Guard to discuss the incident.

Anyone who promotes hate or extremist ideologies is to be expelled. Leave. In a Coast Guard statement,?Lunday stated that you don't belong to the United States Coast Guard. Rights advocates say that President Donald Trump's rise to power has fueled far-right and white supremacist rhetoric over the years. Trump, a Republican has?said he condemned white supremacists, neo Nazis, and other far-right rhetoric.

The Washington Post reported in November that Coast Guard revised its language in their workplace harassment manual in order to recharacterize the swastikas as "potentially dividing" rather than describing them as hate symbols.

Lunday stated at the time that "claims claiming that the U.S. Coast Guard would no longer classify swastikas or nooses as prohibited images are categorically untrue."

(source: Reuters)