A mother-of-six who led the charge to remove sexually explicit books from school libraries has claimed federal law enforcement officials flew helicopters and stationed cop cars outside a school board meeting in to intimidate parents – after AG Merrick Garland was accused of treating parents like 'terrorists’.
Stacy Langton appeared on Fox & Friends on Wednesday and claimed that federal agents and unmarked law enforcement vehicles were seen outside a board meeting of the Fairfax County Public Schools last week.
Langton claimed that there was a heavy federal law enforcement presence just days after she and others protested outside the Department of Justice in Washington, .
She made the allegation as Attorney General Merrick Garland was accused of targeting Fairfax County parents protesting aspects of the school curriculum as ‘domestic terrorists.’
The Biden administration’s top prosecutor has come under fire over a directive the Justice Department issued earlier this month promising more law enforcement resources for schools amid a rise in tensions and threats at school board meetings over matters like critical race theory, coronavirus precautions and transgender bathroom policies.
In his memo Garland said there had been 'a disturbing spike in harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff who participate in the vital work of running our nation´s public schools.’
Stacy Langton (left), a mother of six children from Fairfax County, Virginia who forced the local school system to remove sexually explicit books from school libraries, claims federal law enforcement officials are intimidating parents protesting school curriculum and treating them as 'domestic terrorists.’ Attorney General Merrick Garland is seen right
Langton claimed that federal agents and unmarked law enforcement vehicles were seen outside a board meeting of the Fairfax County Public Schools last week. Langton said that there was a heavy federal law enforcement presence just days after she and others protested outside the Department of Justice in Washington, DC. But the image that she posted appears to show flowing traffic near where the school board meeting was held
While Garland never mentioned or referred to parents as terrorists, his memo came after the National School Boards Association sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking for help.
The letter claimed that clashes between the school board and parents could amount to 'domestic terrorism’.
Langton, however, believes she and other parents are being targeted by the feds and says she has received death threats in response to the protests.
’I have threats against my children by name, I have been followed in my car with my children, they have my vehicle, they know where I live, and I don’t know who’s putting somebody up to this, but it’s obviously meant to intimidate me,’ said Langton.
’I’m not getting a lot of sleep right now, nobody’s sleeping in my house because we can’t be sure that we’re safe,’ she said.
’So, I understand Merrick Garland is actually testifying today at the Senate and he’s gonna talk about mobilizing the FBI against parents.
’Maybe he should mobilize the FBI into who’s threatening my family.’
Langton posted a tweet on Friday showing a marked Department of Homeland Security vehicle that was operated by the DHS’s Federal Protective Service, the agency unit responsible for safeguarding federal properties.
’Went to @fcpsnews (Fairfax County Public Schools) #schoolboardmeeting last night,’ Langton wrote in the caption of Friday’s tweet.
’Heavy #Fed presence. Unmarked fed vehicles, @DHSgov vehicles, even helicopter circling overhead with spotlight on Moms & Dads.
’All on the night #DOJ Merrick Garland testifies. A little over the top, no?’
Other internet users, however, claimed that the photo Langton posted was of Gallows Road, a busy intersection in Fairfax County, and that it was not of parked cars outside the school board meeting.
Social media users also noted that northern Virginia is home to several federal buildings, and it is not uncommon to see federal law enforcement personnel driving by.
The school board meetings are usually held in a location on Gallows Road, but the image Langton posted appears to be that of flowing traffic, and not a parking lot as she suggested.
’This is something that is incredible in America and it’s ridiculously un-American,’ Langton told Fox & Friends of the alleged law enforcement presence.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Langton, the Fairfax County Public Schools, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Justice seeking comment.
Langton last month forced FCPS to remove two books from school libraries, including an illustrated memoir that contains explicit illustrations of sexual encounters involving children.
Sen. Tom Cotton questioned Garland on Wednesday over a DOJ memo promising to address a 'rise in crime’ at school board meetings
She questioned the school board at a public meeting last month about the books’ availability in high school libraries.
As she quoted from explicit passages in the book, a school board member interrupted her and chastised her for using explicit language.
Another school board member defended the books by saying they are available only in high school libraries, not in grade schools.
The school system then announced that it was pulling Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison from circulation pending a more detailed review.
Gender Queer, an illustrated memoir, contains explicit illustrations of oral sex and masturbation.
The novel Lawn Boy contains graphic descriptions of sex between men and children.
Both books were previous winners of the American Library Association’s Alex Awards, which each year recognize 'ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18.’
The controversy is the latest to befuddle Fairfax County’s school board, and other across Virginia and the country as conservative parents object to masks in schools, anti-racism curriculum, and policy changes requiring transgender students be referred to by their preferred pronouns.
Scott Smith was arrested at a Loudoun County school board meeting on June 22 after his daughter, 15, was allegedly attacked by a boy in a dress
Smith was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after the June 22 meeting. He said he was trying to contain himself after listening to school board staff say they’d never had a report of a sexual assault in a bathroom, when that is what his daughter reported weeks earlier
Scoot (left) and Jess Smith (right) are suing Loudon County under the provisions of Title X after their 15-year-old daughter was allegedly raped by a 'skirt-wearing male student’ in a 'gender fluid’ restroom at Stone Bridge High School in Leesburg, Virginia on May 28