NEW YORK — On Thursday, Oct. 24, a coalition of 125 civil rights, religious and community groups wrote a letter to the Department of Justice, calling for a federal investigation into the NYPD’s surveillance program against Muslims.

The coalition, which includes the ACLU and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), urged Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate and put an end to the department’s practices.  

“For over a decade, the NYPD has engaged in unlawful religious profiling and suspicionless surveillance of Muslims in New York City,” the letter reads. “The NYPD’s biased policing practices hurt not only Muslims, but all communities who rightfully expect that law enforcement will serve and protect America’s diverse population equally, without discrimination.”

The police department has engaged in “unlawful religious profiling and suspicion-less surveillance,” the groups said.

“Unsurprisingly, the NYPD’s surveillance program has had far-reaching, deeply negative effects on Muslims’ constitutional rights by chilling speech and religious practice and harming religious goals and missions,” the letter said. “It has frayed the social fabric of Muslim communities by breeding anxiety, distrust, and fear.”

The police department has repeatedly insisted that it does not profile people religiously or ethnically, and its programs are legal. A spokesman had no comment on the letter.

The Justice Department has said it was continuing to review complaints received on the NYPD after a series of Associated Press stories revealed widespread surveillance by the police department.