Several statewide civil liberty and immigrant rights organizations are denouncing recent comments made by two Tennessee sheriffs concerning Muslims in the state.

Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond and Sevier County Sheriff Ron Seals each made comments considered disparaging during recent appearances before local conservative organizations, according to reports from the Chattanooga Times Free Press and Knoxville News Sentinel.

Hammond called Islam “communism with a god” and added that Islam uses religion to get tax breaks and “use our own system against us.”

Seals told attendees at a local tea party event to “report” Muslims who are “aggressive in local restaurants.”

“Recently the sheriffs of Hamilton and Sevier counties have both made alarmist and sensational anti-Muslim comments, on the heels of similar statements from state legislators. Inaccurate, sweeping indictments made by leaders in law enforcement endanger members of the very communities that they have taken an oath to protect,” reads a statement from four organizations, issued Wednesday.

The organizations are the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Center for Outreach, the American Muslim Advisory Council and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition.

“Law enforcement leaders and other elected officials who do not have active relationships with their local Muslim communities need to establish those relationships. Ignorance is not an excuse for those who are entrusted with public safety,” said Zulfat Suara of the American Muslim Advisory Council.

Hedy Weinberg, head of the Tennessee chapter of the ACLU, said the comments from Hammond and Seals encourage racial profiling.

“Basing law enforcement decisions on false stereotypes rather than actual police work or evidence of criminal activity is not only a waste of resources, it undermines community-police relations, eroding public safety as a whole,” Weinberg said. 

The comments from local law enforcement come on the heels of Vice President Joe Biden calling the killing of U.S. military members in Chattanooga the act of a “perverted jihadist” during a memorial in Tennessee.