{"id":5361,"date":"2026-03-10T21:35:33","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T21:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/us-civil-rights-group-documents-broad-attack-on-muslim-life-in-2025\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T21:35:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T21:35:33","slug":"us-civil-rights-group-documents-broad-attack-on-muslim-life-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/us-civil-rights-group-documents-broad-attack-on-muslim-life-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"US civil rights group documents \u2018broad attack on Muslim life\u2019 in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p><strong>Washington, DC \u2013<\/strong> As the United States and Israel continue to wage war with Iran, civil rights experts have noted a troubling trend: an ongoing rise in Islamophobia, even in the highest echelons of the US government.<\/p>\n<p>Representative Andy Ogles, for example, has <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepOgles\/status\/2031002097135599717\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a>, \u201cMuslims don\u2019t belong in American society\u201d, adding that \u201cpluralism is a lie\u201d.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/4\/why-are-the-us-and-israel-framing-the-ongoing-conflict-as-a-religious-war\">Why are the US and Israel framing the ongoing conflict as a religious war?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/3\/6\/no-deal-with-iran-except-unconditional-surrender-trump-says\">\u2018No deal with Iran except unconditional surrender,\u2019 Trump says<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/features\/2026\/3\/7\/indonesian-presidents-us-ties-questioned-amid-public-anger-over-iran-war\">Indonesian president\u2019s US ties questioned amid public anger over Iran war<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>His Republican colleague, Representative <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/10\/us-congressman-randy-fine-suggests-palestinians-should-be-destroyed-first\">Randy Fine<\/a>, has also amplified anti-Muslim rhetoric online.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one,\u201d he said one recent post. In another, Fine wrote: \u201cDeport them ALL.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In January, Representative Keith Self, also a Republican, shared on social media: \u201cIslam is on the march and seeks world domination.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those kinds of statements, coupled with punitive actions under United States President Donald Trump, have created the environment for an increase in Islamophobia and discrimination in the US, according to advocates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an extreme language that is often used to advance extreme policies,\u201d said Corey Sawyer, the research and advocacy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group.<\/p>\n<p>CAIR released its annual report on Tuesday, which outlines what it sees as an increasingly hostile environment, one that began even before the outbreak of the war with Iran.<\/p>\n<p>While the legal rights of Muslims in the country have not changed \u201con paper\u201d, CAIR argues that those rights have been narrowed amid anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies.<\/p>\n<p>That puts all US residents at risk, regardless of religion, the organisation said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 2025, what we saw in the United States was a group of powerful public officials assert that freedom comes with conditions,\u201d Sawyer said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou have to speak their approved lines. You have to worship in ways in which they approve. You should trace your ancestry to places that they approve of. And you should think the thoughts that they approve.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sawyer explained that the push to silence Muslim voices in the US was a symptom of a broader rollback of free-speech rights under the First Amendment of the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cProtecting your right to be different and your right to dissent isn\u2019t a favour to any one community,\u201d Sawyer added. \u201cThat\u2019s the operating system of a free country.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"broad-attack-on-muslim-life\">\u2018Broad attack on Muslim life\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>In Tuesday\u2019s report, CAIR indicated its offices across the country received 8,683 complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination nationwide in 2025, a slight increase from the previous year.<\/p>\n<p>It was the highest volume of complaints for CAIR since it began publishing its civil rights report in 1996.<\/p>\n<p>Sawyer pointed to several factors that contributed to the uptick. The Trump administration, for example, has rolled back its civil rights operations at the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Education.<\/p>\n<p>The White House has also led efforts to punish schools and students for their participation in pro-Palestinian protests and activities.<\/p>\n<p>Then, there have been statements from the president himself,\u00a0attacking Muslim-majority groups living in the US, including Somalis and Afghans.<\/p>\n<p>Taken together, those actions amounted to a \u201cbroad attack on Muslim life\u201d in 2025, Sawyer said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, CAIR\u2019s report said that \u201canti-Muslim narratives more clearly resurfaced in 2025, particularly the notion that the religious principles followed by Muslims are inherently threatening and anti-American\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>At least five pieces of legislation introduced on the federal level sought to \u201ceffectively ban the practice of the world\u2019s second-largest religion in the United States or entry of its adherents into the nation\u201d, the report said.<\/p>\n<p>Several of those bills sought to ban so-called \u201csharia\u201d practices, adopting \u201cterminology developed by anti-Muslim extremists in the mid-2000s\u201d, according to CAIR\u2019s report.<\/p>\n<p>CAIR also pointed to the creation of a so-called \u201cSharia-Free America Caucus\u201d launched by Representatives Chip Roy and Keith Self last year, which currently claims 45 lawmakers as members.<\/p>\n<p>The report said the caucus seeks to \u201cadvance the idea that Muslim religious identity disqualifies people from participation in American civic life\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>CAIR itself was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/21\/cair-sues-texas-governor-over-unconstitutional-terror-designation\">targeted<\/a> in 2025, with the governors of both Texas and Florida labelling the group a \u201cforeign terrorist organization\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The label carries no legal weight on the state level, and CAIR< has continued to operate in the states.<\/p>\n<p>But it has filed lawsuits accusing the governors, accusing them of defamation and of seeking to trample the group\u2019s First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"trickledown-effect-from-federal-messaging\">Trickledown effect from federal messaging<\/h2>\n<p>In addition to sounding the alarm about nationwide trends, Tuesday\u2019s report drew a line between targeted actions in specific states and heightened pressure on individual Muslim-majority groups.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota, for instance, was a state where the Trump administration initiated a hardline immigration push in December and January.<\/p>\n<p>The enforcement effort was dubbed \u201cOperation Metro Surge\u201d, and it came in response to a welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota that Trump blamed on the state\u2019s\u00a0large Somali American community.<\/p>\n<p>In the lead-up to Operation Metro Surge, the president repeatedly made <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/28\/ice-ilhan-omar-and-somalis-unpacking-trumps-obsession-with-minnesota\">racist remarks<\/a> about Somali Americans, referring to them as \u201cgarbage\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>CAIR\u2019s report indicated that those federal actions resulted in the growth of anti-Muslim discrimination in the Midwestern state.<\/p>\n<p>It identified Minnesota as one of five states \u2014 including Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas \u2014 where complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination have steadily risen over the last three years.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota saw a 96 percent increase from 2024 to 2025, with 23 percent of complaints lodged in the final month of last year.<\/p>\n<p>CAIR\u2019s report also cited heightened pressure on the Afghan community in the US.<\/p>\n<p>Last November, an Afghan man was identified as a suspect in the fatal shooting of two members of the US National Guard in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration responded by imposing a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/11\/29\/us-pauses-visas-for-all-afghan-passport-holders-halts-asylum-requests\">blanket pause<\/a> on Afghan visa and immigration processing. In the wake of the attack, CAIR said Afghans were \u201ccollectively treated as suspicious\u201d in the US and faced increased scrutiny.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"impacts-on-education\">Impacts on education<\/h2>\n<p>On the state level, CAIR\u2019s report identified actions in Texas and Florida as stigmatising aspects of Muslim life.<\/p>\n<p>In Florida, for instance, lawmakers recently advanced a bill known as HB 1471, which includes punishments for schools and students linked to \u201cforeign terrorist organisations\u201d, as designated by the state. That could include the withholding of school voucher funds or expulsion for individual students.<\/p>\n<p>While proponents of the law say it does not mention religion or nationality, critics point out that state authorities have already moved to label Muslim groups like CAIR as \u201cterrorist\u201d in nature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese efforts raise the risk of lawful Muslim participation in Florida civic life and contribute to a narrative that places Muslims as outside the circle of protected religious and civic engagement,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n<p>Already, CAIR said dozens of pro-Palestinian student protesters and faculty supporters have faced an ongoing pattern of discrimination for their advocacy work, particularly since Trump returned to office in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Several, including Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Mohsen Madhawi and Badar Khan Sur, are currently embroiled in Trump-led <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/1\/15\/us-court-hands-trump-victory-against-pro-palestine-activist-mahmoud-khalil\">efforts to deport<\/a> them.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration has also sought to penalise universities that saw pro-Palestinian protests unfold on their campuses.<\/p>\n<p>Some top schools have faced civil rights probes and had their federal funds frozen.\u00a0Others have been forced to accept settlements that involve multimillion-dollar fines.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration has led such efforts under the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/7\/24\/columbia-university-to-pay-200m-to-settle-anti-semitism-claims\">auspices<\/a> of combatting anti-Jewish sentiment.<\/p>\n<p>But CAIR noted the Trump administration has relied on the International Holocaust Remembrance Association\u2019s (IHRA) definition of \u201cantisemitism\u201d in its justification, which is \u201cwidely seen as conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"deceiving-you-for-their-own-purposes\">\u2018Deceiving you for their own purposes\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>CAIR\u2019s analysis echoes a separate report from the US Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), published on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>That report concluded that the launch of the US-Israeli war with Iran \u201caccelerated\u201d the spread of harmful content targeting American Muslims.<\/p>\n<p>Online commentators have increasingly adopted \u201cdehumanising language\u201d since the war began, referring to Muslims as \u201cpests\u201d, \u201crats\u201d, \u201cvermin\u201d, \u201cparasites\u201d and an \u201cinfestation\u201d, according to the CSOH report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuch language has historically preceded and enabled the most extreme forms of violence against targeted communities,\u201d it warned.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Sawyer rejected the narrative that Muslims are not a part of the United States\u2019s social fabric, pointing out that they have been present in the US since its founding.<\/p>\n<p>Looking forward, he warned of politicians seeking to use anti-Muslim rhetoric for political ends.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who attempts to say that our country is anything other than a nation where many faiths thrive \u2014 and that Islam is an American religion \u2014 is deceiving you for their own purposes,\u201d Sawyer said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe should all be very clear and aware of why politicians are putting forward certain agendas to exclude Americans from the ability to participate in the civic and religious life of this country.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, DC \u2013 As the United States and Israel continue to wage war with Iran, civil rights experts have noted a troubling trend: an ongoing rise in Islamophobia, even in the highest echelons of the US government. Representative Andy Ogles, for example, has said, \u201cMuslims don\u2019t belong in American society\u201d, adding that \u201cpluralism is a &#8230; <a title=\"US civil rights group documents \u2018broad attack on Muslim life\u2019 in 2025\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/03\/10\/us-civil-rights-group-documents-broad-attack-on-muslim-life-in-2025\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about US civil rights group documents \u2018broad attack on Muslim life\u2019 in 2025\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}