Washington, DC – As america and Israel proceed to wage struggle with Iran, civil rights consultants have famous a troubling development: an ongoing rise in Islamophobia, even within the highest echelons of the US authorities.
Consultant Andy Ogles, for instance, has said, “Muslims don’t belong in American society”, including that “pluralism is a lie”.
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His Republican colleague, Consultant Randy Fine, has additionally amplified anti-Muslim rhetoric on-line.
“In the event that they pressure us to decide on, the selection between canine and Muslims isn’t a tough one,” he mentioned one latest put up. In one other, Effective wrote: “Deport them ALL.”
In January, Consultant Keith Self, additionally a Republican, shared on social media: “Islam is on the march and seeks world domination.”
These sorts of statements, coupled with punitive actions below United States President Donald Trump, have created the surroundings for a rise in Islamophobia and discrimination within the US, in accordance with advocates.
“That is an excessive language that’s typically used to advance excessive insurance policies,” mentioned Corey Sawyer, the analysis and advocacy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group.
CAIR launched its annual report on Tuesday, which outlines what it sees as an more and more hostile surroundings, one which started even earlier than the outbreak of the struggle with Iran.
Whereas the authorized rights of Muslims within the nation haven’t modified “on paper”, CAIR argues that these rights have been narrowed amid anti-Muslim rhetoric and insurance policies.
That places all US residents in danger, no matter faith, the organisation mentioned.
“In 2025, what we noticed in america was a bunch of highly effective public officers assert that freedom comes with situations,” Sawyer mentioned.
“It’s a must to communicate their authorised traces. It’s a must to worship in methods wherein they approve. You must hint your ancestry to locations that they approve of. And it’s best to suppose the ideas that they approve.”
Sawyer defined that the push to silence Muslim voices within the US was a symptom of a broader rollback of free-speech rights below the First Modification of the Structure.
“Defending your proper to be completely different and your proper to dissent isn’t a favour to anybody group,” Sawyer added. “That’s the working system of a free nation.”
‘Broad assault on Muslim life’
In Tuesday’s report, CAIR indicated its places of work throughout the nation acquired 8,683 complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination nationwide in 2025, a slight enhance from the earlier 12 months.
It was the best quantity of complaints for CAIR because it started publishing its civil rights report in 1996.
Sawyer pointed to a number of elements that contributed to the uptick. The Trump administration, for instance, has rolled again its civil rights operations on the Division of Homeland Safety and Division of Schooling.
The White Home has additionally led efforts to punish faculties and college students for his or her participation in pro-Palestinian protests and actions.
Then, there have been statements from the president himself, attacking Muslim-majority teams dwelling within the US, together with Somalis and Afghans.
Taken collectively, these actions amounted to a “broad assault on Muslim life” in 2025, Sawyer mentioned.
In the meantime, CAIR’s report mentioned that “anti-Muslim narratives extra clearly resurfaced in 2025, notably the notion that the spiritual rules adopted by Muslims are inherently threatening and anti-American”.
No less than 5 items of laws launched on the federal stage sought to “successfully ban the observe of the world’s second-largest faith in america or entry of its adherents into the nation”, the report mentioned.
A number of of these payments sought to ban so-called “sharia” practices, adopting “terminology developed by anti-Muslim extremists within the mid-2000s”, in accordance with CAIR’s report.
CAIR additionally pointed to the creation of a so-called “Sharia-Free America Caucus” launched by Representatives Chip Roy and Keith Self final 12 months, which at the moment claims 45 lawmakers as members.
The report mentioned the caucus seeks to “advance the concept Muslim spiritual id disqualifies folks from participation in American civic life”.
CAIR itself was targeted in 2025, with the governors of each Texas and Florida labelling the group a “overseas terrorist group”.
The label carries no authorized weight on the state stage, and CAIR< has continued to function within the states.
Nevertheless it has filed lawsuits accusing the governors, accusing them of defamation and of in search of to trample the group’s First Modification rights.
Trickledown impact from federal messaging
Along with sounding the alarm about nationwide tendencies, Tuesday’s report drew a line between focused actions in particular states and heightened stress on particular person Muslim-majority teams.
Minnesota, as an illustration, was a state the place the Trump administration initiated a hardline immigration push in December and January.
The enforcement effort was dubbed “Operation Metro Surge”, and it got here in response to a welfare fraud scandal in Minnesota that Trump blamed on the state’s massive Somali American group.
Within the lead-up to Operation Metro Surge, the president repeatedly made racist remarks about Somali People, referring to them as “rubbish”.
CAIR’s report indicated that these federal actions resulted within the progress of anti-Muslim discrimination within the Midwestern state.
It recognized Minnesota as considered one of 5 states — together with Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas — the place complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination have steadily risen over the past three years.
Minnesota noticed a 96 % enhance from 2024 to 2025, with 23 % of complaints lodged within the last month of final 12 months.
CAIR’s report additionally cited heightened stress on the Afghan group within the US.
Final November, an Afghan man was recognized as a suspect within the deadly taking pictures of two members of the US Nationwide Guard in Washington, DC.
The Trump administration responded by imposing a blanket pause on Afghan visa and immigration processing. Within the wake of the assault, CAIR mentioned Afghans had been “collectively handled as suspicious” within the US and confronted elevated scrutiny.
Impacts on training
On the state stage, CAIR’s report recognized actions in Texas and Florida as stigmatising features of Muslim life.
In Florida, as an illustration, lawmakers not too long ago superior a invoice often known as HB 1471, which incorporates punishments for faculties and college students linked to “overseas terrorist organisations”, as designated by the state. That would embody the withholding of college voucher funds or expulsion for particular person college students.
Whereas proponents of the regulation say it doesn’t point out faith or nationality, critics level out that state authorities have already moved to label Muslim teams like CAIR as “terrorist” in nature.
“These efforts elevate the chance of lawful Muslim participation in Florida civic life and contribute to a story that locations Muslims as outdoors the circle of protected spiritual and civic engagement,” the report mentioned.
Already, CAIR mentioned dozens of pro-Palestinian scholar protesters and college supporters have confronted an ongoing sample of discrimination for his or her advocacy work, notably since Trump returned to workplace in 2025.
A number of, together with Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Mohsen Madhawi and Badar Khan Sur, are at the moment embroiled in Trump-led efforts to deport them.
The Trump administration has additionally sought to penalise universities that noticed pro-Palestinian protests unfold on their campuses.
Some prime faculties have confronted civil rights probes and had their federal funds frozen. Others have been pressured to just accept settlements that contain multimillion-dollar fines.
The Trump administration has led such efforts below the auspices of combatting anti-Jewish sentiment.
However CAIR famous the Trump administration has relied on the Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Affiliation’s (IHRA) definition of “antisemitism” in its justification, which is “extensively seen as conflating criticism of Israel with antisemitism”.
‘Deceiving you for their very own functions’
CAIR’s evaluation echoes a separate report from the US Middle for the Research of Organized Hate (CSOH), revealed on Monday.
That report concluded that the launch of the US-Israeli struggle with Iran “accelerated” the unfold of dangerous content material focusing on American Muslims.
On-line commentators have more and more adopted “dehumanising language” because the struggle started, referring to Muslims as “pests”, “rats”, “vermin”, “parasites” and an “infestation”, in accordance with the CSOH report.
“Such language has traditionally preceded and enabled probably the most excessive types of violence in opposition to focused communities,” it warned.
On Tuesday, Sawyer rejected the narrative that Muslims aren’t part of america’s social cloth, stating that they’ve been current within the US since its founding.
Trying ahead, he warned of politicians in search of to make use of anti-Muslim rhetoric for political ends.
“Anybody who makes an attempt to say that our nation is something apart from a nation the place many religions thrive — and that Islam is an American faith — is deceiving you for their very own functions,” Sawyer mentioned.
“We should always all be very clear and conscious of why politicians are placing ahead sure agendas to exclude People from the power to take part within the civic and spiritual lifetime of this nation.”
