CAIR records more than 10,000 anti-Muslim bias incidents in US since 2014

A Muslim civil liberties group has published a report highlighting the alarming scale of anti-Muslim sentiment in the US.

The Council on American Islamic Relations reported more than 10,000 incidences of anti-Muslim bias had taken place between 2014 and June 2019, or 2,000 a year on average.

Incidents ranged from violent crimes, to employment discrimination and profiling by federal agencies.

The figure includes 1,164 anti-Muslim hate crimes, which included physical assaults, as well as property damage.

During the period covered, 506 incidents at mosques, of which 148 included damage or destruction of mosques through vandalism. This included the recent arson at a Diyanet mosque in Connecticut, which authorities concluded had been deliberately targeted.

Of the 10,015 incidents, 2,783 involved federal officials, of which the FBI accounted for 1,177 alone.

The biggest spike came in 2017 with 2,599 incidents, which represents a 94 percent increase on 2014 levels. CAIR put this jump down to the fall out from US President Donald Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’, which stopped travellers from several Muslim majority states from entering the US.

While Trump himself and senior members of his administration have made anti-Islam comments, the US has long faced accusations of bias towards Muslims, especially after the 9/11 attacks.

“This report documents the prevalence and severity of the disturbing rise in the number of anti-Muslim bias incidents,” said CAIR National Research and Advocacy Manager Zainab Arain. 

“While various studies have pointed to the rise in bias incidents since the 2016 presidential election, this report shows the most recent data on bias incidents targeting the American Muslim community.”