CAIR: Dramatic surge in anti-Muslims incidents in New Jersey

Discrimination cases against Muslims in the US state of New Jersey saw a 46 percent increase in 2022 from the previous year, according to a Muslim advocacy group.

A report titled Beyond the Courts published by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday said they received 152 calls for help in 2022, up from 104 in 2021.

According to the report, the complaints involved various forms of discrimination, with 22.4 percent cases related to employment, 17.8 percent coming from schools and 11.8 percent related to hate and bias.

"While it is true that the tragic events of September 11, 2001 shot Muslims into the international spotlight overnight, structural anti-Muslim rhetoric and bigotry and the resulting violence have long preceded the events of 9/11," Qasim Rashad of the United Muslim Masjid in Philadelphia wrote in the report.

"The Patriot Act — unanimously passed by the Senate within one month of 9/11 — was not the first of its kind. In many ways, it was an expansion of the already existing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, which was notoriously weaponised against American Muslims, among other non-white groups," Rashad added.

CAIR last month released a report covering nationwide incidents of civil rights complaints by Muslim Americans in 2022 which revealed a 23 percent decrease.

The Muslim advocacy group received 5,156 complaints nationwide in 2022, down from 6,720 complaints in 2021.

CAIR noted that it is also the first recorded decline since they started tracking such data in 1995.