LOS ANGELES — A new civil rights report released Tuesday by the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations warns that anti-Muslim discrimination in the United States is rising, fueled in part by rhetoric and policies from government officials.
CAIR-LA released its annual report, “The Right to Be Different,” Tuesday morning, documenting what the organization says is a growing pattern of discrimination against American Muslims by public officials.
CAIR-LA, Southern California’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, has published yearly civil rights reports since 1996. However, the organization stated that the highest number of single-year complaints was recorded in 2025, underscoring what it described as a sharp rise in anti-Muslim discrimination across the United States.
The states of Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas were particularly affected by high levels of reported incidents. Although complaints have increased over the last three years, the surge last year was especially alarming, with CAIR Minnesota, for example, reporting 693 complaints — a 96% increase compared with 2024.
According to CAIR-LA, the increase in complaints is a direct result of anti-Muslim narratives spread by public officials across government offices.
CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush condemned the trend, saying, “Anti-Muslim hate in the mainstream has been driven, in part, by elected officials openly spreading the false and dangerous narrative that Islam and Muslims are incompatible with American values.”
This fearmongering by public officials, CAIR-LA argues, has led to the proposal of legislation and government actions that the organization describes as Islamophobic.
In 2025, five bills were proposed at the federal level that would prohibit the practice of Islam or prevent Muslims from entering the United States. Additionally, two U.S. representatives from Texas, Chip Roy and Keith Self, founded the “Sharia-Free America Caucus,” which they say aims to address concerns about the influence of Islamic law.
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, has also echoed similar rhetoric in public remarks, alleging that American Muslims use “laws or violence” to promote “Islamic principles” throughout the United States in a speech delivered at AmericaFest hosted by Turning Point USA.
However, government officials are not only promoting anti-Muslim narratives or attempting to pass legislation; they are also relying on what CAIR-LA describes as “collective and ideological punishment” to target people seen as undesirable.
Afghans, Somalis and Syrians were specifically named in the report as frequent targets of discriminatory policies and surveillance.
Yet CAIR-LA clarified that it is not only people who identify as Muslim who are being targeted. The Trump administration is also pursuing individuals who have spoken out about what they describe as the ongoing genocide in Palestine and who have advocated for Palestinian human rights.
Thus far, there have been four high-profile arrests — three students and one journalist — that appear to be connected to their outspoken support for Palestine.
Court evidence has not supported the charges in any of the arrests, but that does not prevent the arrests from creating an environment of fear and censorship, consequently deterring others from speaking out.
This pattern of arrests also highlights what the report describes as the expanded use of discretionary authority.
Powerful executive tools, such as executive proclamations or emergency powers, allow public officials to act in ways that would not traditionally be possible, making it more difficult to challenge these actions, with CAIR-LA asserting, “Equal protection depended less on neutral administration and more on after-the-fact judicial correction.”
However, although litigation has proved successful, with courts continually “rejecting censorship and viewpoint discrimination,” the report argues that lawsuits alone are not the solution.
Trying cases in court is costly and reactive. What is needed now more than ever, CAIR-LA argues, is stronger, more proactive institutional accountability that prevents cases with unsubstantiated charges from even reaching the courtroom.
With this, CAIR-LA stresses that the broader implications extend beyond a single religious community or political ideology.
Corey Saylor, CAIR’s research and advocacy director, said these civil rights concerns should worry anyone interested in safeguarding constitutional freedoms, stating, “Protecting the right to be different is not a favor to any one community. It is the operating system of a free country.”
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