Reuters
Hate crimes targeting U.S. Muslims rose 15% in 2017, a second year in a row for a sharp rise.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations recorded what it considers to be 300 U.S. hate crimes targeting Muslims last year, up from 260 in 2016, it said in a report out Monday. There was a 44% jump in hate crimes from 2015 to 2016.
Headline-making incidents last year included the June beating of a Muslim man in the Bronx borough of New York City by teenage attackers who called him a terrorist and a Muslim family’s restaurant destroyed by arson in Kansas.
CAIR attributed the increase in part to the policies of President Donald Trump, particularly restrictions on immigration from Muslim-majority countries.
“CAIR’s 2018 Civil Rights Report provides concrete evidence that the unconstitutional Muslim Ban resulted in more Islamophobic hate and violence,” said Zainab Arain, author of the report, the group’s research and advocacy coordinator.
As an ultimately successful “America first” candidate, Trump promised “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” He signed an executive order banning most travelers from several Muslim-majority countries shortly after taking office, although a revised version of that order, which also included North Korea, took effect late last year. The Supreme Court this week considers whether the administration can categorically bar entry to the U.S. based on a person’s nationality. A ruling is expected by June.
Rhetoric beyond policy has contributed to the advocacy group’s concerns. Trump drew criticism in November for retweeting questionable anti-Muslim videos posted by a far-right British political group. And NBC News reported this week that John Bolton, Trump’s new national security adviser, chaired a nonprofit that has promoted false anti-Muslim news, some of which has been amplified by a Russian troll factory.
Trump has described the U.S. immigration system as a threat to national security, saying the “wrong people” are being admitted to the country.
Notably, the U.S. is granting fewer visitor visas to people from around the world, not just to Muslims, a Politico report has found.
The 300 hate crimes were a slice of the 2,599 incidents CAIR logged as representing anti-Muslim bias in 2017, a figure that was up 17% from 2016. The larger total included allegations of harassment, employment discrimination and alleged biased treatment by government agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Customs and Border Protection.