The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today reported preliminary data revealing that cases of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) profiling of Muslims accounted for 23 percent of CAIR case intakes in the first three months of 2017. This represents a 1,035 percent increase in CBP bias cases reported so far this year over the same period in 2016.
[NOTE: Any case listed in this preliminary report as containing an element of religious discrimination has undergone a vetting process by CAIR intake staff that seeks to ensure the highest possible level of accuracy. Cases are updated as additional facts become available.]
CAIR also found that:
- Of the 193 CBP cases recorded from January-March 2017, 181 were reported after the January 27 signing of the Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States Executive Order, also known as the Trump administration “Muslim Ban.”
- The 181 cases that occurred after the Muslim Ban was signed exceeded the combined total of 136 CBP profiling cases CAIR documented in the previous three years.
CAIR Islamophobia Monitor: Borderline Constitutional Disorder
[NOTE: In early May, CAIR will release a report detailing anti-Muslim bias incidents documented by the civil rights organization during the 2014-2016 period. Shortly after the release of that report, CAIR will release its preliminary first quarter 2017 case data.]
The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency witnessed initial efforts to translate his anti-Islam campaign rhetoric into official U.S. policy. These efforts included populating his administration with a number of officials who have a history of problematic and misleading statements about Islam and Muslims.
CAIR Islamophobia Monitor: Islamophobia and the Trump Team
It also included an evolving effort to fulfill his campaign promise of a ban on Muslim entry into the U.S. There were also reports of substantive movement toward an executive order directing the Secretary of State to determine whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, which experts say is just a “witch hunt” rooted in conspiracy theories peddled by the U.S. Islamophobia network and intended to eviscerate American Muslim civil society.
CAIR Islamophobia Monitor: The Evolving Muslim Ban
CAIR has decried what it termed the Trump administration’s “deafening silence” on a growing number of anti-Muslim incidents in recent days, part of a trend that began during the recent presidential campaign and accelerated following the November 8 election.