The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) today called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to permanently cancel – not merely postpone – the anti-Muslim hate hearing that Senator Ted Cruz had scheduled for this week. The hearing has reportedly been pulled from the calendar in the wake of the terror attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego, which law enforcement is treating as a hate crime.
The organizations warned that members of Congress are continuing to spread dangerous conspiracy theories and anti-Muslim hate rhetoric about American Muslims, mosques, Muslim charities, Muslim schools, and Muslim civic organizations, helping fuel escalating anti-Muslim hate and violence nationwide.
This week, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz planned to host a Senate Judiciary hearing advancing the long-debunked conspiracy theory that there exists a “hidden” network of American Muslim organizations and leaders plotting to somehow take over America. CAIR and MPAC warned that postponing, rather than permanently canceling, the hearing means congressional leaders still intend to promote the same dangerous anti-Muslim conspiracy theories at a later date.
Last week, the anti-Muslim, so-called “Sharia-Free America Caucus” under the leadership of Congressman Chip Roy held a second congressional hearing promoting similar conspiracy theories. During that hearing, Representative Bob Onder and Republican witnesses, including anti-Muslim hate group leader Amy Mek, portrayed mosques, imams, and Islamic community institutions as “beachheads” for a supposed foreign invasion.
In a joint statement, CAIR and MPAC said:
“It was always dangerous and unconscionable for Ted Cruz and other anti-Muslim hate politicians to hold congressional hate hearings meant to foment hate against American Muslim mosques, institutions and even schoolchildren attending private schools. In the wake of the deadly hate crime terror attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego, such congressional hearings should be unacceptable.
“These anti-Muslim hate hearings in the House and Senate are fueling the same climate of paranoia, dehumanization, and anti-Muslim hatred that violent extremists consume. Politicians cannot spend months depicting Muslim communities as suspicious ‘beachheads,’ warning of hidden Muslim ‘networks,’ and portraying ordinary Muslim civic participation as a national security threat and then pretend there is no connection when extremists target mosques and worshipers with violence.
“These are not legitimate congressional oversight hearings. They are taxpayer-funded election-year propaganda spectacles rooted in the same anti-Muslim conspiracy theories that have circulated for years within the white nationalist movement and among organized anti-Muslim hate groups.
“It is shameful that elected officials in Congress, and governors in states like Texas and Florida, are abusing the power of government and taxpayer resources to demonize American Muslims simply for participating visibly in American public life.
“These hearings and hate groups like the so-called ‘Sharia-Free America Caucus’ are actively painting a target on the backs of Muslim communities. Anti-Muslim members of Congress like Senators Cruz and Tommy Tuberville, and Representatives Keith Self, Andy Ogles, Brandon Gill, and Randy Fine must stop their dangerous campaign of normalizing threats, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination against Muslim families, children, houses of worship, schools, and civic institutions.
“We are calling on Republican congressional leadership to cancel Ted Cruz’s planned hate hearing, stop platforming anti-Muslim hate groups and extremist speakers, end the normalization of anti-Muslim hate in the United States Congress.”
The organizations said elected officials should be defending constitutional religious freedom and the safety of all Americans, not mainstreaming conspiratorial rhetoric that stigmatizes an entire faith community.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: MPAC Policy Communications Manager Misaal Irfan, misaal@mpac.org; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR-San Diego Executive Director Tazheen Nizam, tnizam@cair.com 760-201-7626