CAIR says Muslim bias complaints return to pre-Trump levels

Complaints involving bias against American Muslims fell 23% in 2022, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported Tuesday, 5,156 versus 6,720 the year before.

The overall decline, CAIR said, “is the sharpest single-year change” since 2017, when a 32% increase in complaints was recorded “in the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency.”

And while complaints about what the District of Columbia-based advocacy group called “law enforcement and government overreach” were down 38% in 2022, they said reports of school-related incidents rose 63% last year.

The CAIR report tracks a wide range of complaints about the ways in which American Muslims say they are treated, including law enforcement interactions, immigration complaints and workplace issues.

By contrast, the Anti-Defamation League, which two weeks ago released its annual survey on antisemitic incidents, limits its canvas to attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions. The ADL reported “historic levels” of 3,697 such attacks in 2022, up 36% over the year before.

CAIR said, “One year of declining cases is not a problem solved; it’s a glimmer of hope. … The characteristic of being Muslim continues to function as a prejudice magnet.”

The group also expressed concerns over issues involving immigration and asylum cases. They said the 1,207 complaints in that area was the most they received. Driving factors were the residue from what it called the Trump-era Muslim and African immigration bans, repealed in 2021, as well as a surge in immigration from Afghanistan after the 2021 U.S. withdrawal, which took place seven months after Joseph R. Biden was inaugurated as president.

CAIR said a return to in-person schooling during 2022 may account for part of a 63% increase in educational complaints. The group said progress was made with laws enacted by Ohio and Maryland letting student athletes wear religious attire, which it noted was the result of “young leaders standing up for their beliefs.”