New CAIR Civil Rights Report Reveals First-Ever Drop in Total Complaints, Sharp Rise in School Incidents

Progress in the Shadow of Prejudice’ documents 5,100+ total complaints received nationwide in 2022, representing a 23 percent decrease since the previous year. 

(PITTSBURGH, PA, 04/11/2023) – Today, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, released its latest civil rights report for 2022 at a news conference at its Capitol Hill headquarters in Washington D.C. 

WATCH THE FULL NEWS CONFERENCE 

VIDEO: Community Briefing on New Report 

[NOTE: At today’s news conference, the CAIR Legal Defense Fund also introduced new findings concerning the government watchlist system after a data analysis study was conducted by an independent team of statisticians at Analysis & Inference. The study concluded there is a 95 percent chance that at least 98.3 percent of the records in the combined watch lists correspond to Muslim names.] 

Titled “Progress in the Shadow of Prejudice,” the report documents 5,156 complaints to CAIR offices nationwide involving a range of issues including airline discrimination, banking discrimination, bullying, denial of service, education discrimination, employment discrimination, FBI Interrogation, First Amendment violations, hate crimes, law enforcement encounters, immigration/asylum cases, incarceree rights, sport discrimination, school incidents, among other reported issues. 

SEE: 2023 Civil Rights Report: Progress in the Shadow of Prejudice  

SEE: CAIR Says Muslim Bias Complaints Return to Pre-Trump Levels 

There was a 23 percent decrease in the total number of complaints for 2022 compared to the previous year. It is the first recorded decline since we started tracking such data in 1995. The new report notes that complaints about law enforcement and government overreach dropped by 38 percent. At the same time, complaints about school incidents increased by 63 percent. 

“A one-year decline is fuel for optimism. It’s not yet a trend. The rise in cases impacting students is concerning,” said CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor. “CAIR’s civil rights work can help secure this positive trend and the data tells us that more proactive measures to protect children are an important part of our efforts going forward.” 

In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said: 

“CAIR’s latest nationwide civil rights data shows that progress has been made in the fight against anti-Muslim bigotry and discrimination, but that significant challenges remain.  

“The massive 63 percent rise in school related-complaints and persistently high reports of employment discrimination, bias incidents and government abuses are deeply concerning. 

“We call on government agencies, companies and local communities to take some of the steps recommended in our report so that our nation can make lasting progress in the fight to advance justice for all, including American Muslims.” 

SEE 2022 Civil Rights Report: Still Suspect  

The report also details dozens of Islamophobic incidents that occurred in the United States in 2022. 

In New Jersey, a truck visited four mosques with “images seemingly blaming Muslims for a 2008 attack in Mumbai, India.” 

SEE: Muslims on edge after truck with anti-Islamic imagery spotted at 2 NJ mosques (news12.com) 

In a case of denial of service, a Muslim woman filed a complaint at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination against a McDonald’s employee who intentionally put a large amount of pork bacon on a Fish-o-Filet sandwich. 

SEE: McDonald’s intentionally sold Muslim family bacon, complaint says (usatoday.com) 

Numerous violations of incarceree rights also occurred, as CAIR called on a federal court in one case to impose a $10,000 fine on a Nevada prison for violating a court order to allow Muslim incarcerees to congregate for jumm’ah. 

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: CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, csaylor@cair.com; CAIR Research and Advocacy Coordinator Ammar Ansari, 202-742-6410, aansari@cair.com; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Coordinator Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com