CAIR Asks DOJ to Reject Abbott’s Investigation Into Muslim Facilities at Texas Airports

Earlier this week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking officials to reject Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for an investigation into Texas airports.

CAIR’s letter comes after Abbott sent a letter referring Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport and the George Bush Intercontinental Airport to the DOJ for an investigation into alleged religious discrimination.

“These ablution stations single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion,” Abbott said. “They are not interfaith chapels open to all. They exist to benefit the Muslim population alone. Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others.”

Two weeks ago, plans were uncovered showing that DFW airport planned to install a $300,000 ablution station in terminal D. An ablution, or wudu, is an Islamic ritual of purification performed before daily prayers that includes washing the feet, hands, face, and arms.

After the DFW Airport project was uncovered, scrutiny resurfaced for Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, which had already installed a Sharia-compliant Islamic prayer complex in Terminal D of its airport.

Abbott initially launched a state investigation before referring the matter to the U.S. Department of Transportation for further investigation.

However, last week Abbott said he was calling on the Justice Department to immediately review what he called “discriminatory facilities” and take corrective action.

CAIR and CAIR-Texas then responded with their own letter to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, urging them to reject Abbott’s request.

Their letter argues that the facilities are open to all travelers regardless of faith and calls Abbott’s request a “baseless effort” to “stigmatize ordinary Muslim religious practice.”

“This latest referral is part of a broader pattern in which Governor Abbott and his administration have repeatedly singled out Muslim communities, institutions, and religious practices for investigation, criticism, and adverse government action,” CAIR and CAIR-Texas said in a statement. “The Department of Justice should reject this baseless request and focus instead on genuine civil rights threats, including anti-Muslim violence, attacks on houses of worship, discriminatory land-use decisions affecting mosques, and other unlawful efforts to deny Americans the free exercise of their faith.”

However, Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, told the Daily Signal that “neither the airports, nor CAIR, get to veto state and federal law.”

“First and foremost, CAIR is a designated foreign terrorist organization under Texas law. Second, these stations single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion. And government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others.” Mahaleris said. “The Constitution and federal government grant conditions plainly and prohibit religious discrimination.

The DOJ and DOT did not respond to a request for comment by publication.  

Although neither the DOJ nor DOT has confirmed whether they will investigate the airports, Abbott has said that both DFW Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport are already under investigation by the state. 

If the airports are found to be in violation of state law, they could lose state grant funding as well as eligibility for any future funding.