The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, has released its 2025 Civil Rights Report, ‘Unconstitutional Crackdowns,’ revealing that Islamophobia remains at an all-time high across the country. CAIR cited viewpoint discrimination against those speaking out against genocide and apartheid as a major factor in many cases.

In 2024, CAIR offices nationwide received 8,658 complaints—the highest number recorded since the organization’s first civil rights report in 1996. This marks a 7.4% increase from the 8,061 complaints received in 2023, reflecting a worsening climate of Islamophobia.

“Vigorous public debate, a hallmark of healthy democracy, was replaced by crackdowns on people expressing politically disfavored viewpoints in 2024. Speaking out against Israel’s policies of apartheid, occupation, and genocide came with a price,” said CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor. “For the first time in our report’s nearly 30-year history, complaints reported to us were often the result of viewpoint discrimination rather than religious identity.”

Unlike past years, when American Muslims were targeted primarily for their faith, 2024 saw a broader crackdown affecting Muslims, Palestinians, Arabs, Jews, African Americans, and Asian Americans who spoke out against genocide and apartheid. Employment discrimination became the highest-reported category for the first time, making up 15.4% of all complaints. Many cases involved minority employees being punished or smeared for speaking out against Israel’s occupation of Palestine and its treatment of Palestinians. Law enforcement-related incidents surged by 71.5%, rising from 295 in 2023 to 506 in 2024. Many of these incidents were tied to student-led anti-genocide protests, as universities increasingly relied on law enforcement to suppress activism.

Despite these troubling trends, there were some victories for civil rights in 2024. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of CAIR’s arguments against the federal No Fly List. Attorneys representing individuals impacted by President Trump’s 2017 Muslim Ban secured a major agreement benefiting nearly 25,000 affected individuals. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also took action to ban the sale of sensitive location data from Muslim app users, safeguarding privacy and preventing surveillance misuse.

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.