Islamophobia’s Rise in Texas

NY Times -  The promise to combat “radical Islam” has long been a part of Republican politics. The rhetoric has only intensified nationally, as Muslims like Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist mayor of New York City, and Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, won major races.

But politicians in Texas have gone beyond words, turning the power of the state against some Muslim groups.

A major turning point arrived in early 2025, after members of the East Plano Islamic Center unveiled plans for a real estate development centered on a new mosque in farmland east of Dallas. The opposition was immediate and intense.

State leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, have since opened investigations into Muslim institutions across Texas. They’ve sought to block the real estate development and investigate religious divorce counseling. Mr. Abbott threatened to take state funding from Texas airports that provide ritual washing stations for Muslim travelers, ordered the cancellation of a private water park party celebrating a Muslim holiday and labeled the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national civil rights group, as a terrorist group — a step that even the Trump administration has so far not taken.

Efforts by Republican state leaders to restrict Islamic practice have coincided with a push to expand Christianity’s place in public life. In June, Texas became the first state to mandate Bible readings in public schools, where lawmakers had already required prayer time and the posting of the Ten Commandments.