Trump crackdown on protests and immigration led to Islamophobia

Record high Islamophobia in the U.S. in 2025 was driven in part by President Donald Trump’s crackdown against pro-Palestinian protests and immigration, a Muslim advocacy group said on Tuesday.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it recorded 8,683 anti-Muslim and anti-Arab complaints in 2025, the highest since it began publishing data in 1996, compared to 8,658 in 2024.
Most complaints were about employment discrimination (12.7%), immigration and asylum (6.5%), hate incidents (6.4%), and travel discrimination like government watchlists and screenings (5.6%), CAIR’s report noted.
Over the years, advocates have attributed Islamophobia to the September 11, 2001 attacks; and more recently to anti-immigration sentiment, white supremacy and the fallout of Israel’s war in Gaza.