Hate crimes against Muslims in America have often surged as a response to conflict—including following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and Israel’s war in Gaza.
“In late 2023 through 2024, what we really saw is that events overseas seem to be driving Islamophobia here,” Saylor said. In 2025, though, his research found there was a pivot to a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment among elected officials.
The Center for the Study of Organized Hate (CSOH), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, released a report last month that documented a 1,450% surge in anti-Muslim social media posts by Republican elected officials from February 2025 to March 2026.
“Islamophobia is an acceptable form of hate in the United States,” Saylor says. “A large number of elected officials, whether it be Randy Fine from Florida, Keith Self or Chip Roy, both from Texas, have smeared Muslims.”
CAIR has previously called for the resignation of Fine, a Republican representative, for his anti-Muslim social media posts, including a post on X in February, which read: “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”