US Speaker Johnson’s Remarks Slammed as Anti-Muslim Hate Speech
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, on Wednesday condemned Johnson for inciting anti-Muslim hate weeks after the deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego.
Responding to a question about the Trump administration’s challenge to birthright citizenship contrasted with the celebration of US National Team player Folarin Balogun, who was born in the US but spent much of his youth in Nigeria, Speaker Johnson said that “we celebrate legal immigration” and “expect that people will come, they will follow the spirit and the letter of the law, they will assimilate into our country and not try to transplant Sharia law and all these other things.”
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“Just weeks after anti-Muslim extremists murdered three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego, Speaker Johnson is inciting anti-Muslim hate using some of the same talking points the shooters used in their manifesto. When American Muslims pray five times a day, fast in Ramadan, and give in charity, they are following the rules of sharia, which is analogous to halacha in Judaism and canon law in Catholicism. The idea that American Muslims following the rules of their faith pose a threat to American culture is a hateful remark that Speaker Johnson would never tolerate or express regarding Jewish or Christian Americans. We urge Speaker Johnson to apologize for this false and dangerous implication.”
Washington, D.C., based CAIR’s latest civil rights report documented 8,683 anti-Muslim bias complaints in 2025 – the highest number ever recorded by the organization since it began publishing civil rights reports in 1996.
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Last month, CAIR commended Democratic members of Congress who defended American Muslims and constitutional religious freedom during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on “Sharia law.” CAIR also condemned Republican members and witnesses for promoting anti-Muslim fearmongering and dangerous smear tactics amid rising anti-Muslim hate incidents nationwide.
CAIR previously designated the so-called “Sharia-Free America Caucus” organizing the hearing as an anti-Muslim hate group after multiple caucus members publicly called for banning the practice of Islam, expelling Muslims from the United States, or targeting mainstream Muslim organizations and communities.
Source: Cair.com
