• CAIR says Islamophobia in 2025 in US reached record high.
• Most complaints were about employment discrimination (12.7%).
• Trump’s crackdown has raised free speech, due process concerns.

Record high Islamophobia in the US 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 (CAIR) 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.

Immigration crackdown

Trump denies being discriminatory and says his administration aims to curb illegal immigration and improve domestic security. Advocates say the immigration crackdown is unsafe and violates due process.

CAIR noted Trump’s targeting of Somali Americans in Minnesota, a majority-Muslim community, who he accused of fraud and called “garbage.”

CAIR said the government used isolated cases for collective targeting and dismissed Trump’s ability to tackle fraud, citing pardonsto those with past fraud convictions.

CAIR’s Minnesota chapter reported 693 complaints, up from 353 in 2024.

CAIR also noted targeting of Afghan immigrants after two National Guard soldiers were shot in Washington in November, for which an Afghan was indicted.

Protest crackdown

Trump alleges pro-Palestinian protesters are antisemitic and sympathise with extremists.

His administration has attempted to deport foreign protesters, threatened to freeze funds for universities where protests were held, and ordered aggressive screening of immigrants’ online comments.

Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say he wrongly conflates criticising Israel’s assault on Gaza and occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and advocating for Palestinian rights with supporting extremism.

“The Trump administration framed anyone who holds pro-Palestinian views as inherently threatening,” CAIR said.

Notable deportation attempts were against Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained for months while his wife was pregnant, and Leqaa Kordia, who lost over 170 family members in Gaza and was briefly hospitalised following a seizure in detention.

CAIR raised free speech, due process and academic freedom concerns. Trump’s crackdown has faced judicial roadblocks.

Republican governors in Florida and Texas have signed orders designating CAIR as a “terrorist” group. CAIR sued over the designations. A judge has blocked Florida’s order.

• Rubio demands release of detained Americans, including Habibi, Coyle.
• Taliban accused of kidnappings for ransom or policy concessions.
• US warns it may restrict passports for travel to Afghanistan.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday censured Afghanistan over its detention of American citizens, a move that could lead to a ban on US passport holders travelling to the country.

Rubio said in a statement he was designating Afghanistan’s Taliban government as a “state sponsor of wrongful detention,” demanding that Kabul release all US citizens detained in the country, including Mahmood Habibi and Dennis Coyle.

“The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions. These despicable tactics need to end,” he said, adding that he had concluded it was not safe for Americans to travel to the country because of the risk of being unjustly detained.

The US is also seeking the return of the remains of Paul Overby, an author who was last seen close to Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan in 2014, two sources familiar with the situation said.

The sources said the US could restrict the use of US passports for travel to Afghanistan if it does not meet the US demands. Such a passport restriction is currently only in place for North Korea.

Rubio, on February 27, issued the same determination against Iran, the first country to be designated under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in September. 

He warned the US could restrict travel to Iran over its detention of US citizens, but has not imposed any restrictions. The US and Israel launched a war against Iran the day after the determination was announced.

Reuters was unable to reach the government in Afghanistan for comment.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government has previously denied that it detained Habibi, who was the head of Afghanistan’s civil aviation.

CBS News was the first to report on the US considering designating Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention earlier on Monday.

NEW YORK: Two men were charged Monday with “terrorist” offences for throwing a nail bomb near a weekend protest, after which the pair told police they were aligned with terrorist group Daesh, charging documents showed.

The two men, both US citizens, are in custody after allegedly being involved in tossing the bomb packed with explosives.

This is being investigated as an act of Daesh-inspired terrorism, said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

She said it was not thought to be linked to the ongoing conflict in Iran. No one was hurt during the incident.

Two suspicious devices were thrown by a man identified by police as Emir Balat near the protest Saturday, led by a far-right influencer.

According to the charging document, the men “referred to Daesh in recorded post-arrest statements… More specifically, Balat wrote on a piece of paper that he pledge(d) allegience (sic) to the Daesh.”

The men were charged with five counts including attempted support of a “foreign terrorist organisation” and “use of a weapon of mass destruction.”

On Sunday, the police bomb squad inspected a car connected to the men near the scene. Tisch said a suspicious device found in the vehicle tested negative for explosives.

‘Flames and smoke’ 

Police had said Saturday that the devices were jars wrapped in tape and containing nuts, bolts and screws. Also arrested was Ibrahim Kayumi.

The events unfolded after the far-right influencer, Jake Lang, staged a demonstration outside Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

His protest drew around 20 people, while a counter-protest drew about 125. Mamdani was not home during the incident.

Lang returned to the scene of the incident Monday and was outside Mamdani’s official residence.

AFP correspondents at the scene on Saturday saw a man wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and beige cargo pants — later identified as Balat —being handed a device wrapped in tape and billowing smoke by another man, named by police as Kayumi.

Balat dropped the device near a line of police before vaulting a barrier.

“Witnesses reported seeing flames and smoke as it travelled through the air before it struck a barrier a few feet from police officers,” Tisch said Saturday.