Democrats blast ‘racist’ anti-Muslim bills that GOP pass wordlessly

Senate Republicans on Monday rammed a slate of three anti-Muslim bills through the Chamber in a display that one Democratic legislator called a “stain on our state.” 

“This paints entire communities with suspicion,” Priya Sundareshan, the Senate Minority Leader, said on the Senate floor. “It is unfair, and it is un-American.” 

The controversial legislation centered on an attempt to crack down on the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, a Muslim civil rights group with an Arizona local chapter. The bills now have a straightforward shot at passing out of the legislature. They’ll head to the House before they’re sent to the federal government or put before voters.

No GOP lawmaker rose to speak on behalf of any of the three measures. The 17 Republican Senators followed their rare display of silence by voting in lockstep to pass the three bills, each time over 12 votes and the fierce opprobrium of Senate Democrats.

“Who are they going to come after next?” Sen. Analise Ortiz said. “Every single one of our civil rights is on the line when they attack an organization like CAIR.” 

Included in the slate is a memorial that would urge President Donald Trump and Congress to designate CAIR as a terrorist organization. The memorial was spearheaded by Rep. John Gillette, who has made headlines for calling Muslims “fucking savages” on social media. He previously tried to link CAIR with terrorism in an attempt to attack Gov. Katie Hobbs for meeting with the group’s Arizona executive director in early 2023.  

The United States has never designated CAIR — America’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group — as a terrorist organization. CAIR advocates for religious freedom and protections for workers, inmates and students. Islamophobic conspiracy theorists ambush it frequently. Its website features a page aimed at “dispelling rumors about CAIR.” 

In a separate but related resolution, Gillette tried to connect CAIR to the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist organization that operated in Egypt before it was banned in 2013.

CAIR’s Arizona chapter didn’t immediately respond to Phoenix New Times’ request for comment.

Arizona legislators aren’t the first state officials to tar CAIR. In November, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations.

In Arizona, the memorials are mostly symbolic. They assert the legislature’s beliefs and they urge President Donald Trump and Congress to make the formal designations.

Still, Democrats warned the bills could hurt Arizona’s Muslims, who already this year have experienced multiple attacks on a mosque.

The slate also included a bill introduced by Rep. David Livingston that would require members of the legislature to reject the term “West Bank” when describing the larger of the two Palestinian territories, the other being Gaza. The bill will create a ballot measure by which Arizona voters may require lawmakers to use the biblical names for the region — “Judea” and “Samaria” — when describing the West Bank in all official state communications.

Sundareshan called that measure a “political statement” that aims to erase the history of Muslim communities, specifically Palestinian history in Gaza.

“This is part of a larger, menacing agenda,” she said. “Co-opting Judaism and anti-Semitism for a Christian nationalist agenda that includes censorship, anti-abortion bills, anti-LGBTQ and a whole host of other things.” 

Several Democrats spoke out against the bills. Sen. Lauren Kuby called the legislation racist, a stain on Arizona and a complete waste of time.

She upbraided her Republican colleagues: “You all should be embarrassed for voting for it.” As they had nothing to say for themselves in reply, their silence suggested that they agreed.