Democrats are condemning two Republican members of Congress who said, in the wake of the mass shooting in Australia, that the US should ban Muslims from the country and kick out those who already live here.
Congressman Randy Fine, a Florida Republican, said he not only wants deportations of legal immigrants who are Muslim, but “citizenship revocations wherever possible” of Muslims.
“This has to stop. Diversity is not our strength. Diversity has become suicidal,” Fine wrote on X on Monday. “It is time for a Muslim travel ban, radical deportations of all mainstream Muslim legal and illegal immigrants, and citizenship revocations wherever possible. Mainstream Muslims have declared war on us. The least we can do is kick them the hell out of America.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, said Islam is a “cult”, Muslims are “here to conquer” and that people needed to “stop worrying about offending the pearl clutchers”.
“We’ve got to SEND THEM HOME NOW or we’ll become the United Caliphate of America,” he wrote on X on Sunday.
In response, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), a group that advocates for civil rights for Muslims, designated Tuberville as an “anti-Muslim bigot”, the first time the organization has given the designation to a US senator.
Fine has repeatedly shared Islamophobic social media posts in recent days, ramping up anti-Muslim comments that have been a feature of his time in office. On Monday, he listed out examples of attacks committed by Muslims, including the shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia, believed to be carried out by two people inspired by Islamic terrorists.
He also called the movement to free Palestine “nothing more than a Muslim terror movement” and said anyone involved in it should be charged and prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law”.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic representative from New York, said Fine’s posts were “disgusting”.
“Our Muslim neighbors are not Republicans’ scapegoats for antisemitic attacks and [Donald] Trump’s failed policies,” she wrote on X. “We must absolutely condemn Islamophobia loudly and hold those perpetuating it accountable.”
Fine doubled down, retweeting Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism with: “Bring it. I will not sacrifice America on the altar of suicidal empathy. Islamophobia is lie. Because fear of Islam is rational.”
Democrats broadly spoke out against Tuberville’s comments. Senator Patty Murray called them “vile and disgusting” and a “disgrace”. Senator Chris Murphy said they were “vile and so un-American” and “bigoted zealotry”. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, called them “an outrageous, disgusting display of islamophobia”.
Mehdi Hasan, a journalist and founder of Zeteo, called out the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, who has not yet responded to Fine’s comments, for his silence.
“How is this man allowed to be in Congress?” Hasan wrote on X. “Where the fuck are you @RepJeffries and Dem leaders in Congress? How is this ok? This is worse than anything random trolls like Nick Fuentes say. This is insanely racist and dangerous stuff.”
In addition to his repeated anti-Muslim comments, Tuberville celebrated when an Islamic school decided not to relocate, according to AL.com. Muslims in Alabama have invited Tuberville to meet with them and visit a local mosque, but he has not accepted the offer.
“Instead of taking that opportunity to directly engage with the Americans he so fears, he has engaged in increasingly unhinged and hateful rhetoric about them, most recently smearing and endangering a K-12 private Muslim school in Alabama,” Cair wrote.
Tuberville responded: “Badge of honor. I will NEVER stop fighting for AMERICANS and our Constitutional values.”
The Republicans’ Islamophobic comments come as Trump has gone after Somalis, who are primarily Muslim, saying they should all be sent back home, including Rep Ilhan Omar, who is a US citizen.
Trump issued a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries in 2017, which provoked immediate protests. He has banned travel from some Muslim-majority countries in his second term alongside bans on other countries.
Fine has previously been designated an anti-Muslim bigot by Cair, which cites his comments calling for Gaza to be destroyed, calling Omar a “Muslim terrorist” and mocking a dead Palestinian child and those suffering from starvation, among others.
The comments come as anti-Muslim commentary has risen on the right. Brandon Gill, a representative from Texas, said in November that America “imported Islamic terrorism in just the last few decades through our suicidal immigration system”.
“It was a policy choice. The reality is that not all cultures are morally equal. Islam is incompatible with our culture and our governing system. Radical Islamists seek to fundamentally destroy our way of life,” Gill said. “Why would we allow them to immigrate here? Islamic ideology has no place in the West, and it’s time our immigration system recognizes this.”
