Abbott targets Texas airport prayer-washing rooms, drawing outcry

AUSTIN (MNTV) — Texas Governor Greg Abbott has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate Islamic ablution facilities at two major Texas airports as potentially discriminatory, a move Muslim advocates say wrongly targets a basic religious accommodation.

In a letter to the department, Abbott sought a review of the washing facilities at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, arguing that because the airports receive federal funds, they must comply with anti-discrimination law. 

Ablution is the ritual washing many Muslims perform before daily prayers, cleaning the face, arms, and feet. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Texas called the intervention an “anti-Muslim political stunt,” saying the facilities are open to anyone and simply happen to be used mostly by Muslim travelers — no different in principle from other public accommodations.

Abbott had already referred the airports to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and threatened to withdraw state funding; afterward, Dallas Fort Worth dropped plans to install additional facilities. 

For Muslim travelers, advocates say, access to a place to perform ablution can determine whether they can observe their faith while moving through large transit systems.

The dispute fits a wider pattern of political pressure on Muslims and their institutions. Texas and Florida Republicans have moved to brand CAIR — a vocal critic of the administration’s immigration policies and its response to Palestinian advocacy — as a terrorist group, a claim the organization rejects. 

Texas is home to more than 300,000 Muslims. 

Experts say turning a routine religious accommodation into a federal investigation signals that ordinary Muslim practices are inherently suspect, rather than part of serving a diverse public.