Congressional Republicans echo anti-Muslim rhetoric as Islamophobic incidents rise

Some Republicans in Congress have drawn criticism for posting anti-Muslim rhetoric, including comments targeting New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor, with one picturing him alongside a photograph of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the city.

On social media, at least four Republican members of Congress posted language viewed by many Muslim Americans and Democrats as Islamophobic.

In a Thursday post on X, Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama juxtaposed a photograph of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center with a March 8 photo of Mamdani hosting an "iftar" dinner to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at New York City Hall, with the text, "less than 25 years ago,” and "The enemy is inside the gates.”