BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Sen. Tommy Tuberville has become the first sitting U.S. senator to be labeled an “anti-Muslim extremist” by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which cited a string of public comments the Alabama Republican made attacking Islam as a “cult” and calling for Muslims to be deported.
The designation, announced Dec. 15, comes after months of statements and social media posts in which Tuberville repeated debunked claims about Islam, portrayed Muslims as security threats and linked the faith to terrorism. CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, said Tuberville’s remarks go beyond political disagreement and amount to incitement against a religious minority.
In a report accompanying the announcement, CAIR said Tuberville uses “classic anti-Muslim stereotypes” designed to deny Islam’s status as a religion and to justify limiting Muslims’ constitutional rights. The group said his statements represent an “unprecedented escalation” of bigotry by a member of Congress.
Tuberville has insisted his comments are justified, responding to the CAIR designation by calling it a “badge of honor” and vowing to “never stop fighting for Americans and our Constitution.”
The controversy follows remarks Tuberville made about the Islamic Academy of Alabama, a private K-12 school that dropped plans to move from Homewood to Hoover earlier this month after facing local backlash. Tuberville claimed the faith “preaches hate” and urges followers to harm nonbelievers — an accusation civic leaders and faith groups said was false and inflammatory. School officials said the senator’s rhetoric and the misinformation it spread contributed to safety concerns surrounding the relocation vote.
Former Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat expected to run for governor in 2026, said Tuberville’s comments reflect “religious bigotry” and ignorance about both Islam and Alabama’s Muslim community. Muslim leaders in Birmingham described the senator’s remarks as dangerous stereotyping that misrepresents a faith practiced by nearly two billion people worldwide and thousands of Alabamians.
Islamic scholars and interfaith activists said Tuberville’s statements ignore Islam’s diversity and the constitutional principle of religious pluralism — a foundation of both Alabama’s democracy and the nation’s. CAIR compared his rhetoric to George Wallace’s segregationist tactics, saying Tuberville’s message to Muslim families seeking better schools echoes exclusionary themes from the state’s past.
According to CAIR, Islamophobia has risen nationwide as politicians use fear of Muslims to rally support. The group said labeling a sitting senator underscores the threat such rhetoric poses to public safety and the integrity of constitutional rights.
For Birmingham’s Muslim residents, many of whom are small-business owners, educators and health professionals, the controversy is a reminder that bigotry remains a political weapon. Civil rights advocates say it’s also an opportunity for Alabamians to reaffirm that religious freedom applies equally to everyone — a value Tuberville’s critics say he appears to have forgotten.