Hi Friend,

Rep. Lauren Boebert’s repeated, anti-Muslim attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar are not only offensive, they are also creating an environment of hate and violence that threatens the safety of all American Muslims. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader, has the power to stop this hate and we need your help to get him to finally use it.

Demand Rep. McCarthy hold his caucus accountable for anti-Muslim hate!

Speaking to constituents over the Thanksgiving holiday, Rep. Boebert told a made-up story about being in a Capitol Hill elevator with Rep. Omar. When a Capitol police officer allegedly approached the elevator, Rep. Boebert claims she told the officer, “Well, she [Rep. Omar] doesn’t have a backpack, we should be fine.” At another event a few months prior, Boebert told a different version of the story where she called Rep. Omar part of a “Jihad Squad.” She also said that Rep. Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib were “black-hearted, evil women.”

Rep. Boebert subsequently used a phone call with Rep. Omar not to apologize publicly but to double down on her hate and call Rep. Omar “anti-American” and a “terrorist sympathizer.” In that effort, Boebert followed the lead of Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene who called Omar an “Islamist terrorist sympathizer” and also recently wielded the “Jihad Squad” slur on Twitter.

As Rep. Omar and others have noted, anti-Muslim animus has lethal, real-world consequences—especially for the Muslim members of Congress. Reps. Omar and Tlaib have already received hundreds of death threats, if not more, after Trump invoked the same anti-Muslim stereotypes as Boebert. Additionally, a man came to DC for the Jan. 6 event armed with guns and bombs and also a hit list that singled out Rep. André Carson as a Muslim.

As the leader of the House Republicans, Rep. Kevin McCarthy has the power to stop this hate, but so far he has remained shamefully silent. Right now, he could censure Reps. Boebert and Greene and also strip Boebert of her committee assignments. Doing so would send a strong message that anti-Muslim hate does not belong in Congress.

Send an email to Rep. McCarthy NOW telling him to censure Boebert and strip her of committee assignments and condemn Rep. Greene!

As one of the first Muslim women in Congress, Ilhan Omar is an inspiration. We hope many more American Muslims follow in her footsteps—as well as Rep. Talib’s, Rep. Carson’s and now-Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s footsteps—by running for Congress. By letting Rep. Boebert’s unabashed, anti-Muslim hate go unanswered, Leader McCarthy sends a message that American Muslims do not belong in Congress—not as elected members, as staff or even as visitors walking the halls and riding the elevator.

Anti-Muslim bigotry cannot be ignored. Leader McCarthy must act now!

Add your name: Tell Rep. McCarthy that Reps. Boebert and Greene must be held accountable!

In solidarity,

Sumayyah Waheed

Senior Policy Counsel

Muslim Advocates