Reported hate crimes against Muslims increased in 2015 to their highest number since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, FBI said on Monday.
According to FBI statistics, overall, the number of hate crimes increased 6.7 percent, from 5,479 incidents in 2014 to 5,850 last year. The total is far lower than the numbers seen in the early 2000s, but the FBI release comes amid numerous reports of attacks nationwide based on race and religion following last week’s presidential election.
The most recent reporting covers calendar year 2015, which included the terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, as well as Republican Donald Trump’s call for a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. All of those, however, did not occur until the final two months of the year.
It’s not yet known whether Trump plans to implement such a ban now that he has won the presidency. Critics say his pledge has contributed to anti-Muslim sentiment.
“We’ve seen how words from public figures like Donald Trump translate into violence,” said Mark Potok with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the U.S.
Last year, there were 257 reported incidents of anti-Muslim bias compared to 154 in 2014. The number of reported hate crimes against Muslims peaked at 481 in 2001.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he was not surprised to see the large increase in 2015 and said he expects the trend to continue.
“We saw a spike in anti-Muslim incidents nationwide beginning toward the end of 2015. That spike has continued until today and even accelerated after the election of President-elect Trump,” Hooper said.
There have been reports of racist and anti-religious incidents around the country since the Nov. 8 election.
