Muslim Nonprofit Groups Are Continuing to Reject Federal Funds

Four Muslim nonprofit groups have rejected more than $2 million in federal funding to fight violent extremism, citing President Trump’s rhetoric against Muslim Americans and Islam and the new administration’s policies as their reasons.

The groups had been among the 31 recipients in the first round of Countering Violent Extremism grants awarded by the Department of Homeland Security in the last week of Barack Obama’s presidency. The funds were intended to go to programs that curtailed recruitment and radicalization efforts by foreign groups, such as the Islamic State, as well as domestic ones, such as white supremacists.

However, in the first weeks of Trump’s administration, several Muslim nonprofit groups that had received grants wrestled with how to justify accepting the funds when, in their eyes, the President’s unfair targeting of Muslim Americans ran counter to their missions.