DFW Airport Scraps Foot Washing Stations Due To Governor's Threat

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport says it will no longer consider adding more Islamic foot-washing stations after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to pull funding.

Abbott shared the following message on Twitter:

"Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others. Texas will not allow illegal religious discrimination at taxpayer-funded facilities."

Yesterday, Abbott directed a review of all state grants to entities that operate airports in Texas, including Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), for possible revocation of active state grant funds and the denial of any future grants due to illegal religious discrimination at government-owned facilities. He also referred DFW and IAH to the U.S. Department of Transportation for investigation and enforcement.

DFW planed to install ablution facilities for Islamic washing rituals. IAH has already installed one such facility and an interconnecting prayer room.

In a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Governor Abbott requested that the U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration immediately review the religious facilities and accommodations at DFW and IAH and take appropriate corrective action. The airports are recipients of federal funds and subject to conditions that require full compliance with laws prohibiting religious discrimination.

“These ablution facilities appear designed to single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion. That is illegal,” said Governor Abbott. “Both airports are government-owned facilities. The federal and state constitutions prohibit government from facilitating this sort of discrimination. Just as the government cannot favor the secular over the sacred, it also cannot favor one religious view over all others.”