Gov. Abbott calls for review of Houston, Dallas airports over Muslim facilities: 'That is illegal'

TEXAS - Texas Governor Greg Abbott is launching a review to potentially take back state funding from Dallas and Houston airports due to amenities that were created for Muslim travelers. He is also calling on federal officials to do the same.

Muslim amenities at Texas airports trigger state reviews

What they're saying:

The governor's office announced on Friday that he has launched a review regarding all state grants issued for airports in Texas, including Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) and the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).

The review is said to be over potential "illegal religious discrimination" at the airports. 

Abbott's announcement mentions a report for more foot-washing stations planned for DFW for Islamic travelers. The governor's letter then mentions that IAH also has an ablution facility with a prayer room, which he says is "furnished with ‘copies of the Quran, prayer rugs, prayer beads and a turbah.’"

Gov. Abbott shared letters that were sent to DFW CEO Chris McLaughlin and US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. McLaughin's letter also includes the mayors of Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth.

In both letters and his announcement, the governor claims the facilities "single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion."

As a result, Gov. Abbott has launched a review that could potentially revoke current state funds for the airports and block future funds. 

He is also advising Secretary Duffy to launch a federal review of the facilities and "take appropriate corrective action."

"That is illegal. Both airports are government-owned facilities. Both the federal and state constitutions prohibit government from facilitating this sort of discrimination," the governor's letters read. "Just as the government cannot favor the secular over the sacred, it also cannot favor one religious view of the sacred over all others in our ‘pluralistic society.’ Nor may governments use private organizations as a ‘subterfuge’ to ‘directly or indirectly’ foster illegal discrimination more generally.'"

The other side:

A DFW representative told Fox News Digital on Friday that airport officials had been reviewing the proposal for the new foot-washing stations, but they've since decided not to move forward.

"DFW was in the process of evaluating an internal proposal to add a set of ablution washing stations on the pre-security side of Terminal D, the international terminal. Like all proposed projects, the airport ultimately considers the operational benefits, customer service impacts, operational risks and costs before approving them. While that evaluation was planned, the airport accelerated its review due to elevated public interest this week and has determined not to proceed with the project as it would not deliver the originally anticipated operational benefits."

It is not clear at this time if the DFW decision will remove the airport from Gov. Abbott's reviews.

FOX 26 is reaching out to Houston Airport Systems for comment.

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