Houston progressives thought they’d finally scored a win when Mayor John Whitmire rejected the governor’s latest attempt to push conservative Christian values on local governments, but the fight over foot-washing stations, primarily used by Muslim travelers, in Texas airports is far from over.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced last Friday that he’s called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate ablution stations and adjacent prayer rooms at city-owned George Bush International and Dallas-Fort Worth International airports. Abbott claims the U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from “facilitating this sort of discrimination,” which he compared to white-only bathrooms during racial segregation.
“These stations are designed to single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion,” Abbott said in his letter to the DOJ. “They are not comparable to any existing interfaith chapels, which are open and available to all, because (in these particular instances) they are clearly purposed to benefit the Muslim population alone.”
That’s actually not the case, say legal experts who point out that, just like IAH’s two interfaith chapels, the ablution station and adjacent prayer room are open to anyone. Historically, English and Spanish Bibles have been available at the Terminal C chapel, and priests and ministers have provided ashes on Ash Wednesday and Christian counseling for grieving travelers — so the argument could be made that those chapels are singling out one subset of the population.
Religious freedom advocates say that if someone finds a Muslim foot-washing station offensive, they don’t have to participate, and if a non-Muslim wants to wash their feet — a ritual repeatedly referenced in the Christian Bible — they’re welcome to do so.
Maria Kari, a Houston-based civil rights attorney, explained to KPRC that Muslims pray five times a day and wash their hands, arms, face and feet before doing so. “The purpose of ablution, which is also known as wudu, is twofold: there’s the hygiene piece of it but also it’s a physical marker that you’re about to enter into a spiritual state,” Kari said.
This isn’t the first time Abbott has held state funding hostage in an effort to play to his conservative Republican base.
In October 2025, the governor threatened to pull state transportation funding from Houston and other cities if they didn’t remove rainbow crosswalks. Earlier this year, Abbott said he’d take away $114 million in public safety funds if the Houston City Council refused to amend its policy on how HPD interacts with immigration agents. On both occasions, Whitmire acquiesced.
Meanwhile, donated Ten Commandments posters are being displayed in public school classrooms across the state, despite legal challenges claiming the state law discriminates against people who are not Christian and that it fosters an atmosphere of exclusion.
DFW Airport CEO Chris McLaughlin said last week he would cancel a plan to install additional ablution facilities but noted in a letter to Abbott that the existing foot-washing stations were created to address a slipping hazard because an increasing number of travelers were using bathroom sinks to wash their feet.
McLaughlin said no federal or state funds were spent on the facilities, something Whitmire echoed regarding the stations at IAH, saying in a statement that the foot-washing facilities were approved during his predecessor Sylvester Turner’s tenure as part of an airport expansion program funded by international airline fees.
The mayor pointed out that, in 2025, Emirates Airlines, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines carried approximately 366,000 departing passengers from IAH, accounting for 22 percent of all international travelers departing from Terminal D, where the ablution station is housed.
“The ablution room was created in response to passenger requests and serves a practical need,” Whitmire said, noting that the foot-washing stations and adjacent prayer room are open to all travelers, employees and stakeholders with access to Terminal D, regardless of their faith.
“In addition to the ablution room, IAH has interfaith chapels. These facilities serve travelers of all faiths and beliefs. Therefore, their operations do not entail any discriminatory actions,” Whitmire said.
Longtime Whitmire critics Neil Aquino, founder of the Houston Democracy Project, and Kevin Strickland, a transportation and pedestrian safety advocate who co-founded Walk & Roll Houston, posted on social media last week that Whitmire did the right thing. However, the celebration may have come too soon.
After the Dallas and Houston officials responded to Abbott’s claims of discrimination, the governor confirmed he’d handed over the matter to the federal government.
“Airports can no more offer Muslim-only bathroom spaces than they can maintain white-only bathrooms,” Abbott said in his letter to the DOJ. “Your office has authority to investigate and put a stop to these discriminatory practices.”
Representatives with the Texas chapter Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement that Abbott should focus on the state’s “real problems, from harmful data centers to school shootings to economic inequality to the erosion of religious freedom,” rather than wasting taxpayer resources on the “latest anti-Muslim political stunt.”
“Governor Abbott has spent the better part of a year using the machinery of state government — the Attorney General’s office, state agencies, and now a direct referral to the federal government — against Texas Muslims’ everyday religious practice. A sink is not a civil rights violation. Weaponizing the Department of Justice against Muslim Texans for washing their feet before prayer is,” the statement reads.
Abbott and other Republican leaders have recently campaigned against Sharia law, accusing Muslim groups of having ties to terrorism and suggesting they’re planning an Islamic takeover. Abbott is up for re-election in November, facing Democrat Gina Hinojosa.
