It’s not shocking that Houston City Council members would take a stance promoting the importance of religious freedom in the wake of Republican attacks on Muslim communities, but some Houstonians were surprised to see GOP Councilman Julian Ramirez at the forefront of the conversation.
Ramirez, a former Harris County prosecutor, ran as a Republican in an unsuccessful bid for district court judge in 2022. He was elected in late 2023 to a nonpartisan at-large city council position and sworn into office in January 2024.
So why join up with City Controller Chris Hollins and Democrat council members Tarsha Jackson, Abbie Kamin, Alejandra Salinas, Joaquin Martinez and Carolyn Evans-Shabazz to issue a proclamation declaring an international day to combat Islamophobia? Ramirez said it was the right thing to do.
“It stems from a desire to address hate directed at whatever group on the basis of someone’s religion,” Ramirez said. “In a couple of weeks, we’ll have a proclamation addressing Yom Hashoa, Holocaust Remembrance Day, at City Hall. Certainly, Muslims and Jews aren’t the only ones attacked for their religious beliefs, but they are certainly two large groups that have to experience that, so it’s really speaking out against hate.”
Ramirez read the anti-Islamophobia proclamation on the steps of City Hall just prior to the March 24 council meeting, where the document was read into the record. The councilman, a member of the Memorial Park First Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, said he was approached by Muslim faith leaders who asked him to speak up.
Noting that the office he holds is nonpartisan, Ramirez said he believes he was approached because he has relationships with members of the Muslim community. “I engage,” he said.
The proclamation defines Islamophobia as a prejudice rooted in fear, hatred and ignorance that manifests in discrimination, exclusion and violence against Muslims and those perceived to be Muslims. It references an October 2025 incident in which University of Houston students were subjected to religious harassment, including the desecration of the Quran, when a man threw the holy Islamic text into a bonfire at a Muslim Student Association gathering in a public park.
Last year, Gov. Greg Abbott declared the Council on American Islamic Relations a foreign terrorist group and called for an investigation into entities that “may be masquerading as legal courts” while enforcing Sharia law.
“These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas,” Abbott said at the time. CAIR sued the state and said it would continue its civil rights work.
The term “Sharia law” has been heavily referenced in political ads for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Cornyn’s opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton. Critics say the politicians are fear-mongering and don’t even know what Sharia law is.
Sharia literally means “path,” and offers guidance on daily prayer and “helping humanity draw close to God and live in kindness and justice with his creation,” according to the Islamic Networks Group.
Sana Patel, a postdoctoral fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy who studies Islamophobia, wrote in a December 2025 Texas Observer article that Abbott’s claims that CAIR “seeks to impose Sharia or Islamic law and establish Islam’s mastership of the world (whatever that means) are both unfounded and rooted in Islamophobic tropes.”
Between 2022 and 2025, the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding’s Islamophobia Index increased by 8 points, heightening during Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral race in New York City, Patel wrote.
“From June to October 2025, the study found that online Islamophobic narratives frequently labeled Mamdani as a terrorist, jihadist, and a radical Muslim,” the article states. “Use of such terminology supports Islamophobic tropes across both online and offline spaces.”
Ramirez told the Houston Press he didn’t want to speak on how Muslims practice their faith or delve into the specifics of Sharia, but many religions and churches have codes of conduct that they ask their congregations to abide by.
“My understanding is that current federal and state laws make it clear that the laws trump whatever religious laws a particular church or religion has,” he said.
The councilman said he recently attended Muslim Iftar services during Ramadan in February and March, and he also interacts frequently with the Jewish community. Some Jewish leaders attended his anti-Islamophobia announcement, as did Islamic Society of Greater Houston President Emran Gazi and CAIR Houston Director Imran Ghani.
“We all have a basic need to be seen and heard and to feel like we matter,” Ramirez said. “It’s appropriate, at times, to recognize members of the community. The way I approach my office and my service here is that we try to make sure there’s engagement. We try to learn as much as we can about a subject so that when I vote, I’m informed.”
Political activist Rolando Garcia, a member of the State Republican Executive Committee, took to social media immediately following last week’s announcement to criticize Ramirez.
“So disappointing to see Julian Ramirez — elected as a Republican — team up with the looniest lefties on the Houston City Council to peddle this phony left-wing narrative,” Garcia wrote on Facebook. “Correction: he didn’t just team up with CAIR and the council’s lefties. He ORGANIZED this farce of an event. Shame on you, Julian. You’ve let down the people who elected you.”
Ramirez acknowledged that he took some heat for organizing the proclamation announcement but said he stands by his decision.
“There’s been some backlash,” he said. “It’s disappointing because, the way I view it, this country was founded on religious freedom. That’s why people came here originally, to escape persecution, so they would have a place where they could worship as they believed. That remains part of our DNA. We should all have the opportunity to worship as we believe, or not. Attacks on that are not consistent with our ideals.”
Houston has one of the largest Muslim communities in Texas and the southern United States. It’s become increasingly difficult for some practicing Muslims to live their daily lives as politicians like U.S. Congressman and attorney general candidate Chip Roy propose legislation suggesting that Muslims who practice Sharia be deported.
Hollins said at last week’s gathering that Houston’s elected officials “owe it to every community to stand with you when you are under attack.”
“And make no mistake, the Muslim community is under attack right now at the state level [and] the federal level.”
After the proclamation announcement, Hollins thanked Ramirez for “creating a space rooted in unity, understanding and respect.”
Gazi said at the proclamation announcement that Muslims believe in Jesus and are inspired to work for unity and to build connections with other communities. He emphasized the importance of education and dialogue in minimizing misunderstanding, discrimination and bias toward Muslim communities.
Ramirez agreed that the dialogue is vital, and said that when there’s no engagement, it undermines trust in government.
“Sometimes in government, it doesn’t seem like there’s very much engagement at all and hard feelings are created on various issues because the engagement has been flawed or nonexistent,” he said.
