United Voices is demanding the Department of Homeland Security lift what it calls an “un-American and unconstitutional” freeze on security grant funding for American Muslim nonprofits — funding that mosques, schools, and community organizations depend on to protect themselves from the rising tide of hate-motivated violence.

According to CNN reporting, DHS appears to have targeted Muslim organizations based on a report produced by a pro-Israel, anti-Muslim organization founded by Daniel Pipes — a figure who has publicly described Muslims as “brown-skinned peoples cooking strange foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene.” The organization’s director has separately faced allegations of sexual harassment of female employees during trips to pro-Israel events.

“It is un-American and unconstitutional for the government to block American Muslim organizations — including mosques — from accessing security grants available to other faith communities, based solely on their religious identity or their constitutionally protected criticism of a foreign government’s human rights abuses,” United Voices said.

The freeze comes at precisely the wrong moment. Mosques, churches, synagogues, temples, and other houses of worship are facing an escalating threat environment nationwide. Denying Muslim institutions access to the same federal security resources available to every other faith community is not a neutral policy decision — it is viewpoint discrimination dressed up as bureaucratic process.

United Voices is calling on DHS to immediately reverse the freeze, identify who authorized the decision, and publicly confirm that grant eligibility will not be determined by an organization’s religious identity or its positions on U.S. foreign policy. Congressional oversight committees must also demand answers about how a report from a discredited anti-Muslim hate group came to influence federal funding decisions affecting American citizens.

Every house of worship in America deserves the right to protect its congregation. DHS does not get to decide which faith communities are worthy of that protection.