DFW airport scraps Islamic foot-washing stations after Greg Abbott threatens to pull state grants over 'religious discrimination'

After Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Friday that he directed a review of state grants awarded to Dallas-Fort Worth International (DFW) Airport over plans to include an Islamic foot-washing stations, the plans to install them at the airport have been scrapped.

Abbott posted to X that the plan was “clearly illegal” from the start.

Abbott had said in a post to X on Friday, “Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others. DFW plans to install Islamic wudu washing facilities are illegal. I've directed a review of all state grants to both airports for possible revocation, and referred DFW & IAH to USDOT for investigation. Texas will not allow illegal religious discrimination at taxpayer-funded facilities.”

"These ablution facilities appear designed to single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion. That is illegal," Abbott added in a statement. 

Abbott ordered the review to examine whether state grant funds provided to both DFW and George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston should be revoked and whether future grants should be denied over “illegal religious discrimination.” DFW had been evaluating a proposal to install ablution washing machines, while IAH already has one facility as well as an interconnected prayer room.

According to Fox News, the project was initially listed as privately funded with an estimated cost of $300,000. DFW Later said the design firm had mistakenly marked the project as privately funded and that airport funds, which are collected via revenue sources such as parking and concessions, would be used to fund the project. An airport spokesperson also said the actual cost would likely have been lower than the initial estimate.

DFW ultimately announced that it would not move forward with the project following increased public attention.

The controversy comes after DFW was reported to be considering a proposal to add ablution washing stations on the pre-security side of Terminal D, the airport’s international terminal.

“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,” the airport stated. “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.”