An airport that Fort Worth co-owns is now the subject of a state funding review and a federal referral, after Gov. Greg Abbott raised objections to washing facilities used by Muslim travelers.
Abbott announced Friday that he had directed a review of all state grants to entities that operate Texas airports, naming Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The review covers possible revocation of active state grant funds and the denial of future grants.
Abbott also referred both airports to the U.S. Department of Transportation, and asked in a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy that the department and the Federal Aviation Administration review the airports' religious facilities and take corrective action.
"These ablution facilities appear designed to single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion. That is illegal," Abbott said. "Both airports are government-owned facilities. The federal and state constitutions prohibit government from facilitating this sort of discrimination. Just as the government cannot favor the secular over the sacred, it also cannot favor one religious view over all others."
The airport's response
Ablution refers to a washing ritual Muslims perform before prayer. DFW had been evaluating an internal proposal to add a set of stations on the pre-security side of Terminal D, its international terminal.
The airport said Friday it would not go ahead. It described weighing operational benefits, customer service impacts, risks and costs on any project, and said it "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."
A station has operated on the post-security side of the same terminal "for years without concerns," the airport's assistant vice president of communications, Katie Chaumont, said earlier in the week. Two ablution stations were installed in Terminal D's Interfaith Chapel during 2019 upgrades that also added space for scriptures and holy texts, shoe storage shelving and kneelers.
The governor's office said the Houston airport has installed one such facility and an adjoining prayer room.
