The bill’s text is an atrocity. For one thing, it doesn’t even define what “Islamophobia” is. It’s assumed the reader will just know what it is and that we can trust the Special Envoy to understand this problem for us. It defines the purpose of the envoy as “[m]onitoring and combating acts of Islamophobia and Islamophobic incitement that occur in foreign countries.”

But the text does give examples of what “acts of Islamophobia” the envoy must look out for:

(A) acts of physical violence against, or harassment of, Muslim people, and acts of violence against, or vandalism of, Muslim community institutions, including schools, mosques, and cemeteries;

(B) instances of propaganda in government and nongovernment media that attempt to justify or promote racial hatred or incite acts of violence against Muslim people;

(C) the actions, if any, taken by the government of the country to respond to such violence and attacks or to eliminate such propaganda or incitement;

(D) the actions taken by such government to enact and enforce laws relating to the protection of the right to religious freedom of Muslim people;

(E) the efforts of such government to promote anti-bias and tolerance education; and

(F) any instances of forced labor, reeducation, or the presence of concentration camps, such as those targeting the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China;

This opens a Pandora’s Box of possibilities. As Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene points out, if a European country enacts restrictions against Muslims in response to terror attacks, would it now be subject to sanctions from the U.S. State Department? Would the centrist government of Emmanuel Macron in France be punished for cracking down on radical Islam? Would immigration restriction count as “Islamophobia” if Muslim migrants are the most affected? Would a state have to erase burka bans and censor depictions of Muhammad to stay in the good graces of the State Department? Would America sanction India for its strong internal measures against Muslims?