Islamophobia’s tentacles are spreading.

Under the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program, which was launched during the Obama administration, the apparatus of Islamophobia has expanded well beyond its previous state-based mechanisms.

Rooted in flawed theories of “radicalization,” CVE casts itself as a tool for preempting extremist violence. (Needless to say, the program focuses disproportionately on “homegrown terrorists” in Muslim settings, neatly excluding from scrutiny white Americans inclined toward domestic terrorism.) Through CVE-funded grants, teachers, social workers, imams, and others are transformed into de facto agents of the state, assisting in the expansive project of surveilling US Muslims.