TEXAS – A Houston teacher who called a 12-year-old Muslim honor student a terrorist has been placed on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation into the incident.

“Just because my son is a Muslim doesn’t mean he is a terrorist,” the boy’s father, Malek Abushaaban, told CBS News.

“He’s an American. He’s as American as anybody else. He was born here. … That’s all he knows is how to be an American.”

Waleed Abushaaban, a 12-year-old honor student at First Colony Middle School in Sugar Land, said the teacher made the remarks as he and his classmates were watching a movie Thursday.

“We’re in the class watching a movie, and I was just laughing at the movie and the teacher said, ‘I wouldn’t be laughing if I was you,’” Abushaaban said.

“And I said ‘why?’ She said, ‘because we all think you’re a terrorist.’”

After the remarks, made by the teacher who was not named, the boy’s classmates began making similar remarks.

“They were like, ‘oh, I see a bomb!’ and they started all laughing and making jokes,” the boy said.

“I was upset and I felt like I was put in the corner and like everybody was just looking at me.”

The teacher was “immediately” placed on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation, the Fort Bend Independent School District said in a statement.

“While the teacher reports her statements were made in the context of trying to make a point about negative stereotypes, District officials do not believe that the teacher exercised the appropriate sensitivity expected of the District’s educators, and do not believe that the statements were made in a manner that is in keeping with the District’s Core Beliefs and Commitments,” the statement read.

Muslims make up 1% of America’s 322 million population, according to Pew Research center.

The comments come at a sensitive time for American Muslims who have been feeling the hate of presidential primaries which witnessed increase of anti-Muslim rhetoric.

The Republican presidential candidates, such as Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, have added to increasing anti-Muslim sentiments.

Trump’s views on immigration have sparked controversy nationwide, especially his proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the US.

Moreover, anti-Muslim sentiments have reached an all-time high after the rise of the so-called Islamic State, formerly known as Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).