Texas Governor Designates the Council on American-Islamic Relations a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization’

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist organizations, a move that bans both groups from acquiring land in the state.

“The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” Gov. Abbott said in a statement.

Abbott continued: “The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable. Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”

His proclamation lists several examples of CAIR members, both past and present, supporting terrorists and terrorist organizations. The proclamation called out CAIR’s current executive director, Nihad Awad, for publicly praising Hamas after terrorists stormed Israel and killed about 1,200 people on October 7, 2023; Awad said he was “happy to see” the attack, which, beyond the murders, included a number of rapes and more than 240 hostages being taken back to Gaza.

Awad, a year later, also questioned whether an Iranian scheme to kill President Donald Trump was actually an “Israeli plot to ignite another war between the US and other countries in the Middle East.”

CAIR is the most prominent Muslim advocacy group in the U.S. The organization recently donated $100,000 to the largest PAC backing Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who will be the next mayor of New York City, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

CAIR has not immediately responded to Abbott’s designation with a press release or statement. CAIR’s latest post on X called on Americans to push their representatives in the House to support H.R. 876, which “recognizes the genocide in Gaza.” The resolution is sponsored by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

Gov. Abbott, in his own X post announcing the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR, said his decision authorizes Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton “to sue to shut them down.”