Texas governor Greg Abbott (R.) on Thursday directed the state’s Department of Public Safety to initiate criminal investigations into the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood following his designation of the groups as foreign terrorist organizations.
“We must aggressively confront individuals or groups who seek to unlawfully proliferate radical Islamic ideology, including attempts to impose Sharia law, fully recognizing the threat it presents to the security and sovereignty of the State of Texas and its people,” Abbott said in a letter to the department.
Abbott in the letter accused the Muslim Brotherhood of attempting to “forcibly install an Islamic Caliphate through numerous splinter groups” and noted that Hamas “was formed as the Brotherhood’s Palestinian branch in 1987.” He also identified CAIR as a “direct subsidiary” of the Muslim Brotherhood and cited the FBI in accusing the council of being a “front group” for Hamas.
The governor on Tuesday designated both groups as foreign terrorist organizations, barring them from owning land in the state and opening them up to criminal investigations. CAIR sued Abbott and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton (R.) in response, accusing them of violating its free speech and property rights.
Abbott’s designation came amid increasing calls from lawmakers to investigate CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood for their ties to terrorism. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) last month urged the Trump administration to investigate CAIR’s “pattern of historic ties” to Hamas, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
CAIR sparked outrage after Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, when Executive Director Nihad Awad said he was “happy to see” the massacre, in which Hamas murdered more than 1,200 civilians and took hundreds hostage.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) this summer announced a bill to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization at the federal level, following the lead of Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates, the Free Beacon reported.
Abbott in a press release said the goal of the criminal investigation is to “identify, disrupt, and eradicate terrorist organizations engaged in criminal activities in Texas.”
“We will target threats of violence, intimidation, and harassment of our citizens,” the governor said. “We will also focus on individuals or groups who unlawfully impose Sharia law—which violates the Texas Constitution and state statutes.”
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