Texas governor Greg Abbott (R.) on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations, barring the groups from owning land and permitting the state attorney general to shut them down.
“The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,'” Abbott said in a press release. “This designation authorizes heightened enforcement against both organizations and their affiliates and prohibits them from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas.”
Abbott’s proclamation describes the Muslim Brotherhood as a “transnational Islamist organization” that “provides support to localized branches in countries and territories throughout the world, including groups that conduct terrorism internationally.” It also cites the FBI in accusing CAIR of being a “‘front group’ for ‘Hamas and its support network’ in the United States.”
The designation comes amid increasing calls from lawmakers and activists 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, arguing that pattern may constitute “material support for terrorism,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
The Islamic activist group recently made the news following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. CAIR 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 unveiled a bill that would designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, following the lead of Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Arab Emirates, the Free Beacon reported.
“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,” Abbott said. “These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.”
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