On Nov. 18, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a proclamation officially designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations under Texas law, amid rising concerns about foreign influence in the state.
The proclamation points to previous legal findings and federal designations that connect the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates to Hamas, which has been classified as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.
It specifically references the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation case, where jurors determined the charity operated as a Hamas front and was part of a broader U.S. Muslim Brotherhood network allegedly aiming to “wage jihad” and “destroy Western civilization from within.”
The proclamation further asserts that several U.S. organizations—including the North American Islamic Trust, the Islamic Society of North America, and CAIR USA—are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, and claims that CAIR has “repeatedly been found to have provided support to Hamas through its employees and members.”
With this designation, Texas can seize the groups’ property, block real estate transactions, and restrict their ability to contract with government entities under the Texas Property and Penal Codes.
The proclamation also states that CAIR Texas has participated in a variety of activities, including funding operations and public advocacy for Muslim Brotherhood affiliates and Hamas, as well as offering legal support through lawsuits and civil rights initiatives. It further alleges that CAIR has promoted efforts to defund the police, challenged the Patriot Act’s counterterrorism provisions, spread pro-Hamas messaging, and encouraged religious and political radicalization through events and recruitment drives.
The lawsuit, brought by the Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at the University of Houston and UT Dallas, along with the Democratic Socialists of America, argued that the executive order infringed upon free speech rights.
For CAIR and its local chapters, the ban on property acquisition, along with the threat of civil suits, could disrupt operations in Texas. For the nation, the proclamation joins a growing list of individual state-level initiatives to regulate land ownership and nonprofit activity linked to organizations linked to terrorists, criminal networks, violence, or a threat to national security.
CAIR, founded in the U.S. in 1994, identifies itself as a Muslim civil-rights organization whose “mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims,” according to its website.
