DeSantis Labels CAIR and Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organizations

By Ginika Igboke

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Dec. 8 issued an executive order designating both the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations.

“Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support,” DeSantis stated on X.

The order, effective immediately, asserts that Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations maintain active fundraising arms in the United States that help finance Hamas terrorist activities. DeSantis alleged that the group has evolved into a transnational network that supports violence—including political assassinations and terror attacks on civilians—with the aim of establishing a “world-wide Islamic caliphate.”

The order further claims that CAIR, one of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the United States, was founded by individuals with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood “as an official U.S. cover for Islamist extremists.”

CAIR and its Florida chapter issued a joint statement on Dec. 8 declaring their intention to challenge the order in court, calling it “defamatory and unconstitutional.” They accused DeSantis of prioritizing the interests of the Israeli government over those of Floridians and noted that he had previously attempted to shut down all Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at Florida colleges before reversing course after CAIR filed a federal lawsuit.

“Governor DeSantis knows full well that CAIR-Florida is an American civil rights organization that has spent decades advancing free speech, religious freedom, and justice for all, including for the Palestinian people,” the groups stated.

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

DeSantis’s order follows similar action taken by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Nov. 18, designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations and authorizing the state attorney general to shut them down and block them and their affiliates from acquiring land in Texas. CAIR has responded with a federal lawsuit.

On Nov. 24, President Donald Trump signed an executive order initiating the process of designating “certain chapters or other subdivisions” of the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorist entities under federal law.