Gov. Ron DeSantis has ordered state agencies to block support for both groups over alleged extremist ties. CAIR plans to challenge the move in court.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order on Dec. 8 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 said on X.
The governor’s order, which took effect immediately, states that Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations have active fundraising arms in the United States to help finance Hamas terrorist activities.
DeSantis alleged that the group has turned into a transnational network that supports violence, including political assassinations and terror attacks on civilians, with the goal of establishing a “world-wide Islamic caliphate.”
The order also alleges that CAIR, one of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the United States, was created 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 saying they plan to challenge the governor’s order in court, calling it “defamatory and unconstitutional.”
They accused DeSantis of putting the interest of serving the Israeli government ahead of the people in Florida and claimed that he had previously sought to shut down every Florida college’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter before backing off when CAIR sued him in federal court.
“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 organization stated.
The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
DeSantis has followed a similar move by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations on Nov. 18, authorizing the state attorney general to shut down both of the organizations and bar them, as well as their affiliates, from acquiring land in Texas.
CAIR has filed a lawsuit in federal court in response to Abbott’s order.
On Nov. 24, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to begin 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.
Matthew Vadum contributed to this report.
