Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood foreign terrorist organizations, a power reserved to the U.S. Secretary of State

On November 18, 2025, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a proclamation designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood "foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations." The proclamation directs "increased enforcement" against both organizations and prohibits them from purchasing or acquiring any real property interest in Texas. Abbott's proclamation claimed CAIR is a "successor organization" to the Muslim Brotherhood and a "front group" for Hamas, and said the organizations' goal is "to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam's 'mastership of the world.'" Neither organization appears on any federal terrorism list, and designating a foreign terrorist organization is a power held exclusively by the U.S. Secretary of State, not a state governor.

CAIR rejected the proclamation's claims and called it a "publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation" with "no basis in fact or law," noting it had already sued Abbott three times over unrelated matters and was prepared to sue again. The organization's website describes its work as focused on civil rights and anti-defamation; there is little direct evidence supporting Abbott's claim of a Hamas link, which CAIR denies.

Updates

2025-11-20 — CAIR sued Abbott and Paxton over the designation [3]

On November 20, 2025, CAIR's Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin chapters filed a federal complaint against Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Western District of Texas, arguing the proclamation violated the First Amendment and CAIR's due-process rights and that only the U.S. Secretary of State has authority to designate foreign terrorist organizations.

2026-02-05 — Paxton sued CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood to shut them down in Texas [4]

On February 5, 2026, Attorney General Ken Paxton filed his own lawsuit against CAIR, its Austin, Houston, and DFW chapters, and the Muslim Brotherhood, seeking to bar them from operating, owning property, raising money, or recruiting members in Texas, and citing Abbott's proclamation as the basis for the action. Paxton had previously argued in the CAIR chapters' own suit that the local chapters were not covered by Abbott's designation and lacked standing to sue over it.

2026-05-07 — Federal judge ordered CAIR to disclose foreign donor records [6][7]

On May 7, 2026, U.S. District Judge Alan D. Albright (W.D. Tex.) partially granted Abbott's discovery motion in CAIR's lawsuit, ordering CAIR to produce records identifying foreign donors who gave $5,000 or more to CAIR Foundation or the Washington Trust Foundation between 2021 and 2024, foreign recipients of $2,500 or more in a given year, and travel records for CAIR executive director Nihad Awad's trips to nine countries, while denying Abbott's broader request for a decade of records from all U.S. donors.

2026-08-27 — Southern Methodist University canceled a CAIR youth event citing the proclamation [5]

Southern Methodist University blocked CAIR-Texas from holding its annual Muslim Youth Leadership Symposium on campus, an event co-hosted by SMU's own Muslim Law Students Association, with a university spokesperson citing Abbott's proclamation and saying the event was "inconsistent with our mission and related university policies."