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Gov. Ron DeSantis designated CAIR Florida and the Muslim Brotherhood as domestic terrorist organizations under new state law

On July 1, 2026, Governor Ron DeSantis announced Florida's first domestic terrorist designations under the newly effective House Bill 1471, naming the Council on American-Islamic Relations Florida, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Antifa, along with more than 90 foreign terrorist organizations including the Sinaloa Cartel and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The law authorizes the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's chief to recommend designations that trigger criminal penalties for material support and exclusion from public funding. A federal court had blocked DeSantis's December 2025 executive order making the same CAIR designation, finding it violated the First Amendment; the legislature then enacted HB 1471 as a statutory vehicle to accomplish the same result.

Jurisdiction
Florida
Location
Tallahassee, Florida

Abuses documented

Actors

On July 1, 2026 — the effective date of Florida House Bill 1471 — Governor Ron DeSantis announced the state's first designations of "domestic terrorist organizations" under the new law. The designations include the Council on American-Islamic Relations Florida, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Antifa, along with more than 90 foreign terrorist organizations including the Sinaloa Cartel, Tren de Aragua, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran. DeSantis stated: "In addition to CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, we are adding Antifa to the list — along with more than 90 Foreign Terrorist Organizations, including cartels."

HB 1471, signed by DeSantis on April 6, 2026, empowers the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Chief of Domestic Security to recommend that the governor and Cabinet designate groups as domestic or foreign terrorist organizations. Once designated, groups are subject to criminal penalties for anyone providing them material support, and state agencies must deny them public funding. The law applies to organizations that engage in or support terrorist activity and pose an ongoing threat to Florida or the United States.

DeSantis had first attempted the CAIR designation through an executive order in December 2025. In March 2026, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction blocking that order, ruling it violated the First Amendment's protection of political advocacy and assembly. The legislature subsequently enacted HB 1471 as a statutory vehicle to accomplish the same result. CAIR Florida, founded in 1994, is a civil rights and advocacy organization representing American Muslims; it had been targeted by DeSantis's administration specifically because of its political speech and advocacy, including its criticism of U.S. and Israeli military policy.

Updates

2026-07-02 — ACLU and SPLC sued Florida to block CAIR designation as unconstitutional [6]

The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Florida, and Southern Poverty Law Center filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of CAIR and CAIR-Florida challenging the HB 1471 designation as a violation of the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause. The suit argues the law enables state officials to designate organizations engaged in constitutionally protected advocacy as terrorist entities without meaningful procedural safeguards, threatening the organizations' ability to operate in Florida.

Why we recorded this

The First Amendment protects political and religious advocacy from government designation as a terrorist threat. Florida's HB 1471 authorizes state officials to designate civil rights organizations as terrorist entities based on their advocacy — triggering criminal penalties for material support and exclusion from public funds. When government uses terrorism labels to punish protected advocacy by a religious minority's civil rights organization, it transforms a law-enforcement tool into a mechanism for suppressing political opposition.

Sources

  1. Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Implementation of Florida Law to Combat Terrorist Organizations — Executive Office of the Governor of Florida primary accessed July 2, 2026
  2. DeSantis announces Muslim group CAIR, others as terrorist organizations — Tampa Bay Times primary accessed July 2, 2026
  3. CAIR v. Ron DeSantis and the State of Florida: What's behind the terror designation? — WLRN secondary accessed July 2, 2026
  4. DeSantis designates CAIR, other groups as terrorist organizations — NBC Miami secondary accessed July 2, 2026
  5. DeSantis announces CAIR Florida as a domestic terrorist group under new law — Florida Phoenix secondary accessed July 2, 2026
  6. Muslim Civil Rights Nonprofits Sue Florida Officials to Prevent Unconstitutional Designation — American Civil Liberties Union primary accessed July 2, 2026

See also