Florida Labels CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood Domestic Terrorist Groups

Florida’s Cabinet voted Tuesday to designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Brotherhood, and about 90 other groups as domestic terrorist organizations, expanding a foreign-terrorist label the state placed on CAIR and the Brotherhood last year.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet acted on a 427-page package that says “there is substantial evidence that CAIR is engaging in terrorist activity” and accuses the group of connections to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The designations take effect Nov. 5 if no court strikes them down first.

Last year’s foreign-terrorist designation already barred the organizations and their affiliates from buying or acquiring land in Florida and opened the door to tighter enforcement. Tuesday’s vote adds the domestic-terrorist label. Florida also labeled al-Qaeda, the Houthis, and the Continuity Irish Republican Army as foreign terrorist organizations, and now treats Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, two Mexican drug cartels, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps the same way, CBS News reported.

CAIR sued, arguing the designation violates the First Amendment and the due-process clause of the 14th Amendment. The American Civil Liberties Union is representing the group. Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s national security project, said Tuesday there is “nowhere in that notice any allegation or evidence that CAIR has engaged in any violent or dangerous act in violation of Florida or U.S. law,” which she called the first requirement for a designation of this kind. She said attorneys intend to file a motion Thursday for CAIR-Florida seeking a preliminary injunction.

Texas and Florida both applied the foreign-terrorist label to the Brotherhood and CAIR last year. The new Florida action is broader. It folds in roughly 90 additional groups and pairs the domestic label with a fresh foreign-terror list that includes Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the Houthis, and cartels the Trump administration has treated as national-security targets during the Iran war and the border crackdown.

The practical effect, if the Nov. 5 date holds, is state-level restrictions on land purchases and expanded enforcement against listed groups and affiliates. CAIR’s suit asks a court to stop that before the date arrives. The ACLU’s argument is that Florida has not alleged a violent act under state or federal law. The Cabinet package’s argument is that the record of activity and of ties to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad is enough.