Texas Governor Abbott Labels CAIR, Muslim Brotherhood as Terrorist Organizations

Texas Governor Greg Abbott formally designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations on Tuesday, a sweeping executive action that immediately strips both entities of the right to own, purchase, or acquire any real estate within the state and empowers the Texas Attorney General to file civil suits seeking their complete dissolution and forfeiture of assets inside Texas borders.

The designation, announced personally by the Republican governor via official channels, prohibits any individual or entity acting on behalf of CAIR or the Muslim Brotherhood from engaging in property transactions across the state’s 254 counties. It further authorizes state law enforcement and regulatory agencies to monitor and disrupt financial activities linked to the groups, marking the first time a U.S. state has applied such measures against a nationally recognized Muslim civil rights organization operating legally for three decades.

CAIR, headquartered in Washington with more than 30 affiliated chapters nationwide, swiftly denounced the move as a calculated escalation of anti-Muslim hostility orchestrated to silence American Muslim voices critical of U.S. and Israeli policies in Gaza. The organization accused Governor Abbott of systematically promoting fear and division over the past year, pointing to his repeated labeling of pro-Palestinian campus demonstrations as antisemitic and his vocal, unqualified support for Israel throughout the ongoing conflict.

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While the authority to designate foreign terrorist organizations has historically resided exclusively with the U.S. Department of State, Governor Abbott cited precedent from his September 2024 unilateral classification of the Venezuelan criminal syndicate Tren de Aragua as a terrorist entity — an action subsequently mirrored at the federal level by President Donald Trump in February 2025. Legal analysts note that Texas is relying on expansive state anti-terrorism and racketeering statutes to justify the move, though federal courts may ultimately determine its enforceability.

The decision arrives amid a series of state-level measures targeting perceived Islamic influence, including legislation enacted in September that explicitly prohibits real estate developments from establishing exclusive enclaves governed by Sharia principles, alongside prolonged investigations by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton into a planned residential project north of Dallas. With Texas now home to more than 313,000 Muslim residents — one of the fastest-growing such populations in the nation — the designations have intensified concerns over civil liberties and religious freedom in the country’s second-most populous state.

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