(The Center Square)—Several key Congressional Republicans are urging the Trump administration to consider designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group that promotes Muslim rights, as a foreign terrorist organization, with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz calling for an FTO designation last week. 

U.S. Rep. Randy Fine, of Florida, the sponsor of a bill to direct the State Department to determine whether CAIR meets the criteria for an FTO label, reiterated the need for his legislation, alleging the group has ties to violent Muslim groups. 

“It is a foreign terrorist organization,” Fine told The Center Square on Wednesday. “I mean, CAIR was founded as an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. It’s the front for Hamas.” 

 U.S. Rep. Earl S. “Buddy” Carter, of Georgia, said he agreed with Fine and Cruz’s push.

“It’s something that needs to happen,” he told The Center Square.

Texas and Florida has already designed CAIR as a terror group but CAIR sued so the issues are working their way through the courts. 

Corey Saylor, the group's research and advocacy director, did not respond to a request for comment. 

A classification with consequences

Founded in 1994, CAIR is a 501(c)3 that describes itself as "America’s largest Muslim civil liberties, -rights, and advocacy groups."

An FTO designation would suspend CAIR's federal tax exemption, make contributions to the organization nondeductible, subject its assets to blocking and make knowingly providing material support to CAIR a federal crime. 

At the Republican Party’s midterm conference in Dallas on Sunday, Sen. Cruz denounced a “red-green alliance” between communists and Islamists, while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pledged to “fully ban Sharia law in Texas.” 

At a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Tuesday, Cruz, speaking to FBI Director Kash Patel, urged the Trump administration to follow Abbott's lead. 

“They have been designated by my home state of Texas as a terrorist organization and I am urging the administration to do the same," he said. "Focusing on threats and targeting them is the best way to keep America safe.”

CAIR has denounced Republicans’ criticism of the organization as examples of Islamophobia and McCarthyism. This past weekend, CAIR booted a reporter from The Center Square who bought a ticket to cover the group’s annual policy conference in Washington, D.C.

Uncertain support

In April, Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, sponsored legislation that would direct the U.S. Treasury Department to designate CAIR and its affiliates as specially designated global terrorists. The bill has 16 cosponsors, all Republican. The legislation has yet to receive a vote. Roy is retiring at the end of the 119th Congress in early January. He ran for the GOP nomination for Texas Attorney General in May but lost.

The effort has attracted no Democratic support among lawmakers whom The Center Square contacted.   

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, said he was unaware of Fine’s bill.

“It would designate a 501(c)3 as a terrorist group?” he asked. 

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, a Texas Democrat, said that while he condemns any group that supports the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, in southern Israel, none of his constituents have complained to him about CAIR.  

“Their representatives have come into our office and worked with us, so we have no problem with them,” Veasey told The Center Square. “Sen. Cruz should clean up his own house and condemn the Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner.”

The GOP candidate, Bo French, has drawn fire for posting on X a video of South Asians celebrating at a University of Texas football game and writing, “the problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” 

Two House Republicans said they were unfamiliar with Fine’s legislation and Cruz’s plea. U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, of Wisconsin, said, “As a friend of Israel, I’ll give the legislation serious thought.”  

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky who lost his re-election bid after tangling with President Trump, said he has taken no position on Fine’s bill. 

“On foreign policy, if you want to know my position, it’s almost always the opposite of Senator Cruz’s,” he told The Center Square. “I haven’t thought about it much.”