Muslim group announces lawsuit after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis labels it a 'terrorist organization'

Lauren Costantino, Miami Herald on Dec 9, 2025

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MIAMI — Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Monday evening designating two Muslim groups as “foreign terrorist organizations.”

The executive order, which was posted on DeSantis’ social media accounts, states that the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Society of Muslim Brothers (Muslim Brotherhood) would be classified under Florida law as terrorist organizations, pointing to alleged connections to foreign extremist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

As a result of the order, Florida agencies including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol, are directed to “undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support,” DeSantis wrote on the social media platform, X.com.

DeSantis’ order went on to state that CAIR, which has a chapter in Florida, was designated in the early 2000s as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism financing case involving the Holy Land Foundation, a defunct Muslim charity organization that was disbanded in 2001. CAIR has disputed this, claiming on their website that they have never been charged with a crime and that the Holy Land case was “an unproven allegation with no weight and no consequence.”

Founded in 1994, CAIR, which is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with 25 affiliated chapters across the country, describes itself as the “nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.”

CAIR threatens lawsuit against DeSantis

In a statement Monday night, CAIR responded to the order, announcing the group’s plans to file a lawsuit against DeSantis.

“We look forward to defeating Governor DeSantis’ latest Israel First stunt in a court of law, where facts matter and conspiracy theories have no weight,” CAIR said in a statement.

The group called the executive order “defamatory and unconstitutional,” and labeled DeSantis “an Israel First politician” who “has prioritized serving the Israeli government over serving the people of Florida.”

“Governor DeSantis knows full well that CAIR-Florida is an American civil rights organization that has spent decades advancing free speech, religious freedom, and justice for all, including for the Palestinian people,” CAIR National and CAIR-Florida wrote in a joint statement.

In a press conference on Tuesday morning, DeSantis told reporters he welcomed the lawsuit because it would give the state the ability to subpoena CAIR’s bank records. “They have every right to sue, and we’re going to have a right to get the information we need,” he said. The governor also suggested that the state could go even further and codify this into state statute in the upcoming legislative session. “Our executive order is kinda the beginning,” he said.

‘Guilt by association’

DeSantis’ order also laid out the history of The Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamic organization created in Egypt in 1928 that has spawned branches around the world, including most notably Hamas.

CAIR has denied past claims that the group has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, calling it “guilt by association.”

“We are not linked to any external movement, entity, party or government,” CAIR writes on its website. “The Muslim Brotherhood affects CAIR the way a dust storm on Mars impacts the weather in Washington, D.C. The two might exist in the same solar system, but neither has any impact on or relationship with the other.”

The order comes after several moves by Floridian politicians that critics describe as anti-Muslim.

In October, state Rep. Hillary Cassel, a Broward Republican who once served in the state House as a Democrat, filed a bill called “No Shari’a Act,” which bans Florida courts or other agencies from basing decisions on Shari’a law — a legal system and code of conduct derived from the Quran — or other foreign legal systems. Critics and Muslim advocates have said that the bill is unnecessary and is designed to foment anti-Muslim sentiment and stir up hate towards Muslim neighbors.

Recently, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier claimed that school vouchers, which parents can use towards private religious schools, pose a national security threat and violate Florida law when used toward private Islamic schools.

“The use of taxpayer-funded school vouchers to promote Sharia law likely contravenes Florida law and undermines our national security,” Uthmeier wrote on social media.

Last month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott put out a proclamation declaring the same two organizations “as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations.”

In a letter to Abbott, CAIR representatives argued that the organization has played a leading role in “debunking the arguments of both anti-Muslim extremists and Muslim extremists who attempt to paint Islam as a religion of wanton violence. In fact, CAIR condemned terrorism so often that ISIS once put a target on our national executive director,” wrote Robert S. McCaw, director of government affairs for CAIR.

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—Miami Herald reporter Alex Harris contributed to this story.