Texas Governor Greg Abbott officially designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as Foreign Terrorist and Transnational Criminal Organizations under state law. The proclamation, issued November 18, 2025, invoked Texas Penal Code § 71.01(e) and Texas Property Code § 5.254(a)(2)(A) to subject both organizations to asset forfeiture provisions, criminal penalties, and prohibition from purchasing land in Texas.
Governor Abbott’s action marks the first time a U.S. state has independently designated American-founded organizations as terrorist entities without corresponding federal classification. The U.S. State Department does not currently list either the Muslim Brotherhood or CAIR as terrorist organizations.
The designation authorizes Texas law enforcement agencies to pursue heightened enforcement measures against the named organizations and their affiliates operating within state jurisdiction. Under the cited statutes, the proclamation enables authorities to:
- Pursue asset forfeiture proceedings
- Block real estate acquisitions
- Apply criminal penalties for organizational activities
- Investigate affiliated entities
In his statement, Governor Abbott cited what he characterized as long-standing objectives of both organizations. “The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,'” Abbott stated. “The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable.”
The proclamation references research from George Washington University’s Program on Extremism regarding CAIR’s origins. It also notes that CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation case, the largest terrorism financing prosecution in U.S. history, which was centered in Richardson, Texas.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) reintroduced federal legislation in July 2025 seeking to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization following the June attack on Jewish individuals in Boulder, Colorado, as Mahmut Cengiz discussed in detail for HSToday. That bill remains under consideration in Congress.
CAIR issued a response via X, “Greg Abbott is an Israel First politician who has spent months stoking anti-Muslim hysteria to smear American Muslims critical of the Israeli government … our civil rights organization is an independent voice that answers to the American people, relies on support from the American people, and opposes all forms of unjust violence, including hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide and terrorism.”
The designation is expected to prompt legal challenges and renew debate over the scope of state authority in national security matters. Governor Abbott called on other state leaders to follow Texas’s example, stating that “these radical extremists are not welcome in our state.”
The proclamation takes effect immediately and applies statewide across all Texas jurisdictions.