DeSantis, Cabinet Designate Major Muslim American Group as “Terrorist” 

Far right Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his cabinet have voted to designate the U.S.’s leading Muslim civil rights group as a “domestic terrorist organization,” threatening to shutter and impose severe penalties on the group and its state affiliate simply to serve the GOP’s political crusades, critics said.

The 427-page document recommending “terrorist” designations for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Florida chapter was approved over the course of just 30 seconds at DeSantis’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Contained within the approved packet, submitted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, were also recommendations for “antifa” and dozens of other groups already named as foreign terrorist organizations by the federal government to be listed as “terrorist” groups.

CAIR is the largest Muslim civil rights group in the U.S. If these designations go into effect, CAIR and CAIR-Florida could be forced to shutter its work in the state.

Because of the broad design of the designation, those who associate with the group could also face harsh penalties. Universities would be mandated to expel students who “promote” the group. And, according to the ACLU, CAIR and CAIR-Florida would be barred from seeking legal representation because their lawyers would face prosecution from the state for doing so.

The ACLU and other legal partners have pledged to file a legal challenge against the designation on behalf of CAIR and CAIR-Florida, preventing it from going into place. ACLU counsel say that, at the meeting on Tuesday, they were barred from being able to present arguments against the designation, which they say was done simply because DeSantis and his Republican cabinet see CAIR as a “threat” because of its faith-based mission.

“Gov. DeSantis’s use of Florida’s dangerous new ‘terrorism’ designation regime against CAIR and its Florida chapter is baseless and unconstitutional,” said Hina Shamshi, who directs the ACLU’s National Security Project. “As the country’s leading Muslim civil rights group, CAIR is being targeted not because it poses a threat to public safety, but because doing so serves a political agenda at the expense of Floridians’ rights.”

The legal filing would build upon the ACLU’s existing lawsuit against the designation, which DeSantis and Republicans have been trying to push through for months. Last December, DeSantis issued an executive order to designate CAIR as a “terrorist” group, but that was quickly paused by a federal judge, who issued an injunction against it. The judge said that DeSantis exceeded his authority in issuing the orders.

Then, in April, the legislature passed two new laws, HB 1471 and HB 1473, aimed at granting DeSantis the authority to make the designations. The newly passed laws grant DeSantis and his cabinet the unilateral power to designate domestic terrorist organizations, ban state funds from being sent to schools with any affiliation with those groups, and ban Florida courts from enforcing Islamic law, or Sharia.

One version of one of the bills, introduced in the Florida Senate, was reportedly authored by DeSantis’s office as he sought more ways to punish student protesters for pro-Palestine demonstrations.

CAIR, meanwhile, issued a statement in January questioning whether DeSantis’s original orders were done in retaliation for the group’s public records request “seeking to expose possible coordination between his administration, Israeli government officials, and anti-Muslim influence networks that have worked to smear Florida Muslims and civil rights organizations.”