Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order on Monday declaring the Council on American-Islamic Relations, one of the nation’s most prominent Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups, a “foreign terrorist organization.” The order also applies the same designation to the Muslim Brotherhood. DeSantis released the directive through a public announcement online, aligning his actions with a similar move made by Texas in recent weeks. Neither organization is classified as a foreign terrorist entity by the U.S. government, making the Florida order a unilateral state-level designation with broad implications.
Under the directive, all state executive and cabinet agencies must block both groups—and anyone who has provided them with material support—from obtaining state contracts, employment, or funding. CAIR and its Florida chapter responded sharply, announcing plans to sue the governor and calling the order unconstitutional and defamatory. CAIR, founded in 1994 and operating through 25 chapters nationwide, has already taken legal action in Texas to challenge a similar gubernatorial declaration. The Muslim Brotherhood, formed in Egypt nearly a century ago and active in numerous countries, asserts that it abandoned violence long ago and pursues its goals through elections and peaceful advocacy. Critics throughout the Middle East, particularly authoritarian governments, have long viewed the movement as a political threat.