Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas formally declared on Tuesday that one of the nation’s largest Muslim advocacy and civil rights groups is a foreign terrorist organization, saying the move will prohibit the organization from acquiring land in Texas and authorize the state attorney general “to sue to shut them down” in Texas.
In his declaration, Mr. Abbott said that the group, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, had direct ties to Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist group by the U.S. government. The nonprofit, known by its initials, CAIR, has denied having any such ties.
The governor also suggested, without offering evidence, that CAIR’s leadership sought to impose Islamic law, known as Shariah, on Americans.
Mr. Abbott appeared to be the first state leader to make such a declaration about the organization, which has been a presence in American political debates for more than 30 years. CAIR has attracted intensifying scrutiny and criticism since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Mr. Abbott’s move went further than the Trump administration has so far been willing to go. His declaration also included the Muslim Brotherhood, a group founded in Egypt almost a century ago that has a range of overseas offshoots.
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that similar actions by the federal government against both groups were “in the works,” But the administration has yet to follow through.
Mr. Abbott also went further than the state’s hard-line conservative Republican Party leadership, which urged Mr. Rubio last month to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, but did not say the same about CAIR.
In a statement, the council said Mr. Abbott’s declaration was a “publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation,” that it included conspiracy theories and “made-up quotes,” and that it had “no basis in fact or law.”
“Mr. Abbott has once again shown that his top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas,” the group said.
Anti-Muslim sentiment has been increasingly apparent in online discussions in Texas, and in brick-and mortar fights beyond the internet. At the start of the year, many Republican state leaders, including Mr. Abbott and the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, objected to a planned 400-acre residential development near Josephine, a town northeast of Dallas, that was designed to revolve around a new mosque. The proposed development, known as EPIC City, was organized by members of a suburban mosque in East Plano.
Since then, anti-Muslim sentiment has become more pronounced, especially after New Yorkers elected a Muslim, Zohran Mamdani, to be the city’s next mayor.
“Islam is not compatible with Western civilization, period,” Bo French, a prominent Republican Party figure, recently posted on social media. Mr. French resigned as the party chairman in Fort Worth this month to run for statewide office.
In a radio interview on Tuesday, Mr. Abbott linked his declaration to other actions he has taken in recent months to respond to an outcry from some Republicans in Texas over the state’s growing Muslim population.
The governor also suggested that he was concerned about Muslim elected officials.
“The concern is high, especially when you see somebody like Mamdani get elected and the cataclysmic problems that’s going to cause,” he said. “We want to make sure that’s never going to happen.”
“We have freedom of religion; however, your religion cannot become a threat to our freedom,” Mr. Abbott said.
The governor’s declaration comes as the fight over EPIC City continues. Mr. Abbott has said the project, which has yet to break ground, was illegal, and he has directed several state agencies to investigate. The Trump administration also opened an investigation, then quietly ended it over the summer, saying the developers had pledged to abide by federal fair-housing laws.
Mr. Paxton said last month that he was still seeking to prosecute people involved in the development project over allegations of state and federal securities law violations. And Mr. Abbott said in his radio interview on Tuesday that the Texas Rangers were continuing to look into the project.
The developers have said that no laws have been broken.
J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
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