Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is urging the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to take steps that could strip the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) of its nonprofit status and restrict the organization’s ability to operate in the state.
In a letter dated January 28, Abbott called on the attorney general to use what he described as “existing tools” under Texas law to investigate CAIR and potentially pursue judicial forfeiture of its nonprofit status. Abbott argued that CAIR presents a “facade” in its public communications and uses its nonprofit status as a “shield for sponsoring terror, advancing radical Islamism in Texas, or fronting for the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Abbott’s request follows his November 18 designation of the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as “foreign terrorist organizations,” a move that has drawn legal and political scrutiny. In the January letter, Abbott cited actions by President Donald Trump, stating that Trump has “acted to combat threats posed by groups supporting terror” by issuing an executive order “beginning the process to designate and deprive Muslim Brotherhood chapters ‘of resources, and thereby end any threat [they] pose to United States nationals or the national security of the United States.’”
Abbott further wrote that the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated the Lebanese, Jordanian, and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations on January 13. He argued that such actions demonstrate a broader federal effort to combat organizations he says are connected to extremist activity.
“Aside from regional Muslim Brotherhood ‘chapters,’ there are other entities pretending to engage in charity by day, while sponsoring terror by night,” Abbott wrote, citing a federal investigation and court filings that identified CAIR as a “subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood and a ‘front group’ for Hamas in the United States.” Abbott added that “a federal court later found there was ‘ample evidence to establish’ that CAIR is associated with Hamas, after considering internal documents plainly listing CAIR under the Muslim Brotherhood’s umbrella.”
In the letter, Abbott emphasized the authority of the Texas attorney general, describing the office as the only elected position “charged with regulating nonprofits.” He said the Texas Constitution authorizes the attorney general to investigate nonprofit organizations, inspect records, question leadership, “seek judicial forfeiture” of nonprofit status, and “seek a lien against all existing property the nonprofit has in this state.”
“You have used these tools before; I urge you to use them to combat CAIR,” Abbott wrote.
Abbott also cited what he described as discrepancies between Internal Revenue Service records and Texas filings for five CAIR-related entities. “Why should unregistered entities be operating in Texas at all? And why are purported Texas nonprofits not registered with the IRS?” Abbott asked. “More fundamentally, why should a group designated as a terrorist organization be allowed nonprofit status in Texas at all?”
The January letter followed an earlier request by Abbott in December asking U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to suspend CAIR’s federal tax-exempt status.
CAIR responded directly to Bessent with its own letter disputing Abbott’s claims and accusing the governor of politically motivated targeting. The organization said Abbott was “targeting” CAIR and argued that the governor “does not have the right to trigger witch hunts into American organizations he disagrees with based on debunked conspiracy theories.”
“We understand why Governor Abbott is targeting CAIR,” the organization wrote. “In recent years, we have filed and won three different federal lawsuits that blocked Mr. Abbott’s attempts to punish Americans critical of the Israeli government in violation of the First Amendment.”
CAIR has since filed a fourth lawsuit against Abbott, seeking to “block any implementation of his unconstitutional proclamation targeting CAIR-Texas.”
In its response, CAIR described itself as “an American organization funded by the American people” and stated that it has “never been an agent, affiliate, offshoot, subsidiary, partner, funder, or representative of any foreign group.” The organization said that in any given year, less than 1 percent of its donations come from foreign individuals and that the majority of those contributions originate in Canada.
Abbott’s letter also referenced prior actions he said were taken to “defend Texas communities from threats posed by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR.” These actions included investigating a Sharia law tribunal in Dallas, directing the Department of Public Safety to launch criminal investigations into the Muslim Brotherhood, and urging the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District to sever ties with the formerly CAIR-sponsored Islamic Games.
