June 24, 2025
Mr. Fine introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
To direct the Secretary of State to review whether the Council on American-Islamic Relations meets the criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Designate CAIR as a Terrorist Organization Act
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Sec. 2. Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1)
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial.
(2)
Multiple State legislatures, including Florida and Arizona, have passed resolutions urging avoidance of engagement with CAIR due to its alleged affiliations with terrorist groups.
(3)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has suspended all formal contacts with CAIR due to evidence demonstrating a relationship between CAIR and Hamas, designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States Department of State and the monsters behind the brutal attack on the State of Israel on October 7, 2023, indiscriminately raping, torturing, and killing over 1,200 innocent persons, including Israelis, Americans, and other nationals, among whom were babies and Holocaust survivors, and taking 240 Israelis, Americans, and other civilians as hostages.
(4)
Since October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists and their allies have launched over 11,500 rockets into southern and central Israel, the sole goal of which was to kill Israeli civilians.
(5)
Hamas and Iranian leadership have called for the extermination of Israelis, Americans, Jews, and Christians around the world and the establishment of a global Islamic caliphate.
(6)
The stated goal of Hamas and its allies is the complete and total destruction of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.
(7)
In the Federal criminal prosecutions of persons involved with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the largest successful prosecution of terrorism financing in our country’s history, CAIR was identified as an associate of the Muslim Brotherhood and was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial.
(8)
CAIR, soon after opening its first office in Washington, DC, received a grant from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a charitable organization that was closed and was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States Department of the Treasury for funding jihadist terrorist organizations.
(9)
In 2009, Ghassan Elashi, who was a member of the founding board of directors of the Texas branch of CAIR and a leader of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, was sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison after being convicted of—
(A)
10 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization;
(B)
11 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the provision of, funds, goods, and services to a Specially Designated Terrorist as determined by the United States Secretary of the Treasury;
(C)
10 counts of conspiracy to commit, and the commission of, money laundering;
(D)
1 count of conspiracy to impede and impair the Internal Revenue Service; and
(E)
2 counts of filing a false tax return.
(10)
In October, 2000, at a large CAIR rally in Washington, DC, featured speaker Abdurahman Alamoudi, later a convicted terrorist and Al Qaeda financier, publicly expressed support for both Hamas and Hezbollah as the crowd cheered him on.
(11)
Randall Todd Royer, also known as Ismail Royer, who served as a communications specialist and civil rights coordinator for CAIR and trained with and set up an internet based newsletter for Lashkar-e-Taiba, an al Qaeda-tied Kashmir organization that is listed on the United States Department of State’s international terror list, was also indicted on charges of conspiring to help al Qaeda and the Taliban battle American troops fighting in Afghanistan and was sentenced to 20 years in prison on April 9, 2004.
(12)
In September 2003, CAIR’s former community affairs director, Bassem Khafagi, pleaded guilty to 3 Federal counts of bank and visa fraud, and agreed to be deported to Egypt after he had funneled money to activities supporting terrorism and had published material advocating suicide attacks against the United States, illegal activities that took place while he was employed by CAIR.
(13)
Rabih Haddad, the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based CAIR fundraiser, was arrested on terrorism-related charges and was deported from the United States due to his work as Executive Director of the Global Relief Foundation, which in October 2002 was closed by the United States Department of the Treasury for financing al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
(14)
In March 2011, Muthanna al-Hanooti, a director within CAIR, was sentenced to a year in Federal prison for violating United States sanctions against Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
(15)
United States ally, the United Arab Emirates, officially designated CAIR as a terrorist organization in 2014.
(16)
In 2014, CAIR honored convicted terrorist and Palestinian Islamic Jihad financier Sami Al Arian and in 2020 CAIR–Florida featured Al Arian in its livestream interview series. A former professor at the University of South Florida, Al Arian was convicted in 2006 of providing material support for a designated terrorist organization, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and was deported after serving his prison sentence.
(17)
Zainab Chaudry, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations—Maryland Office, was suspended from the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention by Maryland’s Attorney General on November 21, 2023, following multiple social media posts, including one comparing Israel to Nazi Germany with the comment, That moment when you become what you hated most
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(18)
On November 24, 2023, Speaking at the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad proclaimed The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on October 7. And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in. And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense
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Sec. 3. Review of whether CAIR meets criteria for designation as foreign terrorist organization
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State, in collaboration with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, shall—
(1)
pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189), conduct a formal review of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to determine whether it meets the criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization under such section; and
(2)
submit to Congress a report summarizing the findings of the review conducted under paragraph (1), including—
(A)
any resulting designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a foreign terrorist organization under such section 219; or
(B)
if the Secretary determined that the Council on American-Islamic Relations did not meet the criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist organization, the a summary of the findings leading to such determination.