(The Center Square) – Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday urged Attorney General Ken Paxton to use the authority of his office to strip the nonprofit status of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and eliminate its ability to operate in Texas.
He did so after the Islamic group has been a focus of conflict over the last week and after Abbott designated CAIR a foreign terrorist organization. Abbott’s FTO order cites former CAIR board members, speakers and staff who were sentenced to prison for financing terrorism, conspiring to aid Al Qaeda and the Taliban, bank and visa fraud, financing terrorist causes overseas, violating U.S. sanctions and other charges in the Holy Land Foundation case. It was one of the largest terrorism financing cases in U.S. history.
Abbott has taken other actions, including calling for investigations into CAIR and requesting Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to suspend CAIR’s tax-exempt status due to its alleged terrorist ties. Abbott requested that CAIR be investigated for its “longstanding ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, and its ongoing support for terrorism.” CAIR denies the accusations and has sued.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, also introduced legislation to allow the Treasury Department to terminate the tax-exempt status of groups that provide material support to terrorism, which he argues includes CAIR.
“CAIR is a radical group of terrorist sympathizers with a long history of undermining American values and trying to unconstitutionally impose Sharia Law on Texas,” Cornyn said. Cornyn has expressed support for Abbott’s FTO designation and called on President Donald Trump to designate CAIR as an FTO at the federal level, which he has yet to do.
But it’s not just the U.S. Treasury Department that can strip CAIR of its nonprofit status, Abbott argues. The Texas attorney general also has the legal authority to do so but hasn’t.
“The Texas Attorney General is the only elected official charged with regulating nonprofits that may be violating the law, like CAIR,” Abbott wrote Paxton. “The Texas Constitution authorizes you to investigate and seek judicial forfeiture of CAIR’s nonprofit charter.
“Our state laws empower you to inspect, examine, and copy records of nonprofits. A nonprofit that refuses to comply ‘forfeits the right … to do business in this state,’ and individuals who refuse to comply also commit a crime.
“Texas law empowers you to issue civil investigative demands to compel organizations like CAIR to produce documents, answer questions, or provide testimony regarding potential civil violations. Your office may even seek a lien against all existing property the nonprofit has in this State,” he said, citing the Texas Constitution, state statutes and civil procedure.
Paxton has “used these tools before,” Abbott said, urging him “to use them to combat CAIR.”
Abbott also pointed to a Trump executive order designating the Muslim Brotherhood and its chapters as FTOs and the actions federal agencies took to comply. The Treasury Department said groups like the Muslim Brotherhood “purport to be legitimate civic organizations while, behind the scenes, they explicitly and enthusiastically support terrorist groups like Hamas.”
The same is true of CAIR in Texas, Abbott argues. “There are other entities pretending to engage in charity by day, while sponsoring terror by night. For example, federal investigators and court filings identified CAIR, a so-called civil liberties organization, as a subsidiary of the Muslim Brotherhood and a ‘front group’ for Hamas in the United States.”
“Regardless of the façade CAIR attempts to portray in press releases, CAIR cannot be allowed to use its ‘nonprofit’ status as a shield for sponsoring terror, advancing radical Islamism in Texas, or fronting for the Muslim Brotherhood,” Abbott said.
He points to IRS records for three CAIR entities purporting to operate in Texas. Entities located in Austin and Houston are registered with the Texas Comptroller to conduct business in Texas, he says. The third, located in Dallas, isn’t listed in Texas records “despite telling the federal government that it operates in Texas,” Abbott says. Two other entities with Texas registration details have “no apparent federal taxpayer number,” he continued.
Abbott asked Paxton a series of questions: “Why should unregistered entities be operating in Texas at all? And why are purported Texas nonprofits not registered with the IRS? More fundamentally, why should a group designated as a terrorist organization be allowed nonprofit status in Texas at all? There are many questions that need to be answered about entities with ties to terrorism masquerading as nonprofits in Texas,” which he called on Paxton to investigate.
In response, Cornyn, who is running for reelection and being challenged by Paxton, said, “It is truly pathetic Attorney General Paxton must be ordered to do his job by the Governor. After needless delay, AG Paxton must now finally work to end the nonprofit status of terrorist-aligned organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as his incompetence has made Texans less safe.”
Paxton has yet to issue a response and his press office has not responded to requests for comment.
