A major Muslim civil rights group is preparing to sue Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over his decision to label it a “foreign terrorist organisation.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says the designation is unconstitutional and defamatory.
On Monday, DeSantis designated one of the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy groups in the United States a “foreign terrorist organisation,” following a similar step by Texas last month.
The directive against the CAIR comes in an executive order DeSantis posted on X. It also gives the same label to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Neither CAIR nor the Muslim Brotherhood is designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US government.
“From the moment Ron DeSantis took office as Florida governor, he has prioritised serving the Israeli government over serving the people of Florida. He hosted his very first official cabinet meeting in Israel. He diverted millions in Florida taxpayer dollars to the Israeli government’s bonds. He threatened to shut down every Florida college’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, only to back off when CAIR sued him in federal court,” CAIR’s statement read.
The order instructs Florida agencies to prevent the two groups and those who have provided them material support from receiving contracts, employment and funds from a state executive or cabinet agency.
The statement called DeSantis an “Israel first politician who wants to smear and silence Americans, especially American Muslims, critical of US support for Israel’s war crimes”.
Founded in 1994, CAIR has 25 chapters around the country.
CAIR last month asked a federal judge to strike down Texas Gov Greg Abbott's proclamation, saying in a lawsuit that it was “not only contrary to the United States Constitution, but finds no support in any Texas law.”
