Texas Governor designates major Muslim civil rights group a ‘foreign terrorist organisation’

Abbott also labelled the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as “a transnational criminal organisation” and declared it ineligible to purchase land in Texas.

The proclamation further added the Muslim Brotherhood to the list.

Neither CAIR nor the Muslim Brotherhood is recognised as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US federal government.

In a letter to Abbott, CAIR sharply rejected the designation, calling it baseless “in law or fact” and accusing the governor’s office of fueling “anti-Muslim hysteria.”

Robert S. McCaw, the group’s government affairs director, wrote that Abbott lacks any authority to declare American individuals or organisations to be terrorist entities, adding that the accusation amounted to a smear.

The governor’s announcement also comes months after Texas Republicans attempted to block a Muslim-focused residential project near one of the state’s largest mosques outside Dallas.

Abbott and other GOP officials opened investigations into the East Plano Islamic Centre’s development, claiming it aimed to create an exclusively Muslim community governed by Islamic law.

Representatives for EPIC City dismissed those claims as distorted, inflammatory and unfounded.

Earlier this year, the US Justice Department concluded a civil rights investigation into the project without bringing any charges or taking legal action.

Abbott’s proclamation referenced a new law he signed that bars “foreign adversaries” from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas.

The law’s Republican sponsor, state Rep. Cole Hefner, praised the governor’s move, writing on X that “today proves exactly why that law was needed.”

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt nearly a century ago and active worldwide, says it abandoned violence long ago and now advocates gaining political influence through elections and other peaceful methods.

Critics — including several authoritarian governments across the Middle East — continue to view the movement as a destabilising force.