Texas Gov. Greg Abbott invoked a relatively new Texas law to designate two groups as foreign terrorist organizations — one being a national civil rights organization that serves the Muslim community.
In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott has launched a campaign against the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. He has declared that the Muslim civil rights group is a foreign terrorist organization. The key question is, can he do that, legally speaking, and if so, under what authority? Houston Public Media’s Andrew Schneider reports on how this development is affecting more than 300,000 Muslims in Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Praying in non-English language).
ANDREW SCHNEIDER, BYLINE: Syed al-Ferdous attends services at the Maryam Islamic Center in Sugar Land, southwest of Houston, every evening. Al-Ferdous says Governor Abbott’s calling CAIR a terrorist organization shows a lack of education about Islam.
SYED AL-FERDOUS: I think it’s very juvenile, to say the least. It’s very immature, and it just doesn’t hold any water.
SCHNEIDER: Abbott used a 2023 Texas law to brand CAIR a foreign terrorist organization. He accused CAIR of trying to, quote, “forcibly impose sharia law,” and he ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch criminal investigations of it.
AL-FERDOUS: What does a civil rights organization in United States, incorporated in United States, run by American citizens got to do with a foreign entity?
SCHNEIDER: That’s a question Kenneth Williams, who teaches constitutional and civil rights law at Texas Tech University, says cuts directly to the heart of whether Abbott has the authority to go after CAIR.
KENNETH WILLIAMS: If they’re not operating outside the United States, then it would seem like this designation is illegal and not authorized under the statute.
SCHNEIDER: Declaring an entity a foreign terrorist organization is exclusively the purview of the U.S. State Department. Williams is also concerned that Abbott is violating Muslims’ First Amendment rights.
WILLIAMS: If the governor is allowed to proceed against this organization, there’s a possibility that the governor could also proceed against other organizations with which the governor does not approve.
SCHNEIDER: That’s CAIR’s argument as well. It’s suing Abbott for what it says is the fourth time. Edward Ahmed Mitchell is CAIR’s national deputy director.
EDWARD AHMED MITCHELL: This lawsuit argues that Governor Abbott has violated due process, violated the First Amendment and also misused Texas law in order to silence dissent in violation of the Constitution.
SCHNEIDER: Abbott has been targeting Muslim organizations in Texas for months. Earlier this year, he sued to stop a proposed Muslim housing development in the Dallas area, accusing it of trying to impose sharia law. Several investigations are still ongoing. CAIR says Muslims may look to sharia law for personal religious practice, but sharia does not override U.S. or state law. Mitchell says Abbott’s actions are endangering CAIR’s employees and Texas Muslims in general.
MITCHELL: Our staff in Texas had to receive security protection from Texas law enforcement because an anti-Muslim extremist showed up at a public hearing and demanded to know where the CAIR officials were. He was hunting down CAIR officials.
SCHNEIDER: We contacted Abbott’s office multiple times, but no one from the office would speak on the record. Mark Jones is a political scientist at Rice University’s Baker Institute. He says Abbott is responding to pressure from some Texas Republicans concerned about the growth of Islam in the state.
MARK JONES: They look to places like Minneapolis where a growing Muslim population has resulted in calls to prayer being broadcast on loudspeakers and what they view as a Christian way of life is being eroded.
SCHNEIDER: Jones says those Texas Republicans tend to view their state and the country as essentially Judeo-Christian, rather than a place where many faiths can coexist. For NPR News, I’m Andrew Schneider in Houston.
(SOUNDBITE OF MINUTEMEN’S “COHESION”)