CAIR’s tax-exempt status challenged by Cornyn amid state-level terror group designations

First on Fox: A Senate Republican wants to revoke the tax-exempt status of a national Muslim advocacy group that both Texas and Florida have designated as a terrorist organization.

Texas Republican senator John Cornyn intends to introduce legislation that would revoke the tax-exempt status of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Currently, an organization’s tax-exempt status is suspended if it is designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization.

Cornyn’s bill would place CAIR among federally designated terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and Al Qaeda, by expanding that prohibition to include groups that provide material support or resources, such as funding, services, or training, to a terrorist organization.

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The Texas Republican said in a statement to Fox News Digital that he is moving forward with the legislation, “because no organization that funds terrorists should get a tax break.”

“CAIR is an extremist group of terrorist sympathizers with a long history of undermining American values ​​and trying to unconstitutionally impose Sharia law on Texas, which is why I stand behind Governor Abbott’s decision to designate it a foreign terrorist organization,” he said. “I also call on President Trump to do so at the federal level to ensure this breeding ground for anti-American hate is defunded and forced to close its doors once and for all.”

Cornyn’s attempt to revoke the organization’s tax-exempt status comes after the governors of Texas and Florida designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations earlier this year. CAIR has long argued that it is not associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is linked to federally designated terrorist organizations, such as Hamas.

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Texas Governor Greg Abbott arrives during an Eli Lilly and Company news conference in Houston, September 23, 2025. (Antranik Tavityan/Reuters)

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took executive action last month to prevent the organizations from “acquiring any real estate interest in Texas.”

His announcement said that “CAIR and its members have repeatedly employed, affiliated with, and supported individuals who promote terrorism-related activities,” and that the FBI considers the organization a “front group” for Hamas.

Likewise, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered all Florida agencies “to take all lawful measures to prevent illegal activities conducted by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support.”

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President Donald Trump signs an executive order on artificial intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, December 11, 2025. (Drago/Reuters)

Neither the Council on American-Islamic Relations nor the Muslim Brotherhood have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations at the federal level by the State Department.

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However, President Donald Trump, in an executive order late last month, ordered that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent determine which branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, specifically in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, would be designated as foreign terrorist organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

Fox News Digital did not immediately receive a response from CAIR for comment on Cornyn’s legislation.