![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/CAIR-e1767907303218.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCAIR-FL<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCAIR-FL<\/p>\n
On Jan. 7, MidPoint welcomed CAIR- Florida, the Council on American-Islamic Relations,<\/a> a civil rights advocacy organization, which has recently been unilaterally designated a \u201cforeign terrorist organization\u201d by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.\u00a0DeSantis issued\u00a0his executive order<\/a> on Dec. 8, designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood\u00a0 as \u201cforeign terrorist organizations.\u201d The order directed Florida\u2019s Executive and Cabinet agencies, as well as every county and city, to deny local or state contracts, employment, funding, benefits, or privileges to CAIR and anyone known to provide \u201cmaterial support\u201d to CAIR, including \u201cexpert advice or assistance.\u201d\u00a0The order further directs the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) to undertake \u201call lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities in Florida\u201d against terrorist organizations designated in Section 1 of the executive order, which includes the Muslim Brotherhood.<\/p>\n CAIR-FL, the local affiliate of the national CAIR organization, responded by filing a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee challenging DeSantis\u2019 executive order designating the group as a \u201cterrorist organization\u201d and asking the court to block the executive order and declare it unconstitutional.<\/p>\n WMNF\u2019s Mitch Perry, reporting for the Florida Phoenix, wrote,<\/p>\n In alleging that DeSantis has violated the Constitution, CAIR-FL\u2019s lawsuit contends that DeSantis has:<\/p>\n Illegally usurped the exclusive authority of the federal government to designate American organizations as terrorist groups based on allegations of material support for foreign terrorist groups.<\/p>\n Violated the Constitution\u2019s guarantee of due process by unilaterally designating CAIR a criminal actor and then ordering immediate punitive, discriminatory action against CAIR and its supporters without any chance to appeal that punishment or designation.<\/p>\n Violated the Constitution\u2019s guarantee of free speech by punishing Americans who seek to provide CAIR with material support, including speech in the form of \u201cassistance\u201d and \u201cadvice,\u201d and retaliating against CAIR for speech he finds objectionable, including the organization\u2019s past lawsuit against him and its activism in support of Palestinian human rights.<\/p>\n MidPoint was joined in the studio by Hiba Rahim, Interim Executive Director of CAIR-FL,\u00a0 immigration Attorney Robert Sichta, who is a cooperating counsel in the lawsuit, and Omar Saleh, an attorney for CAIR-FL, who joined us by telephone. Rahim decried the executive order saying, \u201cThis executive order does not present facts, it does not cite investigations, it does not point to any criminal findings. It simply declares guilt by proclamation,\u201d\u00a0 and noted that CAIR-FL has been joined in this lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Muslim Legal Fund of America, and the Michigan law firm Akeel & Valentine. Other groups, including the League of Women Voters and the NAACP, have also criticized the executive order, suggesting it may implicate the work of many advocacy organizations whose politics do not align with the current regime and who have cooperated with CAIR-FL on various community initiatives.<\/p>\n Our guests and host, Shelley Reback, discussed many of the ways this executive order could impact the organization and individuals, including driving away donors, chilling CAIR\u2019s supporters, inhibiting their ability to petition State officials, and even possibly reaching disciplinary actions or recission of Florida business and professional licensees who have made donations or otherwise supported the work of CAIR-FL in the community.<\/p>\n