TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Monday that allows the state to officially designate groups as domestic terrorist organizations.
The new law allows the state’s Chief of Domestic Security to designate a domestic or foreign terrorist organization. The governor and the Cabinet would then have to sign off.
DeSantis already named the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations in an executive order in December.
“We have some problems in this country, more than we should, with international terrorism,” DeSantis said. “We have been strong in Florida from the beginning on all of this nonsense and doing whatever we can to keep the people of this state safe.”
CAIR-Florida Executive Director Hiba Rahim said the organization has already been targeted by the governor.
“We have already been unjustly targeted – most notably when Governor DeSantis falsely labeled CAIR as terrorists without lawful authority or evidence,” Rahim said.
Rahim said the new law is an “expanded and deeply-flawed framework can attack any organization that dares to dissent.”
Florida Politics
Sophia Brown with the Florida Chapter of PEN America said the law is designed to limit free speech.
“The point is to make people afraid to talk about certain things and shut out dissenting speech altogether,” Brown said.
The law also bans schools from spending state or federal money to support or promote a designated terrorist organization.
“We foresee that this will make teachers, faculty, and students scared to cross this unclear line again, because what it means to support or promote such an organization is defined only sometimes,” Brown said.
The law also prevents Florida courts from enforcing a religious or foreign law. DeSantis said the bill is aimed at preventing the Islamic code of law known as Sharia law in Florida courts.
A federal judge issued an injunction on the executive order in March. The law takes effect July 1.
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