Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter Thursday to the Texas Department of Public Safety, directing them to launch criminal investigations into the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood.
“We will target threats of violence, intimidation, and harassment of our citizens,” Abbott said in a news release. “We will also focus on individuals or groups who unlawfully impose Sharia law — which violates the Texas Constitution and state statutes.” Sharia is the moral code laid out in Muslim scriptures.
In the letter, Abbott said CAIR, the country’s largest organization focused on advocating for the civil rights of Muslims, was a “front group” for Hamas.
He directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to, where appropriate, identify and initiate criminal investigations into any person or group seeking to enforce a law outside of or contrary to state or federal law and utilize the Texas Terrorist Offender Registration Program.
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“The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable and have no place in Texas,” he said in the letter.
This week, Abbott has declared CAIR to be a foreign terrorist organization, said its members and affiliates cannot own property in Texas and directed officials including the attorney general to investigate Sharia courts in Texas.
CAIR responded by filing a federal lawsuit against the governor and attorney general on Thursday. CAIR’s suit contended that labeling it a terrorist organization without due process was a violation of federal law, and that Abbott’s proclamation violated the organization’s First Amendment rights and constitutionally protected property rights.
“No civil rights organizations are safe if a governor can baselessly and unilaterally declare any of them terrorist groups, ban them from buying land, and threaten them with closure,” CAIR national litigation director Lena Masri said in a news release announcing the group’s lawsuit.
Earlier this year, Abbott and other Texas leaders directed a series of investigations into plans to develop a Muslim-centric neighborhood near Josephine. Officials have accused the developers of discriminating against non-Muslims and taking advantage of investors. CAIR has defended developers and accused the governor of anti-Muslim rhetoric.