{"id":59915,"date":"2025-11-21T22:26:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T22:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/59915\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T22:26:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T22:26:07","slug":"cair-houston-addresses-lawsuit-filed-against-texas-gov-abbott-over-terrorist-group-proclamation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/59915\/","title":{"rendered":"CAIR-Houston addresses lawsuit filed against Texas Gov. Abbott over terrorist group proclamation"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEXAS \u2013 The Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston), alongside Texas State Rep. Ron Reynolds and a broad coalition of community partners, held a joint press conference on Friday to respond to Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s recent proclamation targeting CAIR. <\/p>\n

Gov. Abbott\u2019s Nov. 18 proclamation declared the Texas chapter of CAIR \u2014 a long-running American civil rights group \u2014 a \u201cforeign terrorist organization.\u201d <\/p>\n

READ MORE: Texas governor labels Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR as foreign terrorist group<\/a><\/p>\n

The proclamation also threatened civil penalties if the group continued its work in the state. <\/p>\n

MORE INFORMATION<\/p>\n

The two Islamic civil rights organizations filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton.<\/p>\n

The lawsuits seek to block what they call an \u201cunconstitutional and defamatory\u201d proclamation labeling CAIR-Texas a foreign terrorist organization.<\/p>\n

CAIR and MLFA say the governor\u2019s declaration is baseless, unlawful, and an attempt to punish political speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Muslim Legal Fund of America is proud to defend the constitutional rights of CAIR-Texas and the right of all Texans to engage in free speech and uphold civil rights without facing lawless and defamatory attacks,\u201d MLFA attorney Charlie Swift said in a statement. <\/p>\n

CAIR Litigation Director and General Counsel Lena Masri said the organization has previously defeated Abbott in court over First Amendment disputes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis lawsuit is our first step toward defeating Governor Abbott again so that our nation protects free speech and due process for all Americans,\u201d Masri said in the same statement.<\/p>\n

CAIR-Texas leaders called Abbott\u2019s proclamation a \u201clawless attack\u201d and said the group would continue their advocacy for Islam in the state. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not and will not be intimidated by smear campaigns,\u201d CAIR-Texas said in a prepared statement. \u201cWe plan to continue exercising our constitutional rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

CAIR said it previously sent the governor a letter challenging his claims and citing the organization\u2019s three-decade track record of denouncing terrorism and unjust violence. <\/p>\n

The organization also noted the governor has previously targeted Muslim nonprofits, efforts that have not held up under legal or federal scrutiny.<\/p>\n

The coalition also cited over 50 harassment complaints in Houston in recent weeks, expressing concern that the proclamation could incite discrimination or violence against Texans practicing Islam and other marginalized communities.<\/p>\n

The filing marks the latest clash between Abbott and Muslim civil rights groups. <\/p>\n

Thursday, Gov. Abbott doubled down on his characterization of the groups from two days ago, calling for DPS to launch a criminal investigation into the brotherhood. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to identify, disrupt, and eradicate terrorist organizations engaged in criminal activities in Texas,\u201d said Abbott. \u201cWe will target threats of violence, intimidation, and harassment of our citizens. We will also focus on individuals or groups who unlawfully impose Sharia law, which violates the Texas Constitution and state statutes.\u201d <\/p>\n

Abbott<\/a> said he considers the organization a terrorist group based on concerns about alleged support for terrorism and efforts to undermine legal systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam\u2019s \u2018mastership of the world,\u2019\u201d said Abbott. \u201dThe 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. Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. These radical extremists are not welcome in our state and are now prohibited from acquiring any real property interest in Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

This state\u2019s recent designation marks the first time Texas has applied these restrictions to either organization. According to the governor\u2019s office, the decision took effect immediately and applied to any real property interests within Texas.<\/p>\n

Proclamation (Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS \u2013 The Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Houston), alongside Texas State Rep. Ron Reynolds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[30486,30485,1967,30481,31570,27,7458,29,28],"class_list":["post-59915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-cair","tag-council-on-american-islamic-relations","tag-ken-paxton","tag-muslim-brotherhood","tag-muslim-legal-fund","tag-texas","tag-texas-governor-greg-abbott","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}