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After designating two prominent Islamic groups "foreign terrorist organizations," Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott gave insight into his plan to "purge" both terrorists and terror supporters from his state.
Abbott, who is a close ally of President Donald Trump and is running for a fourth term as governor, recently issued a proclamation designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as "foreign terrorist organizations" and "transnational criminal organizations" under Texas law.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Abbott explained that the designation means that CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood and their affiliates are prohibited from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas. The proclamation also authorizes state agencies to take heightened enforcement measures and legal action against the two organizations.
In response, two Texas CAIR chapters filed a federal lawsuit against Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, arguing that the proclamation violates the U.S. Constitution by exceeding state authority and infringing on due process rights.
TEXAS GOV ABBOTT DECLARES CAIR, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AS TERRORIST GROUPS, PREVENTING LAND PURCHASES
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations. (Getty Images)
Abbott, however, appeared undaunted.
He said that the "very important point" of his actions is to show that "when we as a state or we as a country step up and show there are legal consequences for you trying to violate religious freedom, when you try to impose your religion on somebody else, or whether you may be supporting some type of terror group, that there's going to be consequences to it, that you will be brought into a court of law and be held accountable."
"Any organization that supports terrorism, that harbors people who have provided material support for terrorism, is not allowed to exist in our state," said Abbott, adding, "We will purge them from our state, they should be purged from our country, and they definitely should not be receiving tax-exempt status in our country."
Shortly after Abbott’s proclamation, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order similarly designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations. The order bars the groups from receiving state contracts, funding, employment, or benefits, and prohibits state agencies from working with them or entities deemed to support them.
Additionally, Trump signed an executive order initiating the federal process for several Muslim Brotherhood chapters to be designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
On Dec. 2, Abbott sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent requesting the suspension of CAIR’s tax-exempt status.
MUSLIM GROUPS, OTHER LEADERS DEMAND ABBOTT RESCIND CAIR'S ‘TERRORIST’ DESIGNATION: 'DEFAMATORY'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations. (Rebecca Blackwell, File/AP Photo)
Though CAIR has pushed back, calling Abbott’s claims false, the governor said, "If they don't want to be labeled a terrorist, they have to stop supporting terrorism. It's that simple."
He said that both the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have a "long, well-established history with terrorism." He pointed to CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, reportedly speaking highly of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel and the Dallas-Fort Worth CAIR chapter advocating on behalf of Marwan Marouf, a Jordanian national set to be deported by ICE after allegedly making donations to a charity known to funnel money to Hamas.
"There's a massive difference between religion and terrorism," said Abbott. "It doesn't matter what religious belief you may believe in or adhere to, if you support terrorism in any way, that is a crime, it has to be rooted out, has to eliminated, I don't care who you are or what religion you're a part of."
In response, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director of CAIR, shot back at Abbott. In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, Mitchell said that "Governor Abbott is an Israel First politician who has spent years trying to smear and silence Texans who oppose the waste of American taxpayer dollars on the Israeli government's war crimes."
Mitchell said that "CAIR is an independent American civil rights organization that has spent 31 years speaking up against all forms of unjust violence, including hate crimes, terrorism, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide."
"In fact, CAIR condemned terrorism so often that ISIS called for the assassination of our leadership," said Mitchell.
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Supporters of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood take part in a protest in the village of Sweimeh, near the Jordanian border with the occupied West Bank, on May 21, 2021. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP via Getty Images)
"CAIR has strongly condemned the Israeli government's decades of violent oppression against the Palestinian people, and CAIR has also condemned Hamas violence against Israeli civilians, from suicide bombings in the 1990s to attacks on Oct. 7th. That's called moral consistency, something Greg Abbott and other supporters of the Gaza genocide know nothing about," he went on, adding, "Abbott is upset with CAIR because our civil rights group filed the lawsuits that defeated his last three attempts to shred the First Amendment for the benefit of the Israeli government."
"We are suing Governor Abbott again now to block his lawless proclamation and we look forward to defeating him for the fourth time in a row, God willing, so that we can protect the constitutional rights of all Americans," he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by the time of publication.
On what other actions he will take next to crack down on terrorism in Texas, Abbott hinted there will be more coming from the Lone Star State on his border enforcement strategies.
"During my next term as governor, Trump will no longer be president. So, while he's working for the next three years to secure the border, we're going to be in the process of working for the next three decades to ensure that we have a secure border," he explained.
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Texas law enforcement patrols the border between the U.S. and Mexico. (Fox News)
"In the next session, we're going to be going back to the drawing board and finding out what works, what needs to be augmented, what we must do to continue the safe and secure border practices we have now, knowing this also that must be underscored.
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"Look at all the people who in the United States are killing others, committing crimes to others, who are here illegally," he said. "The shooter at Brown, the murderer of the people at Brown University as well as at MIT, was here on a green card, unvetted. The shooter of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., here illegally, unvetted, was an Afghan. And then, an example here in Houston, Texas, just recently, there was an illegal immigrant who was arrested for murder. It turned out he had committed multiple murders in the Houston area, completely unvetted."
"We as a country, and Texas as a state, we have to be much more demanding as it concerns who is entering our country. Are they safe for our country? Should they be allowed in? Americans deserve that brand of safety."
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
