AUSTIN, Texas (LifeSiteNews) — Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has taken the unprecedented step of labeling two Muslim groups in his state foreign terrorists, marking the latest in an ongoing escalation between himself followers of Islam.
In a press release issued Tuesday, Abbott said that “the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world.’”
“This bans them from buying or acquiring land in Texas and authorizes the Attorney General to sue to shut them down,” Abbott further declared on social media.
Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations.
This bans them from buying or acquiring land in Texas and authorizes the Attorney General to sue to shut them down. pic.twitter.com/lSYvpkTmh3
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 18, 2025
The Council of American Islamic Affairs, also known as CAIR, is the largest Muslim advocacy group in the country, with more than 30 chapters across the U.S. Founded in 1994 and based in Washington, D.C., it routinely partners with liberal organizations to promote left-wing initiatives. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the 1920s. It is an international organization associated with Sunni Islam. Neither group has been included in the U.S. State Department’s official list of terrorist groups, though evidence links them to Hamas.
On Wednesday, CAIR issued a threat to Abbott on social media, stating “we’ll see you in court very soon.” To which Abbott replied, “That’s great. The lawsuits will open the doors to all of their financial transactions and funding. To all of their dealings and misdeeds. The Attorney General will have a heyday.”
CAIR responded to Abbott’s decision by accusing him of doing the bidding of Jewish interest groups in order to stoke hatred against Muslims. CAIR singled out the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), though provided no specifics.
Abbott has not been silent about his support for Israel. In April, he denounced a resolution introduced by the City of San Marcos calling for tax dollars to be spent on the needs of Americans instead of on Israel’s “genocide in Palestine.”
Two months later in May Abbott issued an executive order increasing efforts to fight “antisemitism” on college campuses, a move America First conservatives saw as an infringement on free speech and a concession to his Zionist supporters.
In June, Abbott signed legislation mandating the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms across the state. He has also approved bills that require Texans to use public bathrooms and changing facilities according to their sex, crack down on the distribution of abortion pills, and ban taxpayer dollars from paying travel costs for women seeking abortions out of state.