Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Muslim Brotherhood, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and CAIR's Austin, Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth chapters, seeking to ban the organizations from operating in Texas and to prevent what his office describes as the spread of violent extremist ideology.
According to the lawsuit, the Muslim Brotherhood is described as a radical terrorist organization that seeks to undermine governments and establish control through imposing Sharia law.
Paxton alleges that for decades the organization has operated covertly in the United States through CAIR, which the lawsuit characterizes as the Muslim Brotherhood's American chapter.
The filing cites past legal cases as evidence of alleged ties between CAIR and terrorist activity.
Among the examples referenced is the 2008 Holy Land Foundation case, in which a founding board member of CAIR-Texas was convicted of funneling $12.4 million to Hamas.
CAIR was also named an unindicted co-conspirator in that case.
The lawsuit asserts that these and other findings demonstrate that CAIR functions as the U.S. arm of an international terrorist organization.
"Sharia law and the jihadists who follow Sharia law have no business being in Texas," said Paxton. "I am in full support of Governor Abbott's lawful declaration that CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood are foreign terrorist organizations, and they must be stopped from operating in Texas."
Paxton's office argues that the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR violate multiple Texas laws, including statutes prohibiting entities from engaging in terrorism, laws barring transnational criminal organizations from owning property in the state, and public nuisance laws that prohibit gang-related activity.
"Radical Islamic terrorists are antithetical to law and order, endanger the people of Texas, and are an existential threat to our values," he expressed.
The lawsuit seeks to permanently end the operations of the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR in Texas. This includes prohibiting the organizations and their affiliates from owning property in the state, soliciting donations, or recruiting members.
