No official summary available for this bill.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4097 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 4097
To direct the Secretary of State to review whether the Council on
American-Islamic Relations meets the criteria for designation as a
foreign terrorist organization, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 24, 2025
Mr. Fine introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of State to review whether the Council on
American-Islamic Relations meets the criteria for designation as a
foreign terrorist organization, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Designate CAIR as a Terrorist
Organization Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has
been named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy
Land Foundation terrorism financing trial.
(2) Multiple State legislatures, including Florida and
Arizona, have passed resolutions urging avoidance of engagement
with CAIR due to its alleged affiliations with terrorist
groups.
(3) The Federal Bureau of Investigation has suspended all
formal contacts with CAIR due to evidence demonstrating a
relationship between CAIR and Hamas, designated as a foreign
terrorist organization by the United States Department of State
and the monsters behind the brutal attack on the State of
Israel on October 7, 2023, indiscriminately raping, torturing,
and killing over 1,200 innocent persons, including Israelis,
Americans, and other nationals, among whom were babies and
Holocaust survivors, and taking 240 Israelis, Americans, and
other civilians as hostages.
(4) Since October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists and their
allies have launched over 11,500 rockets into southern and
central Israel, the sole goal of which was to kill Israeli
civilians.
(5) Hamas and Iranian leadership have called for the
extermination of Israelis, Americans, Jews, and Christians
around the world and the establishment of a global Islamic
caliphate.
(6) The stated goal of Hamas and its allies is the complete
and total destruction of the State of Israel and the Jewish
people.
(7) In the Federal criminal prosecutions of persons
involved with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and
Development, the largest successful prosecution of terrorism
financing in our country's history, CAIR was identified as an
associate of the Muslim Brotherhood and was named an unindicted
co-conspirator in the trial.
(8) CAIR, soon after opening its first office in
Washington, DC, received a grant from the Holy Land Foundation
for Relief and Development, a charitable organization that was
closed and was designated a Specially Designated Global
Terrorist by the United States Department of the Treasury for
funding jihadist terrorist organizations.
(9) In 2009, Ghassan Elashi, who was a member of the
founding board of directors of the Texas branch of CAIR and a
leader of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development,
was sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison after being
convicted of--
(A) 10 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the
provision of, material support to a designated foreign
terrorist organization;
(B) 11 counts of conspiracy to provide, and the
provision of, funds, goods, and services to a Specially
Designated Terrorist as determined by the United States
Secretary of the Treasury;
(C) 10 counts of conspiracy to commit, and the
commission of, money laundering;
(D) 1 count of conspiracy to impede and impair the
Internal Revenue Service; and
(E) 2 counts of filing a false tax return.
(10) In October, 2000, at a large CAIR rally in Washington,
DC, featured speaker Abdurahman Alamoudi, later a convicted
terrorist and Al Qaeda financier, publicly expressed support
for both Hamas and Hezbollah as the crowd cheered him on.
(11) Randall Todd Royer, also known as Ismail Royer, who
served as a communications specialist and civil rights
coordinator for CAIR and trained with and set up an internet
based newsletter for Lashkar-e-Taiba, an al Qaeda-tied Kashmir
organization that is listed on the United States Department of
State's international terror list, was also indicted on charges
of conspiring to help al Qaeda and the Taliban battle American
troops fighting in Afghanistan and was sentenced to 20 years in
prison on April 9, 2004.
(12) In September 2003, CAIR's former community affairs
director, Bassem Khafagi, pleaded guilty to 3 Federal counts of
bank and visa fraud, and agreed to be deported to Egypt after
he had funneled money to activities supporting terrorism and
had published material advocating suicide attacks against the
United States, illegal activities that took place while he was
employed by CAIR.
(13) Rabih Haddad, the Ann Arbor, Michigan-based CAIR
fundraiser, was arrested on terrorism-related charges and was
deported from the United States due to his work as Executive
Director of the Global Relief Foundation, which in October 2002
was closed by the United States Department of the Treasury for
financing al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
(14) In March 2011, Muthanna al-Hanooti, a director within
CAIR, was sentenced to a year in Federal prison for violating
United States sanctions against Iraq under Saddam Hussein.
(15) United States ally, the United Arab Emirates,
officially designated CAIR as a terrorist organization in 2014.
(16) In 2014, CAIR honored convicted terrorist and
Palestinian Islamic Jihad financier Sami Al Arian and in 2020
CAIR-Florida featured Al Arian in its livestream interview
series. A former professor at the University of South Florida,
Al Arian was convicted in 2006 of providing material support
for a designated terrorist organization, Palestinian Islamic
Jihad, and was deported after serving his prison sentence.
(17) Zainab Chaudry, Executive Director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations--Maryland Office, was suspended from
the Maryland Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention
by Maryland's Attorney General on November 21, 2023, following
multiple social media posts, including one comparing Israel to
Nazi Germany with the comment, ``That moment when you become
what you hated most''.
(18) On November 24, 2023, Speaking at the American Muslims
for Palestine convention in Chicago, CAIR Executive Director
Nihad Awad proclaimed ``The people of Gaza only decided to
break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on
October 7. And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the
siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and
walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk
in. And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense,
have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel, as an
occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense''.
SEC. 3. REVIEW OF WHETHER CAIR MEETS CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION AS
FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of State, in collaboration with the Attorney General and the
Secretary of the Treasury, shall--
(1) pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189), conduct a formal review of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations to determine whether it
meets the criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist
organization under such section; and
(2) submit to Congress a report summarizing the findings of
the review conducted under paragraph (1), including--
(A) any resulting designation of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations as a foreign terrorist
organization under such section 219; or
(B) if the Secretary determined that the Council on
American-Islamic Relations did not meet the criteria
for designation as a foreign terrorist organization,
the a summary of the findings leading to such
determination.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line