Florida Designates Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as Terrorist Groups

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday that his administration has formally designated two groups as foreign terrorist organizations. The groups are the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational Islamist movement, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent U.S. civil rights organization. The move follows a similar designation by the state of Texas earlier this year. State-level designations carry different legal implications than federal ones. Governor DeSantis stated the action targets groups he alleges support terrorism. CAIR immediately rejected the designation, calling it an attack on the constitutional rights of American Muslims. The U.S. federal government does not currently list CAIR as a terrorist organization. Florida's designation is a state-level administrative action.