Texas Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) has introduced a bill to designate the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization.
The Designating Hamas Affiliates in America Act of 2026 seeks to block CAIR’s assets, prohibit US citizens from interacting with the organization, and revoke its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.
“CAIR is not some innocent 501(c)(3) organization – they facilitate terrorism while operating under the guise of a nonprofit,” said the congressman.
“This bill makes it clear: Their assets must be frozen, their tax-exempt status revoked, and all Americans should be prohibited from supporting them. No organization that aids terrorism should financially benefit from it, especially on US soil.”
In the full text of the bill, Roy cites evidence of CAIR’s terror links. This includes the fact that CAIR was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial.
Florida, Texas already issued executive orders designating CAIR terror org.
The Holy Land Foundation trial was the largest terror finance case in US history. During it, CAIR’s founders, Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad, were shown to be part of the Islamic Association of Palestine, a Hamas propaganda front that raised money for the Holy Land Foundation charity. FBI wiretaps revealed that both Awad and Ahmad were present at a 1993 meeting in Philadelphia, where Hamas supporters discussed the need to establish a new Hamas front that could disguise its links to terrorism.
The Holy Land Foundation is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization in the US, and the charity’s senior leaders were found guilty of funneling more than $12 million to Hamas.
Ghassan Elashi, a founding member of CAIR’s Texas chapter, was found guilty in 2009 of money laundering, tax fraud, and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He was sentenced to 65 years in prison.
Elashi is in fact one of seven CAIR officials who have been arrested, convicted, or deported for terrorism-related crimes.
The governors of Texas and Florida have already issued executive orders designating CAIR as a terrorist organization under state law.
The United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terrorist entity in 2014 over its alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. The FBI has also suspended all contact (aside from that required for investigations) with CAIR, due to evidence demonstrating a relationship between CAIR and Hamas.
“For 30 years, CAIR has exploited America’s openness to serve as Hamas’s most effective lobbyist on US soil,” said Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum.
He praised Roy’s legislation for treating the threat of CAIR with the seriousness it deserves, “not with symbolic gestures, but with the full weight of federal law.”
The Middle East Forum helped build the evidentiary foundation for the bill.