Hours after Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to launch criminal investigations into two Islamic groups —the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR — the latter organization filed a lawsuit against the governor.
Abbott’s announcement comes just two days after he designated the groups as transnational criminal organizations, banning them and those associated with them from purchasing or acquiring Texas land.
The Muslim Legal Fund of America and the CAIR Legal Defense Fund, according to the lawsuit, are suing Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, alleging that the “proclamation is defamatory and finds no basis in law or fact.” They argue that Abbott’s designations empower Paxton to deprive Muslims’ right to own Texas property, “creating an imminent risk of harm.”
DPS will be working alongside FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces across the state to “gather intelligence and initiate investigations into potential violations of state and federal law,” the news release states.
Neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor CAIR is listed on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist groups.
“The goal is to identify, disrupt, and eradicate terrorist organizations engaged in criminal activities in Texas,” Abbott said in a statement. “We will target threats of violence, intimidation, and harassment of our citizens.”
Abbott also said the investigation will target people or groups “who unlawfully impose Sharia law,” which he said violates the Texas Constitution.
Sharia laws lay out the moral and behavioral principles Muslims should follow, such as prayers, fasting and generosity to the poor. The laws were pulled from several religious texts, including the Quran and Hadith, the recorded messages from Prophet Muhammad.
Imran Ghani, director of CAIR Houston, said during a Friday news conference that Texas Muslims “are not and will not be intimidated by smear campaigns launched by politicians like Mr. Abbott. Mr. Abbott is defaming U.S. and other American Muslims because we are effective advocates of justice here and abroad.”
Murtaza Sutarwalla, president of the Muslim Bar Association of Houston, spoke at the same news conference and rejected Abbott’s “repeated claims that the Sharia law is banned in Texas.”
Abbott, in a separate news release on Tuesday, accused the two groups of supporting terrorism across the world and of subverting Texas laws through harassment, intimidation and violence.
“The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable,” Abbott said in that statement.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a multinational organization with no central figure. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested the Trump administration was considering designating the group or branches of the group as terrorist organizations but has not.
CAIR, a Muslim civil rights group, issued a statement saying they have consistently condemned all forms of unjust violence and said their condemnation of terrorism made their national director a target for ISIS.
“Although we are flattered by Greg Abbott’s obsession with our civil rights organization, his publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation has no basis in fact or law,” CAIR stated. “By defaming a prominent American Muslim institution with debunked conspiracy theories and made-up quotes, Mr. Abbott has once again shown that his top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas.”
They further stated the organization would be ready to mount a legal challenge if the declaration were to become actual policy.
Abbott’s proclamation cites a new law that was approved by the Texas lawmakers earlier this year. The bill gave Abbott more power to ban property ownership by governmental entities, companies, and individuals from a country named in annual threat assessment reports prepared by the director of national security.
A similar law in Florida is making its way through the courts. A three-judge panel on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is allowing the state to enforce its ban.
“This is in the sort of Islamophobic toolbox that Abbott is picking up to rehash this old conspiratorial thinking to criminalize Muslims,” said Habiba Noor, a lecturer at Trinity University in San Antonio.
Noor said framing CAIR as part of the Muslim Brotherhood is a conspiracy theory that has existed since it was founded in the 1990s. She speculated the recent flare-up of trying to tie the two together stems from plans to develop an Islamic community near Dallas.
The East Plano Islamic Center proposed a residential development, called EPIC City, that would include more than 1,000 residential units, a mosque, a K-12 faith-based school and retail shops, among other features.
The project drew controversy and became the subject of multiple investigations.
In an effort to stop the development, Abbott signed into law a bill prohibiting residential developments from building “Sharia compounds” and from discriminating against Texans. However, there are no indications that the organizers of EPIC City intend to operate under Sharia law.
Additionally, the corporation managing the development, Community Capital Partners, agreed to abide by the Texas Fair Housing Act and implement fair housing policies.
Tuesday’s proclamation would not apply to EPIC, which is a Texas-based nonprofit organization. CAIR is also not directly affiliated with EPIC, though the Dallas-Fort Worth office condemned Abbott’s investigation into EPIC City.
“The tie to land goes back to this conflict over EPIC City and so it’s like yet another sort of move to kind of deny Muslims the right to develop properties together as a community,” Noor said.
State Rep. Cole Hefner, who sponsored the law, cheered Abbott on Tuesday.
“This move gives our state powerful new tools to stop extremist networks, block them from buying land, and hold anyone who aids or finances them accountable,” he said on in a statement on social media. “Texas will not allow groups tied to Hamas and global terrorism to take root here.
Disappointed, but not surprised
Since he was 10, Shayan Sajid has been attending Maryam Islamic Center in Sugar Land, a suburb of Houston, which is estimated to be home to the state’s largest Muslim population. Sajid said that although Abbott’s announcement didn’t surprise him, he was disappointed.
“It’s an unfortunate reminder that at times, living in this country and living in Texas, even being in a city as diverse as Houston, we still get so much Islamophobia,” Sajid said, “and not just from random individuals, but from very, you know, powerful individuals.”
Sajid said CAIR “is literally something that’s just out there to help individuals.”
“There’s zero harm in it,” he continued. “I know individuals who do work for CAIR or who have worked for CAIR, like there’s literally nothing there to be afraid of, nothing there that’s tying them to any dangerous organizations or any dangerous intentions.”
Amatullah Contractor in Houston is worried that the investigation will spread Islamophobia, and said Abbott’s statement “puts a direct target on the backs of Muslims in Texas.”
“Not only is this a vile effort to intimidate and silence the Muslim community in Texas, but it seeks to incite fear among other communities that are fighting for their civil rights,” Contractor said.
Legal liability
Abbott’s declaration opens up an array of potential constitutional issues, said Emily Berman, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Limiting property purchases based on viewpoints and religious affiliation could prove problematic under the First Amendment and the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
“What is the motivation of these designations?” Berman said. “Is it about their religious views? Is it about their viewpoints on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which would be another First Amendment red flag? You can’t discriminate on the basis of someone’s viewpoint.”
The designation also raises due process concerns, Berman said, given that it’s not clear how groups can formally challenge the designation.
The U.S. Secretary of State holds the power to designate a group a foreign terrorist organization, though they must notify Congress and publish the designation in the Federal Register. An organization can appeal that designation within 30 days of that publication.
It’s not clear whether such a process exists at the state level. In the order, Abbott said he consulted with Freeman Martin, Texas Department of Public Safety director, and the state’s Homeland Security Council to determine whether to make the designation as required under state law. Whether groups can appeal the state-level designations is unclear.
It’s possible CAIR, for example, could challenge the law in court by arguing the state is overstepping its bounds by making laws around national security matters, Berman said.
“This proclamation is based on false accusations and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories,” Michelle Mikeska with Houston Coalition for Justice, said during Friday’s conference. “If a governor can target Muslim nonprofits today, he can target other communities tomorrow: this issue affects all Texans, not only Muslims.”
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