Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit aimed at shutting down the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), including CAIR’s Austin, Houston, and Dallas-Fort Worth chapters.
Paxton accused the groups of operating illegally in the state and spreading extremist ideologies.
According to Paxton’s office, the lawsuit seeks to bar the organizations from operating in Texas and to prevent what it describes as the spread of violent radicalism.
The filing says the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization whose long-term goal is to overthrow governments and impose sharia, and that CAIR has functioned for decades as its American front.
The legal action follows a November decision by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations.
The lawsuit points to what it calls documented ties between CAIR and terrorism. It notes that a founding board member of CAIR-Texas was convicted in 2008 of funneling $12.4 million to Hamas through the Holy Land Foundation.
CAIR itself was named an unindicted co-conspirator in that case. The filing argues that these connections demonstrate CAIR is “the American face of an international terrorist organization.”
Paxton’s lawsuit alleges the groups are violating multiple Texas laws, including statutes banning entities from engaging in terrorism, prohibiting transnational criminal organizations from owning property in the state, and public nuisance laws that bar radical groups from operating like criminal gangs.
“Sharia law and the jihadists who follow sharia law have no business being in Texas,” Paxton said. “I am in full support of Governor Abbott’s lawful declaration that CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood are foreign terrorist organizations, and it’s imperative that they are stopped from operating in Texas.
“Radical Islamic terrorists are antithetical to law and order, endanger the people of Texas, and are an existential threat to our values,” the statement went on.
The lawsuit seeks to dissolve the organizations’ Texas operations entirely.
If successful, it would prohibit the Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR, and their affiliates from owning property in Texas, soliciting donations, or recruiting members within the state.
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