On Monday Ron DeSantis, the Governor of Florida, designated one of the United States’ largest Muslim advocacy groups as a “foreign terrorist organisation”. Texas took the same step last month.

Ron DeSantis, the Republican Governor of Florida, listed the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organisations in his executive order.

Florida follows in Texas’ footstep in acting to curb radical Islam (Photo: AFP)

The order instructs Florida agencies to prevent the two groups, as well as those who have provided them with material support, from obtaining contracts, employment or financing from state executive bodies or cabinet agencies.

VICTORY: After RAIR Foundation’s Relentless Campaign, Florida Designates Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
RAIR Foundation, Dec 8, 2025https://t.co/SWnJN8guAM

In a stunning escalation following months of revelations and pressure generated by RAIR… pic.twitter.com/sUEyYPCJGD

— Native Texan (@13028dTexan) December 9, 2025

In a statement sent by email, CAIR and its Florida chapter said the organisation would sue DeSantis in response to what it called “unconstitutional” and “defamatory”.

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY

Florida is designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organizations.

Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these… pic.twitter.com/2s48yYfEg7

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) December 8, 2025

Founded in 1994, CAIR has 25 chapters nationwide. Last month, CAIR asked a federal judge to overturn the proclamation issued by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, arguing in the lawsuit that it was “not only contrary to the United States Constitution, but also unsupported by any Texas law”.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt nearly a century ago and has branches around the world. Its leaders say they renounced violence decades ago and seek to establish Islamic rule through elections and other peaceful means.

European authorities have been warning for years about the dangerous activities of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In recent years, Belgian, Dutch and German domestic intelligence services have also assessed that the fundamental aim of these organisations is to cultivate and preserve a strongly politicised Muslim identity within Muslim communities, to exert influence over sports, religious and cultural associations, and to position themselves before opinion-formers and government bodies as the primary representatives and organising force of Muslim communities.

Parallel to this ambition, however, they also seek to implement strict Islamic laws and impose conservative principles—through persuasion or psychological pressure—on members of those communities. Recognising this duality, the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz) already in 2005 classified conservative, latently Islamist groups as a serious threat to social cohesion in Germany.

Political Islam Or Islamisation?

More recent intelligence reports by Western agencies have found the increasing Islamisation of Europe — particularly Germany, Austria, Belgium, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Spain — deeply alarming. As they write,

the intelligence reports highlight efforts aimed at infiltrating social and governmental institutions from within, with the ultimate goal of establishing sharia-based governance.

The Muslim Brotherhood appears as a central actor in these reports, operating both locally and at the European level, as the international V4NA news agency previously highlighted.