Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has responded to a lawsuit coming from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, his office announced on Tuesday morning.
🚨BREAKING: I'm taking legal action in the lawsuit involving terrorist organization CAIR.
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) December 23, 2025
Radical Islamist terrorist groups are anti-American, and the infiltration of these dangerous individuals into Texas must be stopped. pic.twitter.com/nCDtxKQp68
“Attorney General Ken Paxton has taken legal action to defend Texas’s lawful designation of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (“CAIR”) as foreign terrorist organizations under Texas law,” the announcement read.
“Radical Islamist terrorist groups are anti-American, and the infiltration of these dangerous individuals into Texas must be stopped,” said Attorney General Paxton. “My office will continue to defend the Governor’s lawful, accurate declaration that CAIR is an FTO, as well as Texas’s right to protect itself from organizations with documented ties to foreign extremist movements.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared the Islamic organization both a "foreign terror organization" and a “transnational criminal organization” on Nov. 18. The Muslim Brotherhood received the same designations. The declaration is at the state-level and does not carry the same weight as a State Department FTO declaration. Abbott’s proclamation would, however, bar the organizations from acquiring land or constructing Muslim-only communities in Texas.
Today, I designated the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 18, 2025
This bans them from buying or acquiring land in Texas and authorizes the Attorney General to sue to shut them down. pic.twitter.com/lSYvpkTmh3
President Trump took similar action against the Muslim Brotherhood just days after.
🚨 America will NOT tolerate those who fund & fuel radical terrorism.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) November 24, 2025
Today, President Trump took decisive action to secure America from terrorist threats by initiating the process to designate certain Muslim Brotherhood entities as Foreign Terrorist Organizations. pic.twitter.com/Ec4qGbPLkm
The Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin chapters of CAIR subsequently launched a lawsuit in an effort to reverse Governor Abbott’s decision. The lawsuit claims that the state is violating their chapters’ rights. They also argue that Governor Abbott lacked the authority to make the declaration, Fox News reported.
Paxton’s response was to seek dismissal while claiming sovereign immunity. Among further arguments was that the case should be rejected because his office has yet to undertake any legal action regarding the designation. Paxton also argues that the U.S. District Court case should be decided at the state, not federal level. The response further explains his office denied nearly every allegation, and that CAIR’s claims are purely speculative.
Paxton’s announcement did not pull any punches for stating his commitment to similar causes as his campaign for Senate continues to mount.
“CAIR has been designated as a foreign terrorist organization not only by Texas, but also by the State of Florida and the United Arab Emirates and has been labeled by an FBI special agent as a ‘front group for Hamas,’" the press release announcing the response ended. “Attorney General Paxton will continue to work to identify and combat foreign terrorist and transnational criminal organizations that threaten public safety, American values, and national security.”
This is just another step in Texas’ broader effort to stifle the growth of Islamic communities in the state. With pursuing the revocation of CAIR’s not-for-profit status, banning Sharia law, and launching investigations into Islamic real estate developers, the state is trying to position itself as the leader in GOP’s rising fight against “Islamic infiltration.”