JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR, is preparing a lawsuit to challenge a new executive order designating the Muslim civil rights group and the Muslim Brotherhood as “foreign terrorist organizations” in Florida.
Leaders with CAIR Florida denounced the order during a news conference in Tampa on Tuesday afternoon.
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“From the moment that Ron DeSantis took office as the Governor of Florida, he has prioritized serving the Israeli government over serving the people of Florida,” CAIR Florida Interim Executive Director Hiba Rahim said.
Action News Jax spoke with CAIR Florida attorney Omar Saleh, who argued the Governor doesn’t have the legal authority to make this designation and instead it’s a power vested in the federal, not state, government.
Still, he said worries the Governor’s actions will put Muslim Floridians in harm’s way.
“DeSantis doesn’t know the Muslim community and for that reason he fears them. So, he labels them as a security threat, but unfortunately when he goes so much as issuing an executive order that doesn’t have any legal merit, all he’s doing is risking the lives and security of his Floridians,” Saleh said.
RELATED: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis designates Muslim Brotherhood, CAIR as ‘foreign terrorist organizations’
The executive order, which was signed Monday, directs the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Highway Patrol to take measures to “prevent unlawful activities in Florida by the terrorist organizations” and requires state agencies to block any state contracts and funding to the two groups or to any person who has supported the groups.
As far as CAIR is concerned, it cites a 2008 case against the Holy Land Foundation, a former Muslim civil rights group whose members were found guilty of funneling more than $12 million to Hamas.
Throughout the course of that criminal case, the government released a list of unindicted coconspirators, which included CAIR.
“The largest terror financing trial in the history of the United States of America,” said Governor Ron DeSantis during a press conference in North Miami Beach Tuesday morning.
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DeSantis said he welcomed the legal challenge.
“That will give the State of Florida discovery rights to be able to subpoena the bank records,” DeSantis said.
When asked how much state funding or how many state contracts CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood have with the State of Florida, the Governor’s Press Secretary simply referred us to where we could find a copy of the executive order.
But Saleh maintained CAIR has no connection with terrorism, receives no state funds, and has no state contracts.
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He characterized the executive order as a desperate attempt by a lame duck Governor to cling to relevance.
“This is how he leaves his legacy, full of hate and frankly full of crap,” Saleh said.
Jacksonville’s Chief of Analytics Parvez Ahmed served as National Chairman for CAIR from 2005 through 2008.
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Action News Jax reached out to the mayor’s office for comment from Ahmed on the new executive order.
We instead received a statement directly from Mayor Donna Deegan.
“Dr. Parvez Ahmed ended his affiliation with CAIR almost 20 years ago over disagreements with the group. He’s an outstanding public servant who works tirelessly to move our city forward,” Deegan said.
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