Rep. Chip Roy Introduces Bill to Designate Hamas-Linked CAIR as a Terrorist Entity

This is much-needed and long overdue. CAIR has been a subversive force in the U.S. for over thirty years, and has done incalculable damage. Thanks to Rep. Chip Roy, its day in the sun could be drawing to a close.

“Congressman Chip Roy Introduces Bill to Designate CAIR as Terrorist Entity,” Middle East Forum, April 9, 2026:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — April 9, 2026 — Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX) has introduced a bill (click here) backed by the Middle East Forum (MEF) to designate the Hamas-aligned Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity. Roy’s legislation represents the most serious congressional effort to designate CAIR to date and follows decades of MEF research and activism aimed at exposing CAIR’s extremism and links to foreign terrorist organizations.

“The Designating Hamas Affiliates in America Act of 2026” directs the Secretary of the Treasury to designate CAIR as a terrorist entity, blocking its assets, revoking its tax-exempt status, and banning U.S. persons from engaging in any transactions with it. If passed, the legislation would effectively force CAIR to cease operations and dissolve for being one of Hamas’s most prolific advocates in the Western world.

The bill’s findings meticulously chronicle CAIR’s history of extremism, delivering a comprehensive and legally grounded account of the nonprofit’s links to global terrorism. It documents CAIR’s establishment as a public relations front for Hamas and its status as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation trial (2007–2008), in which founding board member of CAIR’s Texas chapter, Ghassan Elashi, was sentenced to 65 years in prison for funneling over $12 million to Hamas.

Roy’s legislation also documents U.S. government actions to isolate and suspend law enforcement contact with CAIR. In 2023, the Biden administration publicly disavowed the organization after CAIR founder and executive director Nihad Awad declared that he was “happy to see” Palestinians “breaking the siege” on October 7 in Israel and referred to Gaza as a “concentration camp.”

Recent moves to designate CAIR, including a congressional bill and state-level executive orders in Texas and Florida, were legally imprecise and have faced legal challenges. They sought to designate CAIR as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, a status that applies to overseas groups involved in acts of violence. Roy’s bill, which applies civil penalties to organizations that support terrorism, aligns most closely with federal statute and legal precedent and has the best chance of surviving judicial review.

As the co-chair of the Sharia-Free America Caucus in the House of Representatives, Roy is spearheading congressional efforts to protect Western civilization from Islamist threats. The 60-member caucus has launched committee hearings and dedicated time on the House floor to name the threat of radical Islam and adopt legislative solutions….