I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4097 
To direct the Secretary of State to review whether the Council on American- 
Islamic Relations meets the criteria for designation as a foreign terrorist 
organization, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2025 
Mr. FINE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of State to review whether the Coun-
cil on American-Islamic Relations meets the criteria for 
designation as a foreign terrorist organization, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Designate CAIR as 
a Terrorist Organization Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:38 Jun 29, 2025
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4097.IH
H4097
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
(1) The Council on American-Islamic Relations 
(CAIR) has been named as an unindicted co-con-
spirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation ter-
rorism financing trial. 
(2) Multiple State legislatures, including Flor-
ida and Arizona, have passed resolutions urging 
avoidance of engagement with CAIR due to its al-
leged affiliations with terrorist groups. 
(3) The Federal Bureau of Investigation has 
suspended all formal contacts with CAIR due to evi-
dence demonstrating a relationship between CAIR 
and Hamas, designated as a foreign terrorist organi-
zation by the United States Department of State 
and the monsters behind the brutal attack on the 
State of Israel on October 7, 2023, indiscriminately 
raping, torturing, and killing over 1,200 innocent 
persons, including Israelis, Americans, and other na-
tionals, among whom were babies and Holocaust 
survivors, and taking 240 Israelis, Americans, and 
other civilians as hostages. 
(4) Since October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists 
and their allies have launched over 11,500 rockets 
into southern and central Israel, the sole goal of 
which was to kill Israeli civilians. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:38 Jun 29, 2025
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4097.IH
H4097
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
(5) Hamas and Iranian leadership have called 
for the extermination of Israelis, Americans, Jews, 
and Christians around the world and the establish-
ment of a global Islamic caliphate. 
(6) The stated goal of Hamas and its allies is 
the complete and total destruction of the State of 
Israel and the Jewish people. 
(7) In the Federal criminal prosecutions of per-
sons involved with the Holy Land Foundation for 
Relief and Development, the largest successful pros-
ecution of terrorism financing in our country’s his-
tory, CAIR was identified as an associate of the 
Muslim Brotherhood and was named an unindicted 
co-conspirator in the trial. 
(8) CAIR, soon after opening its first office in 
Washington, DC, received a grant from the Holy 
Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a 
charitable organization that was closed and was des-
ignated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by 
the United States Department of the Treasury for 
funding jihadist terrorist organizations. 
(9) In 2009, Ghassan Elashi, who was a mem-
ber of the founding board of directors of the Texas 
branch of CAIR and a leader of the Holy Land 
Foundation for Relief and Development, was sen-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:38 Jun 29, 2025
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4097.IH
H4097
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
tenced to a total of 65 years in prison after being 
convicted of— 
(A) 10 counts of conspiracy to provide, and 
the provision of, material support to a des-
ignated foreign terrorist organization; 
(B) 11 counts of conspiracy to provide, 
and the provision of, funds, goods, and services 
to a Specially Designated Terrorist as deter-
mined by the United States Secretary of the 
Treasury; 
(C) 10 counts of conspiracy to commit, 
and the commission of, money laundering; 
(D) 1 count of conspiracy to impede and 
impair the Internal Revenue Service; and 
(E) 2 counts of filing a false tax return. 
(10) In October, 2000, at a large CAIR rally in 
Washington, DC, featured speaker Abdurahman 
Alamoudi, later a convicted terrorist and Al Qaeda 
financier, publicly expressed support for both Hamas 
and Hezbollah as the crowd cheered him on. 
(11) Randall Todd Royer, also known as Ismail 
Royer, who served as a communications specialist 
and civil rights coordinator for CAIR and trained 
with and set up an internet based newsletter for 
Lashkar-e-Taiba, an al Qaeda-tied Kashmir organi-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:38 Jun 29, 2025
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4097.IH
H4097
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
zation that is listed on the United States Depart-
ment of State’s international terror list, was also in-
dicted on charges of conspiring to help al Qaeda and 
the Taliban battle American troops fighting in Af-
ghanistan and was sentenced to 20 years in prison 
on April 9, 2004. 
(12) In September 2003, CAIR’s former com-
munity affairs director, Bassem Khafagi, pleaded 
guilty to 3 Federal counts of bank and visa fraud, 
and agreed to be deported to Egypt after he had 
funneled money to activities supporting terrorism 
and had published material advocating suicide at-
tacks against the United States, illegal activities 
that took place while he was employed by CAIR. 
(13) Rabih Haddad, the Ann Arbor, Michigan- 
based CAIR fundraiser, was arrested on terrorism- 
related charges and was deported from the United 
States due to his work as Executive Director of the 
Global Relief Foundation, which in October 2002 
was closed by the United States Department of the 
Treasury for financing al Qaeda and other terrorist 
organizations. 
(14) In March 2011, Muthanna al-Hanooti, a 
director within CAIR, was sentenced to a year in 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:38 Jun 29, 2025
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4097.IH
H4097
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
Federal prison for violating United States sanctions 
against Iraq under Saddam Hussein. 
(15) United States ally, the United Arab Emir-
ates, officially designated CAIR as a terrorist orga-
nization in 2014. 
(16) In 2014, CAIR honored convicted terrorist 
and Palestinian Islamic Jihad financier Sami Al 
Arian and in 2020 CAIR–Florida featured Al Arian 
in its livestream interview series. A former professor 
at the University of South Florida, Al Arian was 
convicted in 2006 of providing material support for 
a designated terrorist organization, Palestinian Is-
lamic Jihad, and was deported after serving his pris-
on sentence. 
(17) Zainab Chaudry, Executive Director of the 
Council on American-Islamic Relations—Maryland 
Office, was suspended from the Maryland Commis-
sion on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention by 
Maryland’s Attorney General on November 21, 
2023, following multiple social media posts, includ-
ing one comparing Israel to Nazi Germany with the 
comment, ‘‘That moment when you become what you 
hated most’’. 
(18) On November 24, 2023, Speaking at the 
American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chi-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:18 Jul 10, 2025
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4097.IH
H4097
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
cago, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad pro-
claimed ‘‘The people of Gaza only decided to break 
the siege, the walls of the concentration camp, on 
October 7. And yes, I was happy to see people 
breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles 
of their own land, and walk free into their land, 
which they were not allowed to walk in. And yes, the 
people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have 
the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel, as an 
occupying power, does not have that right to self-de-
fense’’. 
SEC. 3. REVIEW OF WHETHER CAIR MEETS CRITERIA FOR 
DESIGNATION AS FOREIGN TERRORIST OR-
GANIZATION. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of State, in collaboration with 
the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury, 
shall— 
(1) pursuant to section 219 of the Immigration 
and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189), conduct a for-
mal review of the Council on American-Islamic Rela-
tions to determine whether it meets the criteria for 
designation as a foreign terrorist organization under 
such section; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:38 Jun 29, 2025
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4097.IH
H4097
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
(2) submit to Congress a report summarizing 
the findings of the review conducted under para-
graph (1), including— 
(A) any resulting designation of the Coun-
cil on American-Islamic Relations as a foreign 
terrorist organization under such section 219; 
or 
(B) if the Secretary determined that the 
Council on American-Islamic Relations did not 
meet the criteria for designation as a foreign 
terrorist organization, the a summary of the 
findings leading to such determination. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
02:38 Jun 29, 2025
Jkt 059200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H4097.IH
H4097
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB