Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has formally declared the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as foreign terrorist organisations, marking the first time a US state has taken such a step. The declaration places Florida in direct alignment with the Trump administration’s wider global campaign targeting Islamist movements that Washington accuses of fostering extremism across the Middle East.
In a post announcing the order on X, DeSantis stated that all state agencies must immediately begin taking “every lawful measure” to prevent the two organisations from engaging in illegal activity in Florida. This includes withholding government benefits, grants or assistance from any individual or institution found to be providing “material support” to the designated groups. With the order taking effect instantly, state departments are now legally obliged to track compliance and report violations.
The decision comes amid mounting federal pressure to expand counterterrorism designations overseas. Last month, President Donald Trump issued an executive directive instructing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to evaluate whether branches of the Muslim Brotherhood operating in Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon meet the criteria to be formally labelled as foreign terrorist organisations under US law. Should the review confirm such a classification, the groups’ members and financial networks would be exposed to strict sanctions and asset freezes.
According to the White House, the administration sees the Muslim Brotherhood as the nucleus of a sprawling ideological and financial network that promotes extremism, funds proxy militias and destabilises American allies. “President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational structure, which fuels terrorism and destabilisation campaigns against US interests,” said a fact sheet accompanying the national strategy update.
Conservatives within the Republican Party have pushed for years for Washington to label the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, arguing that the group serves as an ideological incubator for offshoots such as Hamas. Texas previously passed a symbolic state-level designation, but Florida’s directive goes further by ordering direct administrative action against individuals and institutions.
CAIR has strongly rejected any attempt to associate it with terrorism, calling such claims defamatory and rooted in partisan motives. The organisation maintains that it is a civil-rights advocacy body representing Muslim Americans and has repeatedly criticised lawmakers who seek to equate its work with extremist activities overseas.
Founded in Egypt nearly a century ago, the Muslim Brotherhood evolved into one of the most influential Islamist movements in the Arab world, spreading through multiple countries with very different structures and strategies. Some branches have participated in electoral politics, while others have been accused by Western officials of financial support for militant groups — a factor often cited by critics pushing for blanket designation.
DeSantis’ order adds a new dimension to the debate by bringing the fight to the state-policy level, raising questions about how far US federalism allows individual states to define foreign terrorist threats. It also signals Florida’s willingness to take an assertive role in national security discussions that have traditionally been handled exclusively by Washington.
