South Florida islamic group calls Gov. DeSantis-signed law "dangerous" for Muslim community in the state

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) spoke out against a new law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The group calls the measure dangerous for the Islamic community in Florida.

"Florida should be a place where people of all faiths can worship freely and be protected by the state," said Wilfredo Ruiz, CAIR-Florida Communications Director.

DeSantis signed the bill on Monday, which allows Florida to designate certain groups as domestic terrorist organizations.

"There's a clear message, at least from these lawmakers, that Florida Muslims are not welcome in Florida: that's their message," said Omar Saleh, a CAIR-Florida attorney.

The law bans the enforcement of foreign or religious law — particularly Sharia Law, the Islamic code.

"We've been very strong in Florida from the beginning on all of this nonsense and doing whatever we can to keep people of this state safe," DeSantis said Monday.

The legislation also outlines rules for expelling students at state universities who "promote support for designated terrorist organizations".

CAIR, the state's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, says no one is enforcing Sharia Law and calls the new legislation "draconian". The group says the law is creating a "police state" and a dangerous and irresponsible narrative, alienating the hundreds of thousands of Muslims living in Florida.

"We need to do a much better job of educating our lawmakers about what our religion is. Islam is a religion of peace. It is not trying to implement any new laws in the country. We respect the laws that are already in this county, which are already the best in the whole world," said Yunus Ismail of the South Florida Muslim Federation.

The law reinforces an executive order DeSantis issued in December of last year, when he named CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations. 

CAIR filed a lawsuit in response, and in March, a judge ruled in the group's favor, temporarily blocking the executive order's enforcement. CAIR said it is ready to take legal action again if DeSantis targets the group with this new law.

"The framework of these bills is so vague that we don't know what the next step is going to be with how the government is going to start designating people as terrorists based on ideas they don't believe in," Saleh said.

The law takes effect July 1.