Gov. DeSantis designates multiple groups as terrorist organizations, including 2 prominent Florida Islamic groups

Gov. Ron DeSantis wasted little time declaring two Islamic groups, various foreign cartels, and an anti-fascism movement as terrorist organizations on the first day a new law allows the state to impose such designations.

With the anti-terrorism law (HB 1471) from the 2026 regular session effective Wednesday, DeSantis stated his intention to put the label on the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Brotherhood and antifa.

The designations announced Wednesday still need to be backed by the members of the Florida Cabinet: Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson. All three Republicans are up for election in November.  

CAIR intends to take the designation to court.

The law also outlines rules for expelling students at state universities who "promote" support for these groups.

"We've got to draw a very strong line in the sand here," DeSantis said at the Attorney General's Tampa Office of Statewide Prosecution. "We've seen this creep throughout the country over many, many years."

The new law was crafted to back up an executive order DeSantis issued in December placing the "terrorist organization" label on the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood.

In March, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Walker issued a preliminary injunction against the executive order, ruling it violated CAIR's rights by targeting and threatening those providing the organization with material support.

CAIR also plans to challenge the law, which in a statement claims it "dramatically expands Florida's authority to both label and punish groups."

"Gov. DeSantis is seeking to unilaterally silence a leading American civil rights nonprofit and punish those who support it," Scott McCoy, deputy legal director of Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of CAIR, said in a statement.

A release from the governor's office stated the law is intended to identify and "combat terrorist organizations operating in Florida."

The release doesn't define antifa, which DeSantis said, "practically lives in Portland."

DeSantis' recommendation also includes more than 90 foreign organizations already designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government, including the Venezuelan crime syndicate Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa, Mexico-based drug trafficking Cartel de Sinaloa, the Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico-based Cartel del Golfo, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of Iran's military.

DeSantis, who expects an "emergency call" to be quickly set up with the Cabinet members, said the designations were based upon conduct.

"Even though I don't like antifa's ideas, I mean, they're militant leftists," DeSantis said. "It's their actions and what they're involved with that's very destructive. And the same with Tren de Aragua, same with (the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), obviously they're a revolutionary military Islamic organization, but they're also the leading fermenter of terrorism worldwide."

The law allows the state's Chief of Domestic Security --- currently Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass --- to designate a domestic or foreign terrorist organization.

It also bars a court from enforcing any provision of a religious or foreign law, with an emphasis against the Islamic code known as Sharia law, and requires a student in the Florida College System who "promotes" terrorist organizations to be expelled.

The law defines "promotion" as when a student's actions can be "reasonably interpreted" as an actual threat of violence; disrupt the learning environment; infringe upon the rights of others; or offer "material support for or the recruitment of members for such an organization."

Other parts of the bill bar schools affiliated with designated terrorist organizations from receiving state K-12 scholarship program money. Also, public universities and colleges are prohibited from spending state or federal funds to support programs or campus activities that promote a designated terrorist organization. 

The bill was approved in the Republican-controlled Legislature by votes of 80-25 in the House and 25-11 in the Senate.

While the legislation was debated, Democrats raised concerns the bill and a related public records exemption (HB 1473) blocking documents showing how a "terrorist" designation is reached, would deprive any group hit with the label of due process.

Opponents of the bill also expressed concerns over whether people, especially students on college campuses, could inadvertently be accused of being a member of a designated domestic terrorist organization and suffer consequences without a conviction.