DeSantis, Florida Cabinet designate more than 90 groups as terrorist organizations

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday voted to designate more than 90 groups as terrorist organizations, and a legal challenge is already in the works seeking to block the move.

With little comment from the state panel and no public testimony, the Cabinet voted to apply domestic or foreign terrorist designations to a series of groups, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Brotherhood and antifa.

The designations will also apply to more than 90 organizations already listed as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government, including the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, two Mexican drug cartels and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Under a new law, HB 1471, that took effect July 1, CAIR filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee, contending that DeSantis is violating the First Amendment and the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.

Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU National Security Project, said attorneys intend to file a motion Thursday on behalf of CAIR-Florida seeking a preliminary injunction against the designation.

"There is nowhere in that notice any allegation or evidence that CAIR has engaged in any violent or dangerous act in violation of Florida or U.S. law," Shamsi said Tuesday outside the Cabinet meeting. "And that's the first requirement for something as serious as this."

CAIR-Florida challenges terrorist designation

Shamsi said a written objection was filed Friday and that she requested to speak during Tuesday's meeting on behalf of CAIR-Florida but was not recognized. The Cabinet includes Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

When an emergency rule was approved Sept. 11 outlining how the 2026 law could be implemented, DeSantis said the designations provide "an appropriate framework, where the state can take action appropriately to be able to defend the people of Florida against hostile actors and terrorists groups."

Shamsi said Tuesday that the DeSantis administration's "relentless" effort to label CAIR-Florida a terrorist organization is "unnecessary, unprecedented and unconstitutional."

"When the designation goes into effect, because this is steamrolling its way forward, and if it is not prevented, our clients will be unable to carry out their constitutionally protected activities in this state," Shamsi said. "And that, as we have said, and I would have said today, is in violation of their due process rights under the (U.S.) Constitution and in violation of their First Amendment rights, among other things."

The designations take effect Nov. 5.

Shamsi described CAIR-Florida as an American nonprofit organization that promotes civil rights.

"Like any other U.S. nonprofit, in Florida and around the country, they carry out 'know your rights' trainings, they engage with and represent community members whose rights have been violated by government action," Shamsi said. "They speak up for and against government policies. They are representing their communities and they're doing it every single day here in this state, for the benefit of the people of Florida."

What Florida's new terrorist organization law does

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

The law bars courts from enforcing provisions of religious or foreign law that violate rights guaranteed by the U.S. or Florida constitutions. It also requires the expulsion of students in the Florida College System who "promote" designated terrorist organizations.

The law defines "promotion" as actions that can be "reasonably interpreted" as an actual threat of violence, disrupting the learning environment, infringing on the rights of others, providing material support to a designated organization or recruiting members for such an organization.

Other provisions bar schools affiliated with designated terrorist organizations from receiving money through state K-12 scholarship programs. Public universities and colleges are also prohibited from spending state or federal funds to support programs or campus activities that promote a designated terrorist organization.