TEMPLE TERRACE, FL, Nov. 5, 2026 — The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says it has suspended operations in the state as a Florida "domestic terrorist organization" designation takes effect, the Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY Network reported Wednesday.

A neon orange sign in the window of CAIR-Florida's longtime main office in Temple Terrace, near Tampa, reads: "We have suspended our operations in Florida because of Governor DeSantis and other state officials' baseless and unconstitutional enforcement of the state's unprecedented new 'domestic terrorist organization' laws against us," the Democrat reported, quoting the sign's text.

A Nov. 4 notice on CAIR's website said the group is not accepting donations from anyone living or located in Florida and that "Florida residents should also not sign up for our mailing lists, or otherwise engage with CAIR or CAIR-Florida at this time," the Democrat reported. A CAIR-Florida spokesperson did not respond to that outlet's request for comment.

How the designation happened

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet on Sept. 29, 2026, approved designating CAIR and CAIR-Florida as domestic terrorist organizations under House Bill 1471, which took effect July 1, Florida Phoenix reported. The Cabinet also added more than 90 federally designated foreign terrorist organizations to the state list that day, Phoenix reported.

HB 1471 lets the state's chief of domestic security — defined as the FDLE leader — recommend groups to the governor and Cabinet. Once a designation is effective, the law bars public money and contracts for the group and makes knowingly providing material support a felony, according to court coverage summarized by the ACLU and Tampa Bay outlets.

The ACLU's Sept. 29 release said counsel asked to speak for CAIR and CAIR-Florida at the Cabinet meeting, that DeSantis did not acknowledge the request, and that "the entire vote consideration took thirty seconds." The release said that if the designation went into effect, "the groups will be forced to shut down their operations in the state under threat of severe criminal penalties against them as well as their employees, board members, volunteers, and other stakeholders in Florida." It listed Nov. 5 as the effective date if courts did not intervene.

Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project, said in that release: "Gov. DeSantis's use of Florida's dangerous new \"terrorism\" designation regime against CAIR and its Florida chapter is baseless and unconstitutional." She said CAIR "is being targeted not because it poses a threat to public safety, but because doing so serves a political agenda at the expense of Floridians' rights."

What the state has argued

Florida Phoenix reported that Cabinet materials cited CAIR's listing as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007–2008 Holy Land Foundation case, alleged founding-member ties involving Hamas figures named in those materials, a 2014 United Arab Emirates designation, and other claims FDLE presented. DeSantis has said the designation is meant to confront what he describes as extremist ties and ideological influence; the Democrat summarized that position in its Nov. 4 story.

Phoenix also published a rebuttal included in Cabinet materials from Jason Blazakis, a Middlebury Institute professor and former State Department counterterrorism official, who wrote that the designation "lacks any of the criteria or procedural protections required for a sound, credible, and lawful terrorism designation" and that the federal government has never designated CAIR under FTO or SDGT regimes.

Charles Cooper, an attorney representing the state, told the judge in related proceedings that Florida views CAIR as "Hamas' largest charitable front," the Democrat reported. Hamas is a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. CAIR disputes the state's characterization; Launchpad is reporting the accusation and the denial as contested claims in litigation, not as established fact.

Court fight continues

CAIR and CAIR-Florida sued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. Chief U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor heard emergency arguments Oct. 28 on blocking the designation or its criminal penalties, Tampa Bay 28 reported. As of the Democrat's Nov. 4 report, the groups had not announced a ruling that would stop the Nov. 5 effective date.

A separate challenge to an earlier December executive-order designation remains in the federal appeals pipeline, the Democrat reported.

What Launchpad is — and isn't — saying

A state designation is a legal label under Florida law. It is not a federal Foreign Terrorist Organization listing. Charges or designations are not proof of criminal guilt for any individual. CAIR describes itself as a Muslim civil rights organization; Florida officials describe it as a threat they say the new statute was written to address. Both sides are linked above. Launchpad will update when the court rules or when CAIR-Florida or the state posts a new primary statement.

Those are the documented steps that led to Thursday's shutdown notice.

Sources: Tallahassee Democrat / USA TODAY Network; ACLU press release, Sept. 29, 2026; Florida Phoenix, Sept. 29, 2026; Tampa Bay 28.

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