Congress moves to freeze assets of Muslim civil-rights group without trial

What it does

This bill directs the Treasury Secretary to designate the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and all its chapters and affiliates as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order 13224. Upon designation, all CAIR assets in the U.S. would be frozen, Americans would be prohibited from transacting with CAIR, and CAIR's tax-exempt status would be revoked. The bill cites historical legal proceedings, criminal convictions of some CAIR-affiliated individuals, and statements by CAIR leaders as justification.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a unilateral executive-branch designation of a domestic civil-rights organization as a terrorist entity, bypassing judicial process and freezing assets. While framed as national security, the functional effect is to restrict the legal rights and operations of a U.S.-based advocacy group.

What the text implies

• Designation as SDGT under EO 13224 does not require criminal conviction or judicial finding—only executive determination. CAIR would have no statutory right to judicial review or due process before asset freeze.
• Tax-exempt revocation under IRC 501(c)(3) would eliminate CAIR's ability to receive tax-deductible donations, effectively defunding the organization without criminal prosecution.
• The bill's findings cite individual criminal convictions of some CAIR-affiliated persons but do not establish that CAIR as an entity committed, threatened, or supported terrorism—a potential constitutional gap.
• Designation would apply to 'all chapters, affiliates, and successors,' potentially capturing entities with only loose organizational ties and no direct involvement in alleged misconduct.
• The bill requires a 30-day report but does not condition the designation on the report's findings—the designation appears mandatory regardless of whether criteria are met.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill restricts the legal rights and operational capacity of a domestic civil-rights organization without a judicial determination of terrorist activity, potentially chilling free speech and association rights for Muslim Americans and civil-rights advocates. While the bill frames CAIR as a terrorist entity, the operative mechanism—asset freezes and transaction prohibitions—targets an organization that operates openly in the U.S. and has not been convicted as an entity of terrorism, raising du

Named in the bill

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), U.S. Department of Treasury, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Executive Order 13224, Holy Land Foundation, Hamas, FBI, Anti-Defamation League, State of Texas, State of Florida — and 2 more

Where it stands

16 cosponsors: 16 Republicans.

• Apr 9, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Apr 9, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Foreign Affairs · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a…”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 5 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Chip Roy, the sponsor, reported $68,100 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Middle East Forum — $20,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 24, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.